Fossil Fuel Divestment

Recently I read that the Federal Government is trying to restrict the ability of Australians to protest through secondary boycotts. This action is aimed particularly at conservation organisations that organize action against environmentally unfriendly products and services.
The equivalent protest in the financial environment is even more interesting. I wonder whether the Australian Federal Government will legislate against divestment in Fossil Fuel Industries.

Divestment of Fossil Fuel Companies by Universities is already underway according to this article by Ben Caldecott for the ABC.
"Divestment campaigns typically evolve over three waves. The first wave begins with a core group of investors divesting from the target industry. Previous divestment campaigns have tended to originate in the United States and in the first phase focus on US-based investors and international multilateral institutions. The amounts divested in the first phase tend to be very small but create wide public awareness about the issues."

He then goes on to explain the divestment campaign has started in the US and has built "global momentum by targeting other universities with large endowments such as the universities of Oxford and Cambridge in the UK and the Group of Eight universities in Australia."

"In the third wave, the divestment campaign can go global and begins to target very large pension funds and market norms"

Hopefully once this campaign get past the first phase we can see serious divestment by superannuation and pension funds globally. I have always made sure my direct share investments are not in the mining & coal industries but have not yet moved entirely into sustainable investing, something I should have done a long time ago. The problem of course, for a small sucker like me, is that my return on investment is linked to how well I'll be able to live in retirement.

Surviving Summer: The Temperatures were higher than these Melbourne forecasts

The various wild swings in the legislation affecting renewable industries means investing in these means a smaller than normal chance of succeeding and getting returns. 
The current attack on all forms of renewable investing in Australia shows what forces are arrayed against new emerging and possibly extremely competitive industries.

Our current 'Captains of Industry' are not interested in level playing fields.

So hopefully the rest of the world will manage this Divestment quickly and effectively, moving capital into Green Technologies.