Guest AEUHHH???? by David Middleton
Jun 24, 2019
A Family Divesting From Fossil Fuels To Invest In A Green Future
Bonnie Chiu Contributor
ForbesWomen
I write about gender and diversity in the emerging world.Oil and gas companies have been up for a bumpy ride as more investment funds divest from fossil fuels. It is not only institutional investors such as the Norwegian sovereign fund doing so, but also families and individuals. One such family is certain descendants of Lauren J. Drake, past president of Standard Oil of New Jersey, which eventually merged into ExxonMobil. These descendants have sold off their inherited shares, a healthy six-figure sum, on the basis of environmentalism.
Divestment started four generations down from Lauren J. Drake, and he was a prominent individual in the oil and gas industry. An oil tanker was named after him, and it was used in World War Two to transport oil to the allied forces. Some families may find it difficult to emotionally disassociate themselves from the origin of family wealth, but Jamison Suter, great-great-grandson of Lauren J. Drake, said that one should not be sentimental about an investment: “Be grateful you received it, but if it is doing something wrong, try to change the company.”
Jamison, with his background in cultural anthropology and environmental science, started engaging in shareholder activism in the early 2000s. He read the resolutions put to ExxonMobil’s BoD and voted on them with his conscience, but he felt that his action “was a useless drop in the ocean.” He started selling off his shares in 2017 and by now has already sold all of them. “If you cannot change the companies, dump the investment as loudly as you can,” explained Jamison. His aunt, his brother, and sister have all done the same.
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Bonnie Chiu Contributor
I am a Forbes 30 Under 30 social entrepreneur, a gender equality advocate and a social impact consultant. I am the Founder and CEO of Lensational, empowering marginalised women in 20 countries in Asia and Africa through photography training and platforms to sell their work. I also serve as the Managing Director of The Social Investment Consultancy, an internationally impact advisory firm, with a focus on gender and diversity within impact investing. A recognised advocate for gender equality, I was profiled the Ambassador for Sustainable Development Goal 5 – Achieve Gender Equality — in the Lavazza Calendar. A global citizen, I have roots in Hong Kong and Indonesia, and have lived in the US, Singapore, Pakistan, Denmark, Germany and currently I am based in the UK.
Forbes
Does anyone else out there wonder if the “under 30 social entrepreneur, gender equality advocate and a social impact consultant” author of this article realizes that this divestment could only have occurred if there were investors willing to sink “a healthy six-figure sum” into ExxonMobil “on the basis of” capitalism?
One such family is certain descendants of Lauren J. Drake, past president of Standard Oil of New Jersey, which eventually merged into ExxonMobil. These descendants have sold off their inherited shares, a healthy six-figure sum, on the basis of environmentalism.
Under 30 social entrepreneur, a gender equality advocate and a social impact consultant
As the great Time Allen would say…
Until reality comes to an end…
The fossil fuel divestment movement will remain “a really futile and stupid gesture”…
She’s a bimbo. It’s plain that she has never set foot in the slums of any south (eastern or western) Asian city like Singapore or Jakarta, and has no idea what real poverty is like.
Haven’t seen that much mind-boggling silliness and self-importance since Monday.
A wise old pilot who during WW II was assigned to Karachi to fly the Hump once said “If they ever decided to give the world an enema, Karachi is where they’ll place the hose”
Time to buy Oil and Gas shares. They are undervalued.
No just the green and left losers. The real market does not care.
This is the value of coal adjusted to change in dollar value … figure 4
https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2007/apr/1.html
That is the reserve bank of Australia research which must be neutral
So in relative terms coal is worth exactly the same today as it was in 1906.
Oil is the standout figure 7 it is worth more today than it historically was.
The commentators have not mentioned the most important implication from the article. This author works and writes for a magazine connected to Forbes! And Forbes advertises themselves as “The #1 Most Trusted Magazine In America.”
I think that Forbes should add the word “Was” in front of their motto.
After reading young contributor Bonnie Chiu’s bio a few times, my main reaction is she certainly has a 100% buzzword compliant career.
Do these people really not realize how ridiculous their gobbldy-gook sounds? Are they really that impressed with the sound of their own pseudo-cleverness?
Oil and gas companies have been up for a bumpy ride (BS) as more investment funds divest from fossil fuels. (Oil and gas companies didn’t own the stock) It is not only institutional investors such as the Norwegian sovereign fund doing so, but also families and individuals. The Oil and gas companies could do a buy back which would make their worth more.
The Big ReInsurance company n the world, you know the insurance company that insures insurance companies all over the globe , divested from anything oil and gas, 5 years ago.
It also stopped covering any insurance company that offer natural disaster protection in certain areas of the world, including Florida and all states on the gulf of Mexico, which is why you cannot ind anyone insuring your home in Florida.
The difference is with coal power stations the governments usually underpin them. What government needs commercial insurance … I hope you do realize how governments insure themselves? It varies slightly but it’s all around a common theme in the developed nations.
Yawn…
The Rainforest Action Network was one of the rent-a-mob groups working with Steven Donziger in the Lago Agrio shakedown attempt against Chevron.
Let’s hope they trigger more RICO lawsuits against the rent-a-mob groups.
Silly troll. It’s like you never heard of google.
https://www.weshopinsurance.com/news/2017/05/list-of-florida-homeowners-insurance-companies-25-largest-companies
A bit off-topic, but usually anyone who majored in “gender studies” or some such nonsense are working at Starbucks for the next 20 years trying to pay off their student loans….
Is a “social entrepreneur” what we used to call a charlatan, a mountebank, or just a plain bullshitter”
The Divestment Movement requires the public to be as ignorant of stocks as they are.
Man X sell his shares of Y Oil to Woman Z. No reason for Y Oil to care. Y Oil got their money long ago when they sold the shares to the public.
‘Oil and gas companies have been up for a bumpy ride as more investment funds divest from fossil fuels.’
Divestment doesn’t affect investment. Nothing ‘bumpy’ about it.
Mr Laurence J Drake would have wondered what he has done wrong.
Of course, the majority of comments on Ms. Chiu’s article are, as per usual, trenchant, insightful and funny, but I’m still stuck.
I’ve re-read Ms. Chui’s autobiography several times, and still find it hard to believe she expects readers to take what she wrote seriously. As someone who pre-dates Ms. Chui’s generation, and bears some responsibility for its outcome, all I can think is: “What have we done?”
For anyone needing assistance with with virtue signaling. I am willing to accept a gift of five or ten or twenty thousand shares or more of any of the major oil companies.