2014 was a successful year for the divestment movement. The campaign managed to gain momentum with an enormously active and committed  and growing number of volunteers, and colorful, diverse actions. Therefore the Guardian counts the Divestment campaign to the most impressive environmental campaigns of last year.

 

 

Now it’s time to recap some impressive moments with Fossielvrij Netherlands and look ahead to 2015.
The most powerful moment this year was probably the People’s Climate March in September. In New York more than 400.000 people went on the streets asking the world leaders to end the climate crisis. This was just shortly after the Rockefeller Foundation declared to divest from fossil fuels. A major success, because this foundation, who has become rich through oil-dwellings, now actively decided to make fossil fuels a product of the past.

In the present things were moving forward also in Europe. In the UK, the University of Glasgow became the first European University to divest its fossil fuel holdings. This would have been impossible without the major support of students organizing and running the campaign. But 2014 proved once more that the divestment campaign is not only a student movement. A lot of municipalities, pension funds and clerical institutions declared to divest due to people’s actions demanding a fossil free future.

What happened in the Netherlands?
Let’s focus now on what happened in the Netherlands in 2014. Well, there are currently eight campaigns at universities, six groups targeting municipalities and one group targeting the ABP pension fund. The people’s Climate March in Amsterdam was an energetic event. More than 100 fossielvrij campaigners from all over the country joined to make this day worth remembering. In the lead up to the big march, the local campaigns also organized their own actions to increase the pressure on their target; check the video here.
We  also  participated in the climate games in June 2014. We illustrated with our fun carbon bubble volleyball game, in front of a coal power plant, how fossil fuel companies play with the climate.

 

 
Among the student campaigns, the EURfossilfree campaign had a major break through on the 13th of May. The group managed that the Erasmus University Rotterdam became the first to formally respond to divestment demands in the Netherlands by commissioning research into their ties with the fossil fuel industry. Yay! All the others made huge steps forward promoting their campaign locally, check for example this creative postcard action of the UvA/HvA group. And we are looking forward to next successes.

This year FossielvrijNL launched a national campaign to get the country’s largest pension fund, ABP, to divest. In coalition with 17 other groups and NGOs FossielvrijNL wrote a common letter to the ABP to ask them to divest. This opened up the dialogue with the board and resulted in a big article in the Volkskrant. Already, campaigners have persuaded a third of the funds’ accountability body members to call on the board to divest its large fossil fuel holdings. By the end of 2014 a petition was launched with almost 2.000 signatories by now. Stay tuned for a big event coming up in March.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What’s coming next in 2015?
The next big event is the Global Divestment Day (GDD) happening on the 13th and 14th of February. While you can expect diverse local actions on the 13th there will be a big flagship action in Amsterdam on the 14th to launch the fossielvrij campaign of the municipality of Amsterdam. In the next week we will provide all kinds of information for this day, so you are fully prepared. Next Saturday, the 24th we will start our preparation with a training day, you can sign up for to skill yourself on creative action planning.

2015 is going to be an exciting year leading to the UN climate negotiations (COP21) in Paris at the end of the year. By then, the world needs a new agreement to prevent the devastating impacts of climate change. Until then, we will work together, connect different people, organizations and movements to mobilize people and take a stance together for real solutions to climate change. to stand up and take actions to prevent the climate crisis.

Last but not least, we are left to say that we are looking forward to further promote the fossielvrij campaign with you in 2015. You can expect a wide range of activities in the new year. We will continue with our monthly national gatherings and will further skill ourselves at trainings days and weekends. We will put our energy into creative actions, and will participate in the climate games again. We want to keep the fun factor high and hope to see you stepping by at one of our following activities. Check our website, facebook or twitter for updates. See you in 2015!