The Guardian:

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has sold off its entire holding in oil giant BP, in a move welcomed by fossil fuel divestment campaigners.

Bill Gates has called the selling off of coal, oil and gas stocks a "false solution" to climate change, but the known investments of his foundation in major fossil fuel companies has fallen by 85% since 2014.

The foundation, which has spent many billions of dollars improving global health, sold its $187m stake in BP between September and December 2015, according to recent regulatory filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The foundation had previously sold off its $824 million stock in Exxon.

Even though Gates has not made a public stand in favor of divestment, proponents of fossil fuel divestment are hailing the move. Last year, former mayor Mike McGinn joined environmental protesters outside the foundation's Seattle headquarters in South Lake Union calling for divestment from fossil fuels. On Monday, the group gathered outside the foundation again with an oversized thank-you note, along with signs saying, "Now please divest the rest!" According to the group, the foundation still has about $300 million invested in the fossil fuel industry. The foundation has also been criticized for investing in for-profit prison companies.

"They're moving their financial capital—now it’s time to use their moral capital and publicly commit to divestment,” McGinn said. He's calling on the foundation to join 436 institutions and 2,040 people the world over, worth a total of $2.6 trillion, who've committed to divesting from fossil fuels—according to a 2015 study by Arabella Advisors.

The foundation maintains a policy of not commenting on its investments.

Sydney Brownstone contributed reporting.