Divestment From Fossil Fuels: Evidence From Ownership Data

Divestment From Fossil Fuels: Evidence From Ownership Data | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Physical Sciences - Article Divestment From Fossil Fuels: Evidence From Ownership Data Alain Naef, Benjamin Trouvé This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5404576/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Fossil divestment, or the sale of fossil fuel financial assets, aims to redirect capital towards sustainable energy sources. Historical precedents, such as divestment during South African Apartheid, successfully pressured governments to drive change. But is there any substantial evidence of fossil fuel divestment today? Here we show that large-scale divestment remains limited, with only certain religious organizations, universities, and public institutions actively reducing fossil fuel holdings. Using a new database of 30 million investor positions across 312 major fossil fuel companies, we reveal distinct short- and long-term divestment drivers: while short-term divestment is primarily triggered by declining oil prices, long-term divestment is influenced by anticipated environmental and climate policy risks. Yet, only a minority of investors consider these long-term risks in their fossil fuel investment strategies, indicating a hesitant shift towards divestment as a response to climate concerns. Scientific community and society/Energy and society/Energy economics Scientific community and society/Social sciences/Climate change/Climate-change mitigation Scientific community and society/Social sciences/Economics Divestment Climate finance Ownership structure Stock market Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5404576","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Physical Sciences - Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":375553148,"identity":"d36be377-31f6-447f-a972-e02b23c6930f","order_by":0,"name":"Alain Naef","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA4klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACdgaGA2AG82EQLSFDWAszTAtbWgJICw9RWiCALccARBHWwt/M/PBwAcMdeX42ns+vbtRY8DCwHz66AZ8WicNsBodnMDwznNnGu8065xjQYTxpaTfwWnOYweAwD8Nhxg33e7cZ57ABtUjwmOHVIn+Y/QNIi/3+YzzPjHP+EaEFaAXYlsQNbDzMj3PbiNBieJinAKQrecYxNjPm3D4JHjZCfpE73r75M0/FYdv+NubHn3O+1cnxsx8+ht/7EOeBSTYJMElYOQIwfyBF9SgYBaNgFIwcAAAkF0PGjk+QnwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7457-3539","institution":"ESSEC Business School","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Alain","middleName":"","lastName":"Naef","suffix":""},{"id":375553149,"identity":"190ad954-f632-4903-a30b-5a74e608ffd5","order_by":1,"name":"Benjamin Trouvé","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Nanterrre","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Benjamin","middleName":"","lastName":"Trouvé","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-11-06 17:06:36","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5404576/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5404576/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":69777475,"identity":"2146bece-e3b8-44f5-b702-284b3bec9de3","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-11-25 07:37:34","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":462459,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"Fossildivestment.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5404576/v1_covered_8438dc5f-38a8-4d9c-927e-35ded9b0c277.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Divestment From Fossil Fuels: Evidence From Ownership Data","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Divestment, Climate finance, Ownership structure, Stock market","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5404576/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5404576/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Fossil divestment, or the sale of fossil fuel financial assets, aims to redirect capital towards sustainable energy sources. 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