Energy

Rockefeller Family Fund Sells Off Exxon Assets — But Is It A Sacrifice?

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The Rockefeller Family Fund, which is operated by the descendants of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, has sold off its ExxonMobil assets, as well as all other fossil fuel investments, in a strike against the oil and coal industry.

The Rockefeller Family Fund jettisoned its fossil fuel assets despite the family’s heirs still owning hundreds of million of dollars in fossil fuel assets through other Rockefeller trusts, such as the Rockefeller Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

It focused most of its purging ire on Exxon, noting in a statement that the world’s biggest oil exporter delves in “morally reprehensible conduct.” The group was referring to a series of articles written by InsideClimate News and Columbia University School of Journalism alleging Exxon was responsible for covering up and hiding its knowledge of global warming from its shareholders and investors.

Both The Rockefeller Family Fund and The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) financially bankroll InsideClimate News. Exxon officials said the fund’s decision was inevitable given its attacks on the oil giant in the past.

“It’s not surprising that they’re divesting from the company since they’re already funding a conspiracy against us,” Alan Jeffers, a spokesman for Exxon, said in a statement Wednesday.

It’s important to note that while the family and their other funds have divested fossil fuels, its individual heirs, as of 2014, have yet to sell off their assets in major oil producing companies. Additionally, their much wealthier fund — the Rockefeller Foundation — with net assets of $4 billion has yet to follow suit and sell its assets.

In June 2014, the RBF made a move to cut their ties with the fossil fuel industry.

It became one of the 800 institutions to allegedly divest $34 billion in oil assets. In fact, it was championed as a lodestar among the divesting institutions, prompting environmentalist such as Bill McKibben to call the move the “most important moments in the whole divestment campaign.”

Six months after its promise to leave oil behind, the fund, according to The Guardian’s reporting, moved at a snail’s pace trying to avoid losing treasure troves of money. The RBF at the time had only 5.2% of its endowment, or about $45 million, in fossil fuels.

The one thing that might raise eyebrows, though, is the fact that the Rockefeller Family Fund – the only fund to announce a “full divestment” – is worth a mere $130 million, paling in comparison to the likes of the Rockefeller Foundation ($4.2 billion) and the RBF’s $790 million net worth, neither of which have fully divested.

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