University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania announced that is does not hold, and would not expect to hold going forward, any direct investments in coal and tar sands.
Georgetown
The Georgetown University Board of Directors adopted a policy on fossil fuel and impact investments that is part of the university’s broad commitment to sustainability. Under the new policy, the university will continue to make investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency and related areas while freezing new endowment investments in companies or funds whose primary business is the exploration or extraction of fossil fuels. Georgetown will divest from public securities of fossil fuel companies within the next five years and divest from existing private investments in those companies over the next 10 years.
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University trustees have agreed the institution should stop investing in fossil fuels.The University plans to be divested from direct fossil fuel investments by the end of the decade.
Brown University
Nearly two years ago, the university decided to sell its entire exposure to fossil fuels and to date, 90% of investments in companies that extract fossil fuels have been sold, and the remainder is being liquidated as it becomes possible to do so. No new investments are being made in this area.
University of California
In a report to the California State Legislature on the Office of the Chief Investment Officer Diversity, the university described the progress that UC Investments has made in 2019 to further diversity and inclusion as one of the eight pillars of UC Investments’ Framework for Sustainable Investing, which was adopted in 2015. Beginning in 2020, UC Investments will prepare an annual report on their diversity and inclusion (“D&I”) strategy and progress and share it with the University of California Board of Regents and interested members of the public.
Harvard University
Harvard University is setting a goal to have the endowment reflect “net-zero” greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Harvard Management Company (HMC), which administers the endowment, plans to reach that goal through a process involving collaboration with faculty and other experts to calculate emissions, and careful work with asset managers to examine their portfolio’s transparency and emission levels.
University of New Hampshire
In honor of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, President James Dean has joined 26 colleges and universities in signing the Intentional Endowments Network (IEN) and Second Nature's Call to Action for Higher Education Leadership which aims to accelerate climate solutions in higher education institutions.
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford has agreed to divest from fossil fuels and commit to a net-zero investment strategy following extensive student-led campaigns and protests. In addition to divestment, Oxford University Endowment Management (OUem) will engage with fund managers to request evidence of net zero carbon business plans across their portfolios and there will also be a new member of the Investment Committee, with experience of both endowment management, but with an additional focus on climate-conscious investment.
American University
American University has fully divested all of its public fossil fuel investments from the endowment. The Board of Trustees has sold off the final $12.9 million of fossil fuel exposure within the University’s public endowment portfolio. This was done by selling $350 million in commingled and index funds, where the indirect investments were located, and using the proceeds to invest in non-fossil fuel holdings.
U of Illinois System
The University of Illinois System has invested nearly $160 million of the system endowment into its commitment to sustainability, becoming the first investor in a new environmentally and socially focused strategy launched by BlackRock.
University of California
The University of California Office of the Chief Investment Officer of the Regents announced in May that its investment portfolios are fossil free after the sale of more than $1 billion in assets from its pension, endowment and working capital pools. At the same time, the office has surpassed its five-year goal of investing $1 billion in promising clean energy projects.
Cornell University
The Board’s Investment Committee made the decision in early May to institute a moratorium on new private investments focused on fossil fuels and grow investments in alternative and renewable energy. However, the new policy does not apply to indexed and other public equity mandates, such as the S&P 500. The committee’s vote came after reviewing Cornell’s $6.9 billion endowment — in which it also considered the future of the coal, oil and gas industries and the threat of climate change, according to the resolution approved by trustees.
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester has announced that it will end investments in fossil fuel reserve and extraction companies by 2022, and ‘decarbonize’ all investments by 2038. The changes to the University’s Socially Responsible Investment Policy go further than other fossil fuel divestment programs as they include a commitment to reduce the carbon intensity of the overall investment portfolio by 30% by 2022, and then to move as quickly as possible to net zero by, at latest, 2038.
Stanford University
Stanford’s active investment holdings in fossil fuels have declined more than 90% to now represent less than 1.5% of the university’s Merged Pool, the Board reported as it outlined further efforts in support of the clean-energy transition.
George Washington University
The George Washington University Board of Trustees pledged to not make any new investments in businesses that derive the majority of their revenue from the extraction of fossil fuels and agreed to eliminate 100 percent of all such investments from its endowment over the next five years.
McGill and Other Canadian Universities
A group of 15 leading universities across Canada, spearheaded by McGill University and the University of Toronto, are uniting to tackle the global challenge of climate change by pledging to follow responsible investment practices.
University of Vermont
The university will immediately end new direct investment in fossil fuels, will fully divest from public investments in fossil fuels by July 2023 and will allow pre-existing multi-year private investments, which it stopped acquiring in 2017, to lapse without renewal. UVM will continue investing in opportunities that focus on sustainability, climate change mitigation, and other Environmental, Social and Governance, or ESG, issues. And it will accelerate an engagement campaign with managers of its commingled funds, asking that they factor the financial risks of climate change into their investment decision-making process and share their framework for doing so with UVM.
