University of Pennsylvania

Endowment Value: $21.0 billion (2024)

 Other Sustainable Investing Practices and Resources from the University of Pennsylvania:

Sustainable Returns - Net Zero Update | Penn Office of Investments (May 2024)

University of North Carolina Asheville

Endowment Value: $52.4 million (2020)

The University of North Carolina Asheville is one of seventeen campuses that comprise the University of North Carolina System. About 3,900 undergraduate students attend UNC Asheville. UNC Management Company manages UNC Asheville's endowment. UNC Asheville is the only liberal arts college within the UNC System.

Student pressure, particularly from UNCA Divest, has played a catalytic role in sparking UNCA’s integration of environmental, social, and governance factors into its investments. UNCA’s vice chancellor for administration and finance John Pierce stated, “our students have been diligent and perceptive in working through the complexities of ESG investments from both a mission-based and financial perspective. Together, we explored alternatives and worked toward solutions.”

In February 2016, UNCA established a student-managed ESG fund and provided $10,000 in seed funding. The goal of this fund is to “invest in projects, companies, funds, or organizations with the express goal of generating and measuring mission-related social, environmental or economic change alongside financial return” alongside creating an educational opportunity for students interested in ethical investment or seeking careers in finance.

In June of 2019, UNCA became the first university in the UNC system to divest in fossil fuels. The decision came after the UNC Asheville Board of Trustees made a historic vote to shift approximately 10% of its $50 million endowment to a manager focused on ESG investing and shareholder advocacy. Students worked closely with the Board and administration to research funds and draft a proposal.

University of North Carolina Asheville 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: No
• Divestment Goal: Yes, partial
• INCR: No
• Montreal Carbon Pledge: No
• Sustainable Investment Fund: Yes
• Sustainable Investment Policy: Yes (only for a portion of the endowment)
• Principles for Responsible Investment: No

Other Sustainable Investing Practices:

• UNC Asheville becomes first in UNC system to divest from fossil fuels (June 2019)
• Sustainability on Campus

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. 

Carleton College

Endowment Value:  $1.2 billion (2021)

Carleton College is a private college located in Northfield, Minnesota. The Carleton Responsible Investment Committee (CRIC) was established in 2005 and is composed of students, staff, and faculty. The primary purpose of the CRIC is to make recommendations about the management of the endowment to the Board of Trustees to ensure that the endowment embodies Carleton's values. For example, within the past three years, the Committee has supported multiple shareholder resolutions that strengthened environmental, social, and governance policies of companies in its investment portfolio.

In addition, in the wake of growing student mobilization for fossil fuel divestment, students from the CRIC organized a student-led town hall discussion on the pros and cons of divestment in the fossil fuel industry 

According to the most recent STARS Report, “while Carleton does not have a sustainable investment policy, the College aims to invest with managers whose standards of propriety, fairness, and ethical integrity align with those of the College. The College tries to select managers that will generate superior returns, but not at all costs, and make investments in a responsible manner that takes into account societal impacts.” The College also reports that a percentage of its endowment is invested in sustainable industries such as renewable energy and sustainable forestry.

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

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

Other Sustainable Investing Practices and News:

• CRIC Charter
• Sustainability at Carleton

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

Chatham University 

Endowment Value: $95.4 million (2020)

Chatham University is a private university with an enrollment of over 2,200 students. Chatham University offers over 60 undergraduate and graduate programs in four areas of excellence: sustainability; health & lab sciences; business & communication; and the arts & humanities. All undergraduates, save for those in the nursing program, are required to take a course on sustainability.

Currently, Chatham is among the five higher education institutions out of Pennsylvania’s 164 colleges and universities to formally adopt and apply ESG practices as part of their investment strategy. The University’s sustainable investment policy outlines guiding principles that include reducing fossil fuel investments, advocating against corporations that deny climate change, and favoring investments that have positive environmental impacts, promote sustainability, and support positive local community development. More than 13% of Chatham’s investment pool is in sustainable investments.

