Letter from doctors urging Wellcome Trust to divest from fossil fuels nears 1000 signatories

Nearly 1000 health professionals have signed an open letter calling for one of the world’s wealthiest health charities, the Wellcome Trust, to end its investment in fossil fuel companies because their businesses threaten “human and planetary health.”

The letter, which was coordinated by the health campaigning organisations MedAct and the Climate and Health Council, was launched in June with backing from 50 senior doctors and academics.1 It argues that not divesting legitimises an industry that has made no pledges to act on climate change.

The letter says, “Divestment rests on the premise that it is wrong to profit from an industry whose core business threatens human and planetary health, bringing to mind one of the …