More than 200 writers, journalists, illustrators, publishers and booksellers, including Sally Rooney, Caoilinn Hughes and Naomi Klein have signed a statement by Fossil Free Books (FFB) calling for Baillie Gifford to divest from the fossil fuel industry.

The statement reiterates the group’s demands from last year and calls on Baillie Gifford to divest from all companies involved in the Israel-Palestine conflict, saying that “solidarity with Palestine and climate justice are inextricably linked.”

Asset manager Baillie Gifford is currently a major sponsor for a number of book festivals, including the Hay Festival, Cheltenham Literature Festival, and Baillie Gifford Prize for non-fiction.

It also claims that Baillie Gifford currently has between £2.5 - £5bn invested in the fossil fuel industry and nearly £10 billion invested in companies with links to Israel's defence.

🚨We invite book workers everywhere to join 200+ signatories and sign our open letter renewing our call for Baillie Gifford to divest from the fossil fuel industry and from companies that profit from Israeli occupation, apartheid and genocide. https://t.co/wJrdhfGatn pic.twitter.com/bt3sNSethm

— Fossil Free Books (@fossilfreebooks) May 15, 2024

“Until the firm agrees to divest,” the statement reads, “we call on all literary organisations, including festivals, to end their relationships with Baillie Gifford. If our demand is not met, we reaffirm our commitment to take action through disruption and by withdrawing our labour.”

FFB also insists that many of the statement’s signatories have already withdrawn from a number of Baillie Gifford-funded festivals this year, including Edinburgh International Book Festival and the Baillie Gifford prize, which was boycotted by climate activist Greta Thunberg in 2023.

“A literary industry free from fossil fuels, genocide and colonial violence is possible and it is necessary,” FFB adds. “Institutional investors far bigger than Baillie Gifford, such as the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, are already divesting.

“We make these demands in the spirit of a just transition, a process of creating work for all – including work in literature – which does not depend on the profits of colonialism and environmental destruction.

“We know this will take work,” the statement concludes. “It is work we are committed to, and we are calling on everyone to join us.”