David Rockefeller Fund
The David Rockefeller Fund Joins the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance
University of Reading
The University of Reading is selling all its remaining investments in fossil fuels and putting its money behind green schemes following the appointment of fund manager Cazenove Capital. The Reading University Students’ Union (RUSU) helped the tender process.
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
The University of Michigan Board of Regents announced Feb. 20 it will pause new direct fossil fuel investments while considering adjustments to the university’s policies on how it invests endowment funds.
Queen's University (Canada)
The Board of Trustees unanimously approved the recommendations of the Climate Change Action Task Force, including a pledge to reduce the carbon intensity of the University’s investments.
Santa Monica College
Santa Monica College (SMC) announced a new endowment named in honor of George Floyd, the black man killed by police in Minneapolis last month.
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge aims to divest from all direct and indirect investments in fossil fuels by 2030 as part of the University’s plan to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2038, more than a decade before the date set by the UK Government.
Yale University
Yale’s Chief Investment Officer David Swensen has publicly instructed the firms who manage the University’s endowment to diversify their ranks — or risk Yale pulling its money from them.
University of Toronto
University Of Toronto Asset Management Corporation is one of the three finalists for Canadian Investment Review’s first Pension Leadership Awards in the category of Sustainable Investing.
Inquiry into the Use of Diverse Asset Managers by College and University Endowments, and Related Diversity and Inclusion Practices
Congress members send inquiries to 25 colleges and universities asking for information regarding the participation of women and minority-owned asset management firms in the administration of endowment assets. Responses from the universities to the inquiry are available here.
Church of England
It’s pension board is now fully divested from the oil giant for not meeting key climate criteria.
University Of Toronto Asset Management Corporation
The UTAM decided to embed responsible investing across the organization and has implemented a comprehensive approach to evaluating managers, which includes a relevant section in its investment due diligence memos.
Divestment Update: Four Colleges Announce Partial Divestment From Fossil Fuels
Newnham, Robinson, St. John’s and Fitzwilliam have all publicly announced, for the first time, that they are partially divested from fossil fuels.
University Of Oxford
Lombard Odier and the University of Oxford announced the launch of a new multi-year partnership to foster research and teaching on sustainable finance and investment, with a particular focus on climate change, circular economy and nature.
World Resources Institute
This summer, the World Resources Institute’s investment committee approved a new Climate Change Investment Statement (CCIS) with a goal to align WRI’s endowment with the Paris Agreement. To advance this goal, WRI has committed to transition the portfolio to net-zero GHG emissions by 2050 and to prioritize investments that support a just and resilient transition.
Georgetown University
Georgetown University released a report in in July of 2020 detailing the demography of their external managers.
Warren Wilson College
Warren Wilson College released a case study detailing its journey in exploring active ownership as a way to expand the positive societal and environmental impact of its investments.
Oxford University
Oxford University is pushing ahead with its pledge to divest from fossil fuels with the creation of a specific index in collaboration with asset management giant BlackRock. The arrangement is part of the Oxford University Endowment Management’s (OUem) efforts to develop an equity investment vehicle that fits with its aim of removing fossil fuels from its investment portfolios.
Yale University
Yale provided an update on the university's approach to climate change and investing
George Washington University
The Board of Trustees Task Force on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Responsibility published a report stating the university’s commitment to taking swift and decisive action to reverse the trends of climate change and of inequity in our institutions and society.
Lakehead University
Lakehead University's Board of Governors approved a motion that will see the institution divest from its fossil fuel holdings by the end of the University’s current Strategic Plan in 2023.
The updated Climate Action Plan has encourages divestment from fossil fuels by the University of Illinois Foundation, which manages the endowment with an independent board. The university has already divested its direct investments in coal, and under the new goal, by fiscal 2025, it would divest from other fossil-fuel companies, which currently make up less than 1 percent of its portfolio. The plan, developed by the UI’s Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment and Facilities & Services, also calls on the university to commit to a sustainable investing policy by fiscal 2024.
The University of Guelph passed a motion to divest from fossil fuels, but a last minute amendment leaves the door open for investment in green projects put forth by oil and gas companies.
The university will immediately end new direct investment in fossil fuels, will fully divest from public investments in fossil fuels by July 2023 and will allow pre-existing multi-year private investments, which it stopped acquiring in 2017, to lapse without renewal. UVM will continue investing in opportunities that focus on sustainability, climate change mitigation, and other Environmental, Social and Governance, or ESG, issues. And it will accelerate an engagement campaign with managers of its commingled funds, asking that they factor the financial risks of climate change into their investment decision-making process and share their framework for doing so with UVM.
The board of trustees’ Ad-Hoc Committee on Fossil Fuels appointed six committee members as well as a team of liaisons last week. The committee is charged with studying whether the University should divest its $4.3-billion endowment of fossil fuel investments.
Rutgers announced it will further consider a request to divest the university’s endowment from fossil fuel assets. The Joint Committee on Investments of the Board of Governors and Board of Trustees will appoint an ad hoc committee to evaluate divesting from fossil fuel assets, which represent about 6 percent of the nearly $1.4 billion endowment portfolio.