The Rockefellers Brothers Fund has joined a pledge to divest US$50 billion in fossil fuels and reinvest the funds into clean energies.

The move is headed up by DivestInvest Philanthropy. Since January 2014 the commitments have doubled from 74 to 180. Since the divestment movement began 3 years ago 650 individuals and 180 institutions have made the pledge to switch to renewables over 5 years.

Heir Stephen Heintz said that the move to divest would have the great John D Rockefellers approval. “We are quite convinced that if he were alive today, as an astute businessman looking out to the future, he would be moving out of fossil fuels and investing in clean, renewable energy.”

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund is not the only high profile making a commitment. In May this year the University of Stanford said it would no longer use any of its roughly US$20 billion endowment in coal mining companies.

DivestInvest states, “While moral accountability alone compels us to act, the financial case to divest and invest is no less compelling. There is a growing recognition that if we hope to maintain a livable climate, the majority of fossil fuel reserves now on the world’s books will become stranded, unusable assets.”

The high profile announcement comes on the eve of 120 heads of state convening in front of the United Nations in New York for the climate summit.