The administration has worked closely with students on the Student Investment Team (SIT) and the committee on investor responsibility to assess the University’s exposure to fossil fuels and draft recommendations towards sustainable investing. In the Spring of 2017, the investment committee of the Board of Trustees voted to approve two new investment opportunities that are specifically aimed at excluding fossil fuels and supporting sustainable energy. Chatham’s Senior Vice President of Finance, Walt Fowler, said reducing the university’s support of fossil fuel companies is in line with its goal of pursuing sustainability in every part of its operations. “It’s important to us ethically, because we believe the world needs to reduce their use of fossil fuels,” Fowler said. At the end of this year, the university will replace a hedge fund with a private equity fund focused exclusively on supporting wind power. It will also swap investment in a standard equity fund for a BNY Mellon fund that is filtered specifically for green companies but matches the performance of the current fund.

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

• IEN Member (2017)
• AASHE STARS: Yes, Gold
• ACUPCC: Yes, Carbon Neutral By 2025
• Billion Dollar Green Challenge: No
• CDP: No
• Committee for Investor Responsibility: Yes
• Divestment Goal: No
• INCR: No
• Montreal Carbon Pledge: No
• Sustainable Investment Fund: Yes
• Sustainable Investment Policy: Yes
• Principles for Responsible Investment: No

Other Sustainable Investing Practices and News:

• Chatham University Moves Some Endowment Investments From Fossil Fuels To Green Companies, April 4, 2017
• Sustainability at Chatham University 

Portland State University 

Endowment Value: $80.3 million (2020)

Portland State University (PSU) is a public, nonprofit, coeducational research university located in Portland, Oregon with a student body of around 25,000. The Investment Committee of the PSU Foundation Board of Trustees oversees the endowment.

Portland State University is on its way to becoming the first university in Oregon to have no investments in the Carbon Underground Top 200 companies, the companies that own the most global fossil fuel reserves.

As a result of student advocacy on the Divest Portland State (DPS) campaign, an Environmental Social Governance (ESG) statement was added to the PSU Foundation’s investment policy in early 2015 and entails both a quarterly investment portfolio review and a negative fossil fuel screening across 100% of its portfolio. Nearly 50% of the value of PSUF’s holdings are in funds with positive SRI screenings.   

PSU currently has a Green Revolving Fund (GRF), established after its pledge to the Billion Dollar Green Challenge. The GRF provides funding for energy efficiency projects across campus. The fund currently holds $1.5 million and has funded nearly 20 projects since its inception in 2013.

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

• IEN Founding Member (2016)
• AASHE STARS: Yes, Gold
• ACUPCC: Yes, Climate Neutral by 2040
• Billion Dollar Green Challenge: Yes
• CDP: No
• Committee on Investor Responsibility: Yes
• Divestment Goal: No
• INCR: No
• Montreal Carbon Pledge: No
• Sustainable Investment Fund: Yes
• Sustainable Investment Policy: Yes
• Principles for Responsible Investment: No

Other Sustainable Practices and Resources:

• Sustainability at PSU

Endowment Value: $212.8 Million (2019)

Ball State University is a public university located in Muncie, Indiana. Its endowment is managed by the Ball State University Foundation. The mission of the Ball State University Foundation is to “maximize sustainable support for Ball State University by obtaining, investing, and administering private gift support and prudently discharging its fiduciary obligations to the university, donors, and designated beneficiaries.”

In spring 2012, the university launched its geothermal heating and cooling system — the nation’s largest ground-source, closed-loop district geothermal energy system. Now, nearly fully operational, the system will cut the university’s carbon footprint in half and result in an annual savings of $2 million, said Jim Lowe, director of engineering, construction, and operations at Ball State.“When we shut down the coal-fired burners in March 2014, we not only reduced our dependence on fossil fuels, we also reduced carbon dioxide emissions and sulfur matter produced by burning coal,” Lowe said.

