350.org Executive Director May Boeve and RBF President Stephen Heintz at COP21

Last week we published an exclusive interview with Stephen Heintz, CEO, Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

Subscribers to Alliance can read the full interview here.

In a wide ranging discussion with our editor, Charles Keidan, Stephen Heintz outlines his views on the Paris Agreement:

“I think Paris produced a truly historic agreement and, especially after the disappointment of Copenhagen in 2009, it exceeded all our expectations.”

On divestment from fossil fuels:

“We were one of the leading foundations in terms of work on climate change and yet we were still, through our endowment portfolio, invested in companies that are producing fossil fuels that are generating the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change.”

“It’s not appropriate to be trying to find solutions on the one hand while you’re contributing to the problem on the other.”

On US-Iran:

“We have been thanked by the White House and the State Department for having helped create an environment in which diplomacy could actually begin and ultimately succeed.”

On Israel-Palestine:

“We do not endorse the BDS movement but some of our grantees are active in it in various ways.”

On diversity:

“When you look at the data, particularly on diversity in foundation leadership and on foundation boards, we know that the numbers are not changing very rapidly.”

Read the full interview here.

To subscribe to Alliance, please visit our subscription page. Subscriptions start from as little as £40 per year. Organisations subscribing for the first time can get a 10% discount by entering the discount code MAY10 at the checkout.