University of New Hampshire

Endowment Value: $401.3 million (2020)

The University of New Hampshire is a public research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It has a student body of approximately 15,000 across its six campuses. The UNH Foundation manages the endowment.

UNH considers sustainability a core value underpinning university academics, research, and operations. UNH has received a perfect score on the Princeton Review’s Green College Honor Roll. In 2019, UNH was one of only four universities to receive a Platinum STARS rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).

The University’s commitment to sustainability, largely thanks to conversations sparked by students, is now integrated into its investment practices. Since 2017, the UNH Committee on Investor Responsibility (CIR), with membership including students, faculty, alumni, endowment stakeholders, and external advisors, has helped support the Foundation in sustainable, socially responsible investment practices and policies through: 

• Researching sustainable investment opportunities
• Considering sustainable investment proposals from the UNH community 
• Making recommendations to the Asset Allocation Committee (AAC) of the UNHF Board of Directors on possible courses of action 
• Educating and informing the broader UNH community about sustainable investment practices in general and about UNH’s sustainable investment practices in particular.

UNHF’s investment policy takes a multi-pronged approach, including positive and negative screening, full ESG integration into financial analysis, and active ownership through shareholder engagement opportunities. Furthermore, ESG factors are strongly considered in manager selection. As a signatory of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment, much of the Foundation’s sustainable investment commitments are guided by those principles. 

UNHF currently has an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) endowment pool, which was created in 2015. The initial $1 million seed funding has grown to approximately $40 million as of March 2019. In 2017, the Foundation invested $3 million into the NH Community Loan Fund as a component of the fixed income segment of the main pool. NHCLF is the Foundation’s first direct impact investment to make affordable financing options available to economically disadvantaged individuals and communities in New Hampshire.

In 2020, UNH 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.

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

• AASHE STARS: Yes, Platinum
• ACUPCC: Yes, Carbon Neutral By 2099
• Billion Dollar Green Challenge: Yes
• CDP: No
• Committee for Investor Responsibility: Yes
• Divestment Goal: No
• INCR: No
• Montreal Carbon Pledge: No
• Sustainable Investment Fund: No
• Sustainable Investment Policy: Yes
• Principles for Responsible Investment: Yes

Other Sustainable Investing Resources, Practices, and News:

• UNH President Dean signs IEN/Second Nature Call to Action for Higher Education Leadership | University of New Hampshire Website
  • On the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, President Dean signed a call to action that aims to accelerate climate solutions in higher education institutions

• Sustainable Investing at UNH | University of New Hampshire Website
  • Part of UNH's investment pool is composed of ESG-targeted assets and ESG-screened active and passive (index) funds, in order to achieve better operational performance, innovation, and risk management within their investments.
• UNH Expands Sustainability Leadership with Alignment of Investments and Values | UNH Newsroom, May 2019
  • UNH completed the transition of 16% of its investable assets to ESG investments as it works to align the university's investments and sustainable values
• Panel: An Introduction to The IEN Roadmap & How The University of New Hampshire Intentionally Invests l Intentional Endowments Network and WISE, May 2019
  • At the event, we heard University of New Hampshire stakeholders describe the why’s and how’s of the journey they are on to align investments with their campus-wide sustainability goals.
• Q&A Series: Making an ESG Impact Through Public Fixed Income l Intentional Endowments Network, April 2019
  • In this Q&A article, IEN approached industry experts to gain insight on opportunities and trends within the sector and how managers and asset owners measure the impact of their investments.
• Q&A Series: The Power and Impact of Community Investing l Intentional Endowments Network, September 2018
  • In this Q&A article, IEN approached specialists within the Community Investing space to get their perspectives on the value of Community Investing, understanding how to incorporate such investments in one's portfolio and how to truly make an impact regardless of varying levels of assets under management.
• Article: Feature School - University of New Hampshire l Intentional Endowments Network, Quarterly Newsletter, July 2018
  • This feature article in IEN's newsletter discusses the UNH Foundation's commitment to sustainable investing and UNH's history of sustainability and sustainable investing.
• Panel: What Might Community Investing Look Like for a College Endowment? l Intentional Endowments Network, Community Investing Roundtable, June 2018
  • On this panel, Kate Dumas (Principal/Consultant, Prime Buchholz) invited Erik Gross (Board Treasurer, UNH Foundation) and John Hamilton (Vice President of Economic Opportunity, New Hampshire Community Loan Fund) to illustrate what community investing might look like for a college endowment. 

