Gates Foundation Further Cuts Fuel Holdings, Selling BP Stake

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has shed its entire stake in British oil giant BP, a further sign that the world’s largest philanthropy is pulling back from investments in fossil fuels, The Guardian writes. Recent Securities and Exchange Commission filings show the foundation sold its $187 million in BP stock from September to December last year.

While Bill Gates has downplayed the notion that fossil-fuel divestment will help solve climate change — instead promoting large investments in clean-energy technology — his foundation has quietly reduced its known holdings in major oil, gas, and coal companies by 85 percent since 2014, according to The Guardian, which has campaigned for divestment.

The foundation, which does not comment publicly on its investment decisions, sold its ExxonMobil shares, valued at some $824 million, in late 2014. Following the BP sale, it has about $200 million invested in fossil fuels.