Investors ‘don’t want to divest from fossil fuels’

The majority of investors are not interested in divesting from fossil fuel companies, a new survey claims. According to the research, which surveyed more than 300 professionals, nearly 80% agreed fossil […]

The majority of investors are not interested in divesting from fossil fuel companies, a new survey claims.

According to the research, which surveyed more than 300 professionals, nearly 80% agreed fossil fuel related investments are an “essential element” for a “balanced, diversified portfolio”.

Despite a lot of organisations being urged to divest from oil and gas companies globally, nine out of 10 investors said they are not impacted by their views on the issue or increased the likelihood of them divesting in the future, the report claims.

Jeff Eshelman, Senior Vice President for operations and public affairs at the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) said: “With all the talk recently about divestment campaigns, we thought it might be interesting to ask the actual targets of these campaigns what they thought of them.

“I think we assumed going in that most serious investors wouldn’t be following them, wouldn’t be interested in them and certainly aren’t being influenced by them but even we were surprised to see how lopsided the findings were.

“Basically, this whole thing is almost entirely a media campaign, not an effort to engage real investors with real arguments.”

The IPAA represents energy producers who drill 95% of oil and gas wells in the US.

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