Pages tagged "Billion Dollar Green Challenge"

Hampshire College

Posted on Endowment Snapshots by · July 14, 2015 12:26 AM
Hampshire College

Endowment Value: $48.5 million (2021)

Hampshire College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts. The college's endowment, of which is 80% donor-restricted,is managed by the Trustees of Hampshire College.

Hampshire College was among the first colleges to adopt SRI policies in the 1970s, and it was the first to divest from South Africa to protest apartheid. In 2011, Hampshire began incorporating ESG principles into its investment strategy by adopting an investment policy that emphasized positive screening and active investment in companies that aligned with Hampshire’s mission. This new policy led Hampshire College to become the first college to divest from fossil fuels.

Hampshire College’s Policy on Environmental, Social, and Governance Investing acknowledges that because of the long-term risks certain business practices pose, consideration of ESG principles is part of the college’s fiduciary duties. Read the full policy here.

In January 2019, College President Miriam Nelson announced the College’s intention to find a long-term strategic partner to merge with and ensure a “thriving and sustainable future”, citing both financial and enrollment hardships as a small, under-endowed liberal arts college.

In 2020, Hampshire College was featured in the Intentional Endowment Network’s case study on ESG investing. The study revealed that schools employing ESG investing practices saw the same or better returns as schools employing a traditional approach to investing. Read the full study here.

Hampshire College is a participant or member of the following Initiatives & Commitments: 

Other Sustainable Investing Practices and News:


University of Vermont

Posted on Endowment Snapshots by · July 02, 2015 2:14 PM

University of Vermont

Endowment Value: $730 million (2021)

The University of Vermont is a public university located in Burlington, Vermont. The endowment is managed by the University of Vermont Foundation (UVF) and is overseen by the Investment Subcommittee (ISC) of the Board of Trustees.

The endowment is separated into several pools. The Green Fund is a pool that uses negative screening to invest responsibly. Another pool, the Student-Managed Pool, is managed by students and provides a learning opportunity for students interested in sustainable investment.    

According to its Statement of Investment Objectives and Policies, the Board considers moral, ethical, and social criteria in selecting investments or participates in shareholder resolutions that address moral, ethical, or social issues. The University does not invest in tobacco companies or uranium landmine companies.

The University of Vermont currently has an SRI Advisory Council that conducts research on issues related to proxy voting, shareholder initiatives, screening, and monitoring the University’s investment portfolio for indications of social harm. For example, in 2018, after research and extensive conversations on the options available to the University, the SRI Advisory Council recommended moving forward on a green bond strategy to improve the ESG metrics of a portion of UVM’s operating reserves.

In October 2019, UVM pledged to invest an extra $10 million in green bonds. This move followed sustained pressure from student activists advocating for fossil fuel divestment. SGA President Jillian Scannell said “Students want divestment, and the administration knows that. Divestment is determined by the board [of trustees], so I feel like this is the administration’s effort to say, ‘We hear you, and we’re trying to be responsive to your call.’”

In July 2020, the university announced its decision to divest from fossil fuels. No new direct investments in fossil fuels will be made, and the university aims to divest entirely by 2023.

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

  • AASHE STARs: Yes, Gold
  • ACUPCC: Yes, Climate Neutral by 2022
  • Billion Dollar Green Challenge: Yes
  • CDP: No
  • Committee for Investor Responsibility: Yes
  • Divestment Goal: Yes
  • INCR: No
  • Montreal Carbon Pledge: No
  • Sustainable Investment Fund: Yes
  • Sustainable Investment Policy: Yes
  • Principles for Responsible Investment: No

Other Sustainable Investing Practices and Resources:

University of California

Posted on Endowment Snapshots by · July 01, 2015 4:29 PM

University of California System

Endowment Value: $29.9 billion (2021)

The University of California is a public university system in California. It has 10 campuses located in Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz. The Office of the Chief Investment Officer of the Regents manages the UC system’s endowment.

In September of 2014, the Office of the Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) developed and adopted a framework on sustainable investing. The framework, developed with input from the UC Board of Regents, UC students, faculty, staff, and other stakeholders, requires the OCIO to consider ESG factors when making investment decisions. In 2017, UC adopted an additional policy to strengthen its ESG framework. The OCIO applies a handful of negative screens to its investments, including companies doing business in Sudan and those involved in thermal coal or oil sands, tobacco, firearms, and private prisons.

