The heirs to the Rockefeller oil fortune have decided to sell their investments in the coal industry and Canada’s oil sands, and review their remaining fossil fuel holdings for possible sale in one or two years.
Stephen Heintz, president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, suggested that John D. Rockefeller, the oilman who established the family’s fortune, would approve of the decision and would be “leading the charge” into renewable energy if he were alive today.
However, Christophe de Margerie, chief executive of Total, one of the world’s largest oil companies, criticised the move, saying he had told the fund that “without energy, the Rockefeller Centre wouldn’t exist”.