Loyola Marymount University 

Endowment Value: $482.2 million (2020)

Loyola Marymount University is a private research university located in Los Angeles, California. The LMU Board of Trustees’ Endowment Committee manages its endowment.

In July of 2017, LMU became a signatory of the United Nations’ supported Principles for Responsible Investment. The agreement is the result of a two-year exploration of responsible investing on campus, which included active engagement among trustees and administrators, student groups, and the university’s Jesuit community. LMU is the first Jesuit Catholic university to become a signatory in the United States.

“LMU continues to be a vanguard of environmental responsibility and sustainability in higher education, and we are proud to uphold the Principles for Responsible Investment,” said President Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D. “We prepare our students to thrive as thought leaders and global citizens to create a better planet for those here and for those to come. Ever mindful of LMU’s mission to provide a whole-person approach to our education, we seek to catalyze education, innovation, and stewardship initiatives that benefit humankind. We lead by example, and we hope that our partnership with PRI will inspire other institutions to incorporate environmental and social decision-making into their investments.”

As of Spring 2019, LMU’s responsible investing advisory committee (RIAC), formed in November 2017, finalized a Responsible Investment Policy. The Responsible Investment Policy stated that the University should proactively invest in various types of clean and sustainable energy.

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

• AASHE STARS: Yes, Gold
• ACUPCC: Yes, Carbon Neutral by 2050
• Billion Dollar Green Challenge: No
• CDP: No
• Divestment Goal: No
• Committee for Investor Responsibility: Yes
• INCR: No
• Montreal Carbon Pledge: No
• Sustainable Investment Fund: No
• Sustainable Investment Policy: Yes
• Principles for Responsible Investment: Yes

Other Sustainable Investing Practices:

• LMU Investments Website
• LMU Green Accomplishments

Columbia University 

Endowment Value: $14.35 billion (June 2021)

Columbia University is a private institution located in New York City. The Columbia Investment Management Company (IMC) manages the University's endowment. Columbia established the Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing (ASCRI) in March 2000. The Committee's purpose is to advise the University Trustees on ethical and social issues that arise in the management of the University's endowment. To ensure that the Committee is broadly representative of the University community, its twelve voting members are drawn in equal proportion from students, faculty, and alumni of the University.

The ACSRI maintains comprehensive guidelines for the endowment’s socially responsible investment proxy voting that includes positions on a variety of issues. According to The University’s most recent STARS report, Columbia currently performs negative screenings for tobacco producers/manufacturers, private prison operators, companies deriving more than 35% of their revenue in thermal coal production, and those implicated in human rights abuses. 

Columbia University houses the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI), which is a joint center of Columbia Law School and the Earth Institute at Columbia University. The CCSI is the only university-based applied research center and forum dedicated to the study, practice, and discussion of sustainable investment.

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

• AASHE STARS: Yes, Gold
• ACUPCC: No
• Billion Dollar Green Challenge: No
• CDP: Yes
• Committee on Investor Responsibility: Yes
• Divestment Goal: Yes, divestment from coal & in oil and gas companies
• INCR: No
• Montreal Carbon Pledge: No
• Sustainable Investment Fund: No
• Sustainable Investment Policy: Yes
• Principles for Responsible Investment: No

 Other Sustainable Investing Practices and Resources from Columbia University:

• Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI)
• Columbia's Fossil Free Policy (2021)

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

Endowment Value: $1.436 billion (June 2019)

The University System of Maryland (USM) is Maryland’s public higher education system. USM is made up of 12 institutions and two regional higher education centers. The University System of Maryland Foundation manages USM's endowment.

