March 23, 2016

New Rockefeller Divestment Claims a Lot of the Same

The Rockefeller Family is back in the news, claiming that the Rockefeller Family Fund will divest from fossil fuels as quickly as possible, and that it will “eliminate holdings” of Exxon Mobil and its coal and Canadian oil sands holdings. Yet while many in the press have caught on to the fact that these “divestitures” are actually only empty gestures, here are a few key facts to keep in mind on the Rockefellers and their divestment plans.

The Rockefeller Family and the Rockefeller Foundation have never committed to divesting.

For starters, the Rockefeller family themselves have not personally divested from anything – least of all, fossil-energy related firms. The Guardian also reports that, “the much wealthier Rockefeller Foundation, whose endowment tops $4bn, is understood to be opposed to divestment for now.”

Rockefeller Brothers Fund made headlines, but did very little.

In September 2014, the Rockefeller family received a wave of attention for stating that one of its foundations, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, would be divesting coal and oil sands stocks from its portfolio. While a limited move, lead divestment activist Bill McKibben still referred to the announcement as a major “turning point” for his campaign. But digging a little deeper, the pledge appeared a great way to catch headlines, but hardly a way to make an actual impact. As The Guardian reported in March 2015,

“Six months later, the fund is proceeding cautiously to avoid losing money. RBF at the time had 5.2% of its endowment, or about $45m, in fossil fuels …. The fund has pulled out of coal and [oil] sands, but remains invested in oil and gas. Overall, exposure to fossil fuels has dropped less than 1% since that September announcement.” (emphasis added)

The Brothers Fund is also a large supporter of 350.org, the primary organization behind the divestment movement

A fact that has largely been left out of media coverage is the fact that the Rockefeller Brothers Fund is both a major funder of Bill McKibben’s 350.org group and has dumped millions of dollars into major campaigns opposing Keystone XL and anti-shale initiatives. As DivestmentFacts.com has explored before, the fact that Rockefeller Brothers Fund was profiting from oil sands and coal investments while running these campaigns in the first place should have been the story. What’s even more telling, however, is that even the largest funders of the divestment movement themselves say they can’t afford to divest from all fossil fuels. But that apparently hasn’t stopped them from trying to convince others to do precisely that – to do what they say, not what they do.

 The Rockefeller Family Fund is a small fund compared to many of the family’s foundations

While it only partially divested, the Brothers Fund consists of roughly $790 million. Opposed to divestment, the Rockefeller Foundation is worth roughly 4.2 billion. Meanwhile, the Rockefeller Family Fund, the only fund to announce “full divestment,” is worth just about $130 million – a lot of money but a mere fraction of the size of the family’s key endowments and foundations. Not surprising, given the negative financial impact of divestment.

As the Wall Street Journal editorial board put it, the divestment campaign is “less about economic logic than a self-defeating act of moral posturing.” It seems the Rockefellers are back at it again.