Earlier this fall, the University of California system announced its plan to divest its $80 billion portfolio from fossil fuels. UC’s divestment report comes at a critical time, coinciding with the worldwide youth climate march, which challenged the lack of action to combat climate change. With the 2020 elections looming, many campaigners are channeling their activism into electing climate-minded candidates and enacting sweeping legislation.
UC has now planned the largest action to date in the recent divestment movement, a movement that NC State’s Climate Reality Project has also been participating in. Divesting from fossil fuels makes a statement about valuing the wellbeing of future generations; in addition, Jagdeep Singh Bachher and Richard Sherman, UC’s vice president of investments and chair of UC’s Investment Committee, respectively, also claim that “hanging on to fossil fuel assets is a financial risk.” Looking out for the future of the institution, Bachher and Sherman worry that fossil fuels will fail to offer a return on UC’s investments.
Working to protect the institution for years to come, in a way that is conducive to a healthier planet, UC has become the first public university in the United States to sign onto the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Investment. The UC Board of Regents has also recently included Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors into their investment decision framework.
Many students across the country have urged their respective institutions to divest because it seems contradictory for an education system to invest in fossil fuels, which are damaging the planet and threatening the livelihoods of our nation’s young people. Students—such as those attending Harvard, who have recently received national media coverage—claim that educators working to prepare their students for the future should not simultaneously invest in companies that endanger the future of the planet.
UC, Harvard, NC State, and similar institutions should share a common vision, stated perfectly by Bachher and Sherman in their recent LA-Times op-ed—they are “looking years, decades and centuries ahead as [they] place [their] bets that clean energy will fuel the world’s future.”
Divestment makes a very powerful statement—a statement about the ability to protect a university and its students for generations to come by focusing on sustainable investment. This is why the Climate Reality Project at NC State is urging for divestment from fossil fuels; not only is divestment the ethical action to protect the future of students and the planet, but it is economically beneficial, as well. As the switch to renewable energy becomes inevitable, NC State has the power to make investment decisions away from fossil fuels—decisions that will offer more reliable returns on their investments and help ensure a stable climate for the young people it endeavors to help thrive.
Claire Hill is a first-year studying engineering.