The UC has made significant investments in various sustainable companies, funds, and initiatives and is an active member in several climate-related investor groups. In 2015, the UC founded the Aligned Intermediary, an investment advisory group that helps long-term investors identify climate infrastructure projects in clean energy, water infrastructure, and waste-to-value that they can invest in. In 2017 the UC endowment made a $50 million sustainable agriculture investment through the AI platform. That same year, the UC became the first and only institutional investor to sign on to the Bill Gates Breakthrough Energy Coalition. In 2018, UC announced a commitment to invest $1 billion over five years in climate change solutions.

In July 2019, UC’s Academic Senate announced the passage of a Memorial calling on the UC Board of Regents to divest from the top 200 fossil fuel companies. The memorial was voted on by faculty at all 10 campuses of the university system and received a combined vote of 77% in favor. 

In September of 2019, the University of California announced its plans to divest from all fossil fuel securities. Between UC’s endowment and its pension fund, the University divested over $80 billion from fossil fuels, making it the single largest act of fossil fuel divestment in the movement’s history. “We believe hanging onto fossil fuels is a financial risk,” said chief investments officer Jagdeep Singh Bachher of the University’s divestment decision. By May 2020, the University announced it had completed its divestment process. UC sold over $1 billion in fossil fuel assets.

In 2020, the University of California was featured in the Intentional Endowment Network’s case study on ESG investing. The study revealed that schools employing ESG investing practices saw the same or better returns as schools employing a traditional approach to investing. Read the full study here.

The UC System and/or Individual Campuses are a participant or member of the following Initiatives & Commitments: 

Other Sustainable Investing Practices: 

 

Additional Resources:

Harvard University

Posted on Endowment Snapshots by · June 29, 2015 5:05 PM
Harvard University 

Endowment Value: $53.2 billion (2021)

Harvard University is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Harvard Management Company (HMC) manages the endowment, the largest college endowment in the world.

In 1972, Harvard established the Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (ACSR) and the Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility(CCSR). The ACSR considers shareholder resolutions and makes recommendations to the CCSR, which makes decisions on how Harvard should vote on those resolutions.

In 2013, Harvard established the Social Alternative Fund, managed separately from Harvard’s endowment and invested with special consideration given to social responsibility issues. In the same year, the Harvard Management Company created the position of Vice President of Sustainable Investing, who works to integrate sustainability principles into Harvard’s investment policy and acts as the liaison between the Management Company and other ESG-related organizations at Harvard. Kate Murtagh is the current Managing Director of Sustainable Investing and the Chief Compliance Officer of HMC.

In 2014, Harvard became the first organization in the United States to be a signatory of both the Carbon Disclosure Project and the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment. The Harvard Management Company’s sustainable investment approach outlines three methods of investing more sustainably, to read the full policy click here. The student body and campus organizations such as Harvard Undergraduates for Environmental Justice and Divest Harvard remain active in maintaining a dialogue on divestment from fossil fuels and unethical land usage such as the deforestation of indigenous lands in Brazil and overdrafting water in drought-stricken California.

In November of 2019, Harvard released an update to the school’s sustainable investment strategy. The update summarized Harvard’s work in recent years to further integrate sustainable investment into HMC’s investment strategy, including highlighting Harvard’s status as a signatory to the Ceres Investor Network, Climate Action 100+, and Principles for Responsible Investment.

In April of 2020, Harvard announced its plan for its endowment to go carbon-neutral by 2050, in accordance with goals set by the Paris Agreement. The commitment is the first of its kind made by an American university.

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

 

Other Sustainable Investing Practices:



The Billion Dollar Green Challenge

Posted on Blog by · August 06, 2014 1:40 PM

The Billion Dollar Green Challenge -- an initiative of the Sustainable Endowment Institute that promotes green Revolving Funds (GRFs) on college and university campuses -- was featured on NPR's Marketplace this morning.

In the interview, SEI Executive Director, Mark Orlowski, explains how endowments can invest in GRFs as part of their investment strategy without worry about donor restrictions on the funds. Done properly, these investments can help campuses avoid substantial costs by upgrading to more efficient technologies and improving design to lower demand for energy. Over the years, these savings can add up to significant returns on the original investments -- Harvard is saving $5 million a year as a result of their GRF projects. 

Listen to the 2 minute interview on Marketplace's website: How to grow green energy along with endowments. 

Visit www.greenbillion.org to more about the Billion Dollar Green Challenge and the 43 institutions that are participating to date. 

 

 

 

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