Harvard University, the $ 42 billion endowment is the largest of all U.S. higher education institutions, has reduced its investments in fossil fuels.
President Lawrence Bacow said the endowment had no direct investment in CL00 fossil fuels,
NG00,
exploration or development companies from June and will have no stake in these companies to move forward.
The divestment, which many students and alumni, as well as activists, have long called for, comes from “… the need to decarbonize the economy,” Bacow said in a letter posted on the school’s website .
This week, the Biden administration called for solar power to power almost half of the electricity grid by 2050. It is now only 3% of the electricity supply.
This week’s announcement was a change for the Harvard administrator.
When student activist group Divest Harvard in 2019 interrupted the Harvard-Yale football game with a protest, Bacow said then that he supported his right to express his opinion, but said he wished he had not focused when interrupting the game. He also said he maintained the school’s position to keep oil and natural gas in its portfolio, the Harvard Crimson reported at the time.
Bacow and former Harvard presidents had long been opposed to the divestment, suggesting the endowment should not be used for political means, the school newspaper said at the time.
Meanwhile, the university’s indirect investments in the fossil fuel industry “are in runoff mode,” Bacow added in Thursday’s letter. Indirect investments, made through private equity funds, represent less than 2% of the endowment.
Read: Climate change pressure on Big Oil after activist wins seats on Exxon’s board of directors and court ruling hits Shell
Yale University shared over the summer an initial list of fossil fuel companies that are now unfit for investment because of their endowment in accordance with what the school called its ethical investment principles. recently adopted.
The divestment occurs during a resurgence in the price of crude oil, 44% more than the previous year, and natural gas, which has almost doubled this year, as well as the corresponding stocks. The XOP ETF for oil and gas exploration and production SPDR S&P,
has a total year-on-year return of 38%.