City Council Calls for Action on Divestment from Fossil Fuel Stocks

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – On Thursday, February 18th, the City Council approved a
resolution calling on the Board of Investment Commissioners to move forward with
divestment of city investments from fossil fuel companies.

This resolution is a follow-up to legislation introduced by Seth Councilman Seth
Yurdin (Ward One) and passed by the Council in June of 2013, which called on the
Board of Investment Commissioners to ensure that none of the City’s assets include
holdings in the world’s 200 largest fossil fuel companies within five years.

In February 2015, the Board of Investment Commissioners agreed to sell city holdings
from the «filthy fifteen» – a group of of America’s largest and dirtiest coal
companies – but has not yet taken further public steps to fully divest from fossil
fuels in accordance with the 2013 directive from the City Council.

«It’s good to see that the Board of Investment Commissioners has voted to support
divestment from the fifteen worst coal companies, but now it’s time to divest the
rest,» said Yurdin the lead sponsor of the resolution.

The City of Providence is one of 500 institutions worldwide that have committed to
divesting from large, publicly-traded coal, oil, and gas companies.

In additional for calling for full divestment, the resolution calls for the Board to
provide an update on its progress towards divestment from the «filthy fifteen» and
the remaining fossil fuel portfolio within thirty days.

The resolution was introduced by Councilman Yurdin and was passed unanimously by the
City Council.