University System of Maryland (USM) students have been driving change at the USM Foundation for several years. In 2013, students circulated a petition to divest from fossil fuels with nearly 600 signatures from students at Towson University, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and other colleges. In response, in 2014, along with the United Nations, the USM Foundation was a seed investor in the iShares MSCI ACWI Low Carbon Target ETF. The ETF tracks the results of the MSCI ACWI Low Carbon Target Index and addresses two dimensions of carbon exposure – carbon emissions and fossil fuel reserves. The fund was designed for individuals and institutions interested in socially-responsible alternatives to fossil fuel divestment. On January 29th, 2015, a member of the USM Foundation investment team rang the NYSE's closing bell to officially usher in the new fund’s ticker onto the exchange.

After significant pressure from student organizers, the USM Foundation stated in June 2016 that it would stop investing directly in coal, oil, and natural gas companies.

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

• IEN Member (2016)
• AASHE STARS: Yes: 
  • University of Maryland, Baltimore College - Silver
  • University of Maryland, College Park - Gold
• ACUPCC: 
  • Bowie State University - 2019
  • Coppin State University - 2025
  • Frostburg State University - 2030
  • Salisbury University, Towson University, University of Maryland Baltimore County, University of Maryland College Park, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, University of Maryland Global College - 2050
  • University of Maryland Baltimore - Not date set
• Billion Dollar Green Challenge: No
• CDP: No
• Committee on Investor Responsibility: No
• Divestment Goal: Yes, full
• INCR: No
• Montreal Carbon Pledge: No
• Sustainable Investment Fund: No
• Sustainable Investment Policy: No
• Principles for Responsible Investment: Yes

Other Sustainable Investing Practices and News

• USM Foundation Statement on Socially Responsible Investing
• University System of Maryland to direct its endowment away from fossil fuels (June 2016)
• Maryland Endowment Plans to Cut Worst-Performing Hedge Funds (July 2016)

University of Toronto 

Endowment Value: CAD $3.15 billion (2021)

The University of Toronto is a public research university located in Toronto, Ontario. UT has a student body of over 88,000 students across 11 colleges. The University of Toronto Asset Management Corp. (UTAM) oversees the University's endowment. The Responsible Investing Committee (RIC) oversees all matters relating to the development and implementation of UTAM’s responsible investing practices and is composed of senior leaders at UTAM.

In order to promote the many sustainable projects and programs on UT’s campus, the university publishes a Sustainability Yearbook. The 2018 yearbook highlighted programs such as Bikechain (a do-it-yourself bike shop) and the replacement of gas-powered equipment with new battery-powered equipment. The University of Toronto does not simply want to be sustainable. They also want to educate their students, faculty, staff, and the surrounding community on the importance of sustainability and how each individual can make a difference.

According to ATUM’s responsible investing policy, established in 2016, ESG factors play an integral part of its investment analysis and decision-making processes, including the selection of investment managers, transparency, and shareholder engagement. Since becoming a signatory of the UN’s Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in 2016, several UTAM investment officers have joined PRI advisory committees.

The University of Toronto has an active Global 350.org chapter, Toronto 350.org, that has been urging the administration to divest from fossil fuels since 2014. It has played a significant role in sparking debate around divestment. 

In response to The University of Toronto's 2016 decision not to divest from fossil fuels, President Meric Gertler provided a Q&A session regarding the University's decision and discussed its new 14-point plan to address climate change and include ESG factors in the university’s investment strategy. The plan includes a commitment to invest $750,000 over the next three years to foster innovations in teaching and curriculum focused on climate change.

In February 2020, the University of Toronto announced its plan to reduce the carbon footprint of its long-term investments. The university hopes to reduce its carbon footprint by 40% by 2030. UT will report on its progress in achieving this goal as investment decisions are made.