In 2015, board members of the Ball State University Foundation supported pursuing an alternative investment portfolio that adopts environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategies. Currently, the foundation encourages its fund advisors and managers to incorporate ESG strategies into its investment portfolio. Further, foundation employees are developing opportunities for donors who wish to have gifts managed via more specific, restrictive criteria.

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

• IEN Founding Member
• AASHE STARS: Yes, Silver
• ACUPCC: Yes, Climate Neutral by 2030
• Billion Dollar Green Challenge: No
• CDP: No
• Committee on Investor Responsibility: No
• Divestment Goal: Yes
• Montreal Carbon Pledge: No
• Sustainable Investment Fund: Yes
• Sustainable Investment Policy: Yes
• Principles for Responsible Investment: No

Other Sustainable Investing Practices:

• Statement of Investment Principles
• Statement on Sustainability
• BSU Climate Action Plan

Endowment Value:  $922 million (2019)

Arizona State University (ASU) is a top-ranked research university in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area. ASU has a student body of over 80,000 students. The ASU Foundation manages ASU's endowment. The foundation also serves as the university’s entrepreneurial arm in technology commercialization, real estate investment, and other emerging initiatives.

In November of 2018, IEN published a Case Study for Arizona State University which provides in-depth coverage of the University's move toward sustainable investing. This case study was developed with significant input from the senior leadership from ASU and their investment advisors at BlackRock.

The Investment Committee advises the executive vice president, treasurer, and CFO in guiding the investment of university operating cash and endowment funds. The committee approves university investment policies, selects investment consultants and managers, monitors performance, and advises on investment strategies. Voting members of the committee include faculty from the W. P. Carey School of Business. Other voting members are appointed by the executive vice president, treasurer, and CFO.

Arizona State University’s on-site solar portfolio is one of the largest of any university in the United States, consisting of both ASU-owned and third-party-owned systems. ASU’s portfolio includes more than 24 MW dc equivalent of photovoltaic (PV), concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) and solar thermal capacity from 88 systems located throughout four major campuses and the ASU Research Park. ASU’s portfolio of renewable energy accounts for approximately 13% of ASU’s total electric use, avoiding approximately 21,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions per year, roughly the same as the annual emissions of 4,500 passenger vehicles.

ASU’s revolving fund is called the Sustainability Initiatives Revolving Fund, or SIRF. The SIRF was established in 2010 to invest in projects that foster sustainability efforts and provide an economic return on investment. SIRF funds are available to ASU community members. With the exception of small SIRF grant projects (less than $5,000), SIRF projects have certain investment criteria (e.g., IRR, NPV, and payback goals). Projects include lighting retrofits, HVAC improvements, and central utility infrastructure improvements.

In January of 2015, the ASU Foundation partnered with the Intentional Endowments Network to host the Intentionally Designed Endowment Forum. Over 100 higher education administrators convened to discuss how endowments can be used to create a more sustainable and equitable future.

As of July 2019, the ASU Foundation offers a socially responsible investment fund for endowment donors to donate to rather than the traditional endowment pool.

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

• IEN Founding Member (2016)
• AASHE STARS: Yes, Platinum (2020)
• ACUPCC: Yes, 0 emissions by 2025
• Billion Dollar Green Challenge: Yes
• CDP: No
• Committee for Investor Responsibility: Yes
• Divestment Goal: No
• INCR: No
• Montreal Carbon Pledge: No
• Sustainable Investment Fund: Yes
• Sustainable Investment Policy: Yes
• Principles for Responsible Investment: No

Sustainable Investing Resources from ASU:

• ASU Endowment
• Arizona State University Case Study (October 2018)
• Socially Responsible Investing at the ASU Foundation
• Investment Management Model
• ASU SIRF: Sustainability Initiatives Revolving

Articles: 

• ASU Foundation creates new socially responsible investment fund (July 3, 2019)