‘I wouldn’t call it a victory’: Fossil Free Books organisers on Baillie Gifford’s exit from literary festival funding

Despite its role in bringing the asset manager’s sponsorships to an end, the activist group has faced criticism that ‘not a dime has been divested from fossil fuels’. Four of its campaigners speak out

Until earlier this year, novelist and film-maker Omar Robert Hamilton didn’t know what Baillie Gifford was – it was just “two words that [he’d] seen on top of things for years and years”.

While aware that it sponsored some literary organisations, Hamilton didn’t know whether the investment management firm “was a drink or a bank or what” until he got involved with Fossil Free Books (FFB) in March. The campaign group has been putting pressure on Baillie Gifford to pull its investments in the fossil fuel industry since August 2023, when climate activist Greta Thunberg pulled out of her scheduled appearance at the Baillie Gifford-sponsored Edinburgh international book festival, accusing the asset manager of “greenwashing”. Since May this year, FFB has also asked that Baillie Gifford divest “from companies that profit from Israeli apartheid, occupation and genocide”, as it believes that “solidarity with Palestine and climate justice are inextricably linked”.