In our latest update on Keep it in the ground, activists in Edinburgh prepare for a decision on divestment, plus news from our campaign as we reach 200,000 signatures

We hope you’ve got everything crossed. Campaigners at the University of Edinburgh certainly do as they wait over the weekend for a final decision on fossil fuel divestment. The decision on Monday will be significant because the institution’s £291m endowment is the third largest for a UK university, after Oxford and Cambridge.



With senior management recommending coal and tar sands divestment, Edinburgh activists will be hoping for a better result than their American peers at Swarthmore College last weekend. Despite being the birthplace of the movement, leaders at the institution announced that they will not be pursuing fossil fuel divestment.

Meanwhile in the UK, Occupy Democracy activists staged a protest in Parliament Square on Monday, calling for the criminalisation of fossil fuel exploration and investment. Three protestors were arrested, charged and are expected to appear in court in June.

Occupy News Network (@OccupyNN) Occupy Gandhi Meditation. Maythe4th be with you.: http://t.co/af1BznpDdI via @YouTube

In case you missed it...

When we launched the Keep it in the Ground campaign in March, we didn’t know what the impact would be. What would the academics think? Would other journalists be comfortable with us campaigning? In this week’s podcast, the biggest story in the world, we step outside the building and into the line of fire.

We hope fund managers were paying attention this week as two influential figures in the investment industry toured the City of London with a warning about the risks of fossil fuel investments. Al Gore’s business partner David Blood said that the only way long-term investors can justify their fossil fuel holdings is “if they believe climate change is a hoax”.



Fund managers in Denmark were also feeling the impact of the movement as members of three pension funds voted to divest from fossil fuels.

Professionals in museums in the US have become part of a similar debate as Nobel Laureate scientists and government advisors call upon science museums to cut all ties with the fossil fuel sector.

The Huffington Post featured the campaign again this week, asking: is Bill Gates the secret weapon to fighting climate change?

Get involved

Have you been celebrating in style this week? This guy has.

We hope so, because thanks to your support, more than 200,000 people have now joined the Keep it in the ground campaign. For the letters you’ve written, tweets you’ve signed and people you’ve told, we want to say a big thank you.

We’d also like to thank the scientists who sent in their messages imploring the Bill and Melinda Gates and Wellcome Trust to stop funding the fossil fuel industry. Your voices have authority and matter in this debate. You can read the messages here.

We continue to be inspired by your messages and ideas. You can send them to the campaign team at keep.it@theguardian.com. It’s not too late to join the campaign if you haven’t already. Sign up below and remember to tick the box for regular updates.