Brown University 

Endowment Value: $6.9 billion (June 2021)

Brown University is a private college in Providence, Rhode Island. The endowment is managed by the Brown University Investment Office. The Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investment Policies (ACCRIP) considers issues of ethical and moral responsibility in the investment policies of Brown University. Committee members include students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the University. ACCRIP examines all proxy resolutions concerning issues of social responsibility that are presented to the University as a shareholder and has developed guidelines for voting on such resolutions.

In 2016, Brown launched the Sustainable Investment Fund, a fund with no minimum donation that gives donors who wish to support the University philanthropically a sustainability-focused giving option structured to invest in companies that meet high standards of environmental, social, and governance practices.

In 2017, President Christina Paxson announced the formation of a Task Force on Climate Change and Business and Investment Practices that will identify and recommend opportunities for Brown to fully align Brown's business practices with the University's commitment to addressing climate change. In February of 2019, President Paxson endorsed a bipartisan plan to tax carbon proposed by the Climate Leadership Council. 

In March 2020, Brown hosted the Future of Sustainable Investing Conference (FSIcon). Leaders in finance and sustainability taught students about ESG investing in hopes of uniting students and industry experts in utilizing finance to create a more equitable future.

Following years of student activism, Brown University announced in March 2020 that it planned to divest fully from fossil fuels. The university began selling fossil fuel securities in October 2017 and had sold 90% of its investments in fossil fuels by March 2020. The investment office plans to sell the remaining 10% in the coming months and years.

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

• AASHE STARS: No
• ACUPCC: No 
• Billion Dollar Green Challenge: No
• CDP: No
• Committee on Investor Responsibility: Yes, The Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investment Policies
• Divestment Goal: Yes, cut campus greenhouse gas emissions 2025, net-zero by 2040, liquidate fossil fuel investments
• INCR: No
• Montreal Carbon Pledge: No
• Sustainable Investment Fund: Yes
• Sustainable Investment Policy: Yes
• Principles for Responsible Investment: No

Other Sustainable Investing Practices:

• Letter from Brown's President on Divestment and Confronting Climate Change (March 2020)
• Brown President Supports Carbon Tax But Not Divestment (February 2019)
• Paxon initiates new climate change task force (2017)
• Brown Sustainable Investment Fund (2016)
• Since 2007, Brown has had a Social Choice Fund option for donors to the endowment who wish for their money to be invested in a socially responsible manner. This fund has a minimum donation of $25,000 however, making it inaccessible to many small donors.
• Brown University Sustainability
• Fossil Fuels in Investment Policies