University of Ottawa

Endowment Value: $338.8 million CAD (2021)

The University of Ottawa is a public university located in Ottawa, Ontario in Canada. Approximately 42,500 students attend the university. The Finance and Treasury Committee manages the endowment.

As a signatory of the UN’s Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and the Montreal Carbon Pledge, the University of Ottawa has “has made a public commitment to make investment decisions that consider ESG issues while taking appropriate steps to meet its fiduciary responsibilities to optimize investment returns”.

In April 2016, University of Ottawa’s Finance and Treasury Committee released a 19-page report describing the University’s response to addressing climate change. The report recognizes the role of the student-led Fossil Free UOttawa divestment campaign in sparking a debate about the role the University should play in the fight against global warming.

While UOttawa is currently not pursuing divestment, uOttawa created a separate Clean Innovations Fund and provided the initial seed capital for the long-term portfolio. uOttawa is also taking considerable action towards reducing its carbon footprint across campus facilities.

In June 2020, uOttawa joined fifteen other Canadian universities in signing a charter committing to increased efforts to address the climate crisis. Signatories of the charter pledge to adopt an SRI investing policy, regularly calculate the carbon footprint of their investment portfolios, publicly share progress and results in achieving sustainability goals, and evaluate fund managers based on their compliance with the guidelines set forth in the charter.

The University of Ottawa is a participant or member of the following Initiatives & Commitments:

• AASHE STARS: Yes, Silver
• ACUPCC: No
• Billion Dollar Green Challenge: No
• CDP: No
• Committee on Investor Responsibility: Yes
• Divestment Goal: Yes, partial
• INCR: No
• Montreal Carbon Pledge: Yes
• Sustainable Investment Fund: Yes
• Sustainable Investment Policy: Yes
• Principles for Responsible Investment: Yes

Other Sustainable Investing Practices and Resources:

• uOttawa signs national charter to address climate change (June 2020)
• Addressing Global Warming: The uOttawa Response (April 2016)
• uOttawa to Seek Ways to 'Shift' Fossil Fuel Investments; Rejects Full Divestment (April 2016)
• Fossil Free Campaign Orientation Paper
• Responsible Investment Guideline
• Report on Sustainable Development
• Sustainability on Campus