Plastering Against KENFO
Welcome! You are here because you have scanned a QR code at our paper-pasting action against KENFO.
KENFO is a lot of money, a lot of investments and… it is supposed to be sustainable. Yet they are actually investing a massive amount of money in fossil fuels. Details coming up.
But first, who are we?
We are a group of scientists spending our free time pasting scientific papers so that scandals like this don’t go unnoticed. (By the way, we only use water-soluble glue, that means, easy to clean, no material damage 🙂 ). That’s among other types of actions. Anyway, in general, we aim to raise awareness about and denounce those who continuously destroy the ecosystems that sustain life on Earth. In this case, we are denouncing KENFO for willingly ignoring the science. Worse, for openly lying about it, and pretending they care.
So, what’s KENFO, what are they supposed to do, what do they claim to do, and finally, what do they really do? And since we mentioned money earlier, how much are we talking about?
Basically, why should we be outraged?
KENFO = Fund for the financing of nuclear waste disposal
KENFO is a federal foundation under public law, established in 2017. They have the legal mandate of financing the disposal of nuclear radioactive waste coming from energy production in Germany. So yes, if you are following, that’s why we claim that they have the objective, and even the duty, of helping to maintain healthy ecosystems, not destroying them. Let’s see how that actually goes…
In 2017, the German government decided to shut down nuclear power plants for good. The operators of these plants weaseled out of their responsibility to take care of their radioactive waste for centuries to come with a one-off payment of 24 billion Euros : 24 000 000 000 €. The responsibility of taking care of the waste was handed over to the federal government. But this requires money. Lots of money. So they created KENFO to take the €24bn and invest them in a safe way, to make sure that there is enough money to finance the storage of the radioactive waste over the next centuries. KENFO’s primary task is to keep our ecosystems clean. Accordingly, they are obliged to comply with certain norms, aren’t they?
Well… technically, they have to integrate the so-called “ESG criteria” (Environment, Social, Governance) into their investment strategy; as stipulated in the administrative regulation “Investment Guidelines” of June 27, 2017 of the Federal Ministry of Finance. That means that they have to invest their money in a way that is sustainable. In particular, the German Bundestag has forbidden them from investing in any company linked to nuclear power. However, nothing is said about fossil fuels.
We demand that this is changed!
As a matter of fact, KENFO invests tremendous amounts of money in fossil fuel companies. Fossil fuels are well-known for being one of the main killers of the planet and species. It’s essential that money which is supposed to protect the environment from harm by one thing, nuclear waste, is not invested into what’s killing it another way, fossil fuels! It is the German federal government’s responsibility to make sure that these investments into fossil fuels come to an end.
You may wonder in detail: how much money is actually being invested in fossil fuels and how extensive is the problem?
Well, every year, KENFO has to publish the detailed list of their investments. This enabled the NGO urgewald to analyze the KENFO portfolio and compare it with the global databases GOGEL & GCEL of all coal-gas-oil companies. Here comes the result of their investigation, published in a report. Brace yourselves. This looks ugly.
- As of December 31, 2022, KENFO had invested a total of €771 million in 107 fossil fuel companies (<3% of all companies in the portfolio – small share, huge damage)
- From these investments, the vast majority are dedicated to oil and gas companies, including Exxon Mobil, TotalEnergies, Shell and BP. Most of them are expanding their fossil fuel business and are thus on a confrontation course with the 1.5-degree limit and the Paris Climate Agreement.
- But some money is also invested in coal companies who show little interest in making their business less destroying for the climate.
That was for 2022.
Now, let’s dig a bit deeper. KENFO claims they desire to make investments that have net zero CO2 emissions by 2050. Yet, there is no such intent demonstrated by their investments. And even worse, in 2023, their investments in fossil fuel companies increased to €780 million. In 2024, an addition to their portfolio was made with investments in SaudiAramco, the world’s largest gas and oil company. Today, the urgewald database references 114 companies in which KENFO has invested about €818 million. Far from decreasing, the problem is really getting worse.
We are not the only ones pointing our fingers at KENFO. Greenpeace also wrote an alarming investments analysis. The media has also raised concern, including Tagesschau and Deutschlandfunk.
Now that you have more info, knowledge and sources to dig further yourself:
Join us in demanding that this funding of climate chaos stops here!
Join us in calling upon our political representatives for money dedicated to public services, and to keeping our grounds clean from radioactive waste, to not be poured into destroying our ecosystems by burning fossil fuels!
Join us, with only a month to go until the elections, in demanding that political players meet their responsibilities towards future generations!
Join us in demanding that fossil fuel investments from KENFO come to an end!
Who Are We?
We are Scientist Rebellion: Academics who research and work in Germany, using civil resistance to advocate for climate justice.