G.U. Divests from Coal; Maintains Oil, Gas Investments
By • July 16, 2015 0 661
Georgetown University’s board of directors passed a resolution June 4 — upon a recommendation by the university’s Committee on Investing and Social Responsibility — to divest “from companies whose principal business is mining coal for use in energy production.”
In a statement about the divestment, Georgetown University President John DeGioia said: “As a Catholic and Jesuit university, we are called to powerfully engage the world, human culture, and the environment — bringing to bear the intellectual and spiritual resources that our community is built upon. The work of understanding and responding to the demands of climate change is urgent and complex. It requires our most serious attention. As a university community, we can best respond to this evolving and ongoing challenge when we acknowledge the tensions embedded in this work — and the variety of perspectives that are present in this moment.”
The tensions which DeGioia mentions refer to G.U. Fossil Free, a student-run campaign, that called for further divestment from oil and gas companies in meetings with CISR and DeGioia last year.
GUFF is pushing for complete university divestment from the fossil fuels industry and argued that the board’s move was “insubstantial” and “morally indefensible,” because coal investments make up a “miniscule” part (less than 2 percent) of the school’s $1.5-billion endowment and all fossil fuels contribute to climate change. The group also argued that the divestment matters little as the coal industry has been in sharp decline over the past few years.
In an effort to blunt GUFF’s criticisms, the university’s statement on the divestment touted the school’s environmental achievements, including its use of renewable energy (100 percent of power on the main campus comes from renewable sources), a number of LEED-certified buildings on campus, a $5-million grant “designed to foster innovative approaches to energy efficiency in cities and counties throughout the U.S.” called the Georgetown University Energy Prize and more.
The issue is sure to rise again as GUFF has indicated that it will continue to fight for the university’s full divestment from the fossil fuels industry.
