Some people try to reduce their use of fossil fuels by riding bikes or taking public transportation, but two students at the U are proposing the university divest from fossil fuel companies.
Matt Kirkegaard, a sophomore in political science and environmental science, and Max Stiefel, a senior in economics and environmental studies, are drawing up a petition asking the U to stop investing in fossil fuels. They said they were inspired by small colleges across the nation that have already made the decision to divest.
There are 256 other universities already breaking off their investments in fossil fuels, Kirkegaard said. In December, the duo decided the U should start the process as well.
Kirkegaard compared divesting from fossil fuel companies to the decision the U made in the 1980s to stop investing in companies involved in apartheid. He views the economic move as a moral decision.
“This is really a watershed moment,” he said. “Frankly, I don’t think that I could live with myself knowing that I’m on the other side of history … when I’m old I want to be able to say that even if we don’t succeed, we fought for this.”
Stiefel said the decision to divest would be an innovative way to help stabilize the world’s climate, but thinks the ethical side of the question bears the most weight.
“This is a moral imperative,” he said. “People are already dying — globally and in our country.”
Kirkegaard and Stiefel argued that making these changes in investments would not hurt the U economically. They cited a study by Aperio, an investment management firm, showing that pulling out of fossil fuel investments would result in “theoretical return penalty of 0.0034 percent.”
Fossil fuel investments will lose 60 percent of their market value in coming years if the world upholds its promises to decrease emissions and start favoring more sustainable fuels, according to a recent HSBC Bank study.
“You could almost argue that it would be horrible financial policy not to divest,” Kirkegaard said.
Regardless of their opinions, the students said the petition will not force the U to do anything. They see the petition as a way of showing encouragement and support, Stiefel said. They are hoping the investment management office will look at the petition and try to work out a solution.
While information on the U’s exact investments is confidential, Kirkegaard suspects the university is investing in fossil fuel companies.
“We don’t know specific companies — that’s actually not public domain,” he said. “Frankly those are some of the most profitable companies … they are invested in them … we just don’t know which ones they are and how much.”
Mark Waite, investment manager at the U, confirmed it is “very likely” that the firms hired to manage the U’s investments are investing in energy firms.
Completely excluding fossil fuels from the U’s investments could be difficult because of the U’s sheer size.
“We delegate … to outside investment firms to make the actual investments,” Waite said. “Because we’re doing that … we can’t really control what they’re investing in.”
Waite had not heard of Kirkegaard and Stiefel’s petition, though he was recently at a conference with colleges from Northeastern states that Kirkegaard and Stiefel referenced as early adapters of fossil fuel divestment.
“There were a couple [of colleges] from the Northeast that are getting significant pressure from some of their students, and apparently that’s an issue that’s coming up,” Waite said.
Those schools might have more physical control over their investments, which is not possible for an institution managing as many investments as the U.
“It’s not something that we do directly through our office, just given our … size,” he said.
The U does have a “socially responsible” endowment pool for investments. All investments made in that pool are environmentally friendly.
“If we have people that feel strongly about that, at least from the donor side, there is an avenue for them to invest,” Waite said.