In June 2020, the University of Toronto 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 Toronto is a participant or member of the following Initiatives & Commitments: 

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

Other Sustainable Investing Practices:

• Universities sign U of T-led responsible investment charter to help address climate change (2020)
• Annual Responsible Investing Report (2018)
• UTAM Joins the Global Climate Action 100+ Initiative (December 2017)
• U of T’ s Asset Management Responsible Investing page
• Q&A With the President of The University of Toronto Meric Gertler: Beyond Divestment (March 2016)
• Sustainability at U of T

University of Edinburgh 

Endowment Value: £565.2 million GBP (2021)

The University of Edinburgh is a public university located in Edinburgh, Scotland and founded in 1582. UE has approximately 33,000 students across its five campuses and has helped earn Edinburgh its nickname of ‘Athens of the North’ due to the university’s legacy in thought leadership and strong academic research programs. The University Court oversees the endowment.

Since the publishing of its Social Responsibility and Sustainability Strategy 2010–20, The University of Edinburgh has been at the forefront in sustainable action among European higher education institutions. After releasing this strategy, the University took significant steps to align its sustainability goals with its investment strategies. In January of 2013, Edinburgh became the first university in Europe to become a signatory to the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment. Since 2010, it has also invested more than £150 million in low carbon technology, climate-related research, and businesses that directly benefit the environment.

In 2016, the University Court committed to carbon neutrality by 2040. Prior to this decision, in 2015, the University of Edinburgh committed to divesting from the most polluting coal and tar sands companies, in addition to preexisting negative screenings against coal and tar sands companies. In February of 2018, the university announced that it will divest from all fossil fuels by 2021, making Edinburgh the largest university endowment in the UK to divest from fossil fuels.

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

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

 Other Sustainable Investing Practices:

• University of Edinburgh’s Divestment Announcement 
• Social Responsibility and Sustainability

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: 

• IEN Founding Member (2016)
• AASHE STARS:
  • UC Berkeley - Gold
  • UC Davis - Gold
  • UC Irvine - Platinum
  • UC Los Angeles - Gold
  • UC Merced - Gold
  • UC Riverside - Gold
  • UC San Diego - Gold
  • UC Santa Barbara - Gold
  • UC Santa Cruz - Gold
• ACUPCC: Yes, 10 Campuses With Various Goals
  • UC Merced - 2020
  • UC Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz - 2025
  • UC Berkeley - 2035
  • UC Davis, Irvine, San Francisco - 2050
• Billion Dollar Green Challenge: Yes, UC Los Angeles
• CDP: Yes 
• Committee for Investor Responsibility: Yes (UC Merced, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz)   
• Divestment Goal: Yes, full divestment
• INCR: Yes
• Montreal Carbon Pledge: Yes
• Sustainable Investment Fund: Yes
• Sustainable Investment Policy: Yes
• Principles for Responsible Investment: Yes

Other Sustainable Investing Practices: 

• Sustainable Investing Framework, Office of the Chief Investment Officer of the Regents 
• Chief Investment Officer of the Regents: Sustainable Investment Page
• Feb. 2015 - UC's Progress on Sustainable Investment Strategy
• Sept. 2014 - UC's Announcement of Sustainable Investment Strategy
• University of California Sustainability
• UC Berkeley's Sustainable Investment Fund

Additional Resources:

• University of California says it has fully divested from fossil fuels (May 2020)
• UC Investments creates a program to increase the percentage of diverse management professionals working with the endowment (December 2019)
• The University of California system is ending its investment in fossil fuels (September 2019)
• UC investments are going fossil free. But not exactly for the reasons you may think Jagdeep Singh Bachher and Richard Sterman, LA Times (September 2019)
• UC Faculty Call on Regents to Divest UC Funds from Fossil Fuels (July 2019)
• UC Administration to Reinvest $500 Million Away from Fossil Fuels (April 2018)
• UC investment plan seeks solutions to climate change (September 2015)

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: 

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

Other Sustainable Investing Practices:

• Harvard Joins Climate Action 100+ (September 2019)
• Harvard Social Alternative Fund (2013)
• Harvard Sustainability
• Endowment Synopsis Video
• Harvard Shareholder Responsibility Committee