Harvard University President Lawrence Bacow said Thursday that the university will move to end its investments in fossil fuel companies, though stopped short of using the word “divest.”Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
By Rachel Treisman, NPR
Harvard University says it will end its investments in fossil fuels, a move that activists — both on and off-campus — have been pushing the university to make for years.
In a Thursday message to the Harvard community, President Lawrence Bacow said that endowment managers don’t intend to make any more direct investments in companies that explore or develop fossil fuels and that its legacy investments in private equity funds with fossil fuel holdings “are in runoff mode and will end as these partnerships are liquidated.”
He noted that the university has not had direct investments in fossil fuels since June and that its indirect investments make up less than 2% of the total endowment. Harvard boasts the country’s largest academic endowment, clocking in most recently at $41.9 billion.
“Given the need to decarbonize the economy and our responsibility as fiduciaries to make long-term investment decisions that support our teaching and research mission, we do not believe such investments are prudent,” Bacow wrote. He called climate change “the most consequential threat facing humanity” and noted some of the other ways Harvard aims to address it.
The Harvard Crimson notes that Bacow — who has been president since 2018 — and his predecessors publicly opposed divestment and that administrators have focused on combating climate change through teaching, research, and campus sustainability efforts.
BREAKING: After a decade of constant pressure by students, faculty, and alums, @HARVARD IS FINALLY DIVESTING FROM FOSSIL FUELS.
— Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard 🔶 (@DivestHarvard) September 9, 2021
It’s a massive victory for our community, the climate movement, and the world — and a strike against the power of the fossil fuel industry. (THREAD) pic.twitter.com/56yESznMMY
Activists Disrupt Harvard-Yale Rivalry Game To Protest Climate Change
Activists, students, and alumni have long called on the university to take action by selling off its fossil fuel holdings, with those voices growing louder in recent years.
Supporters of divestment have filed legal complaints, stormed the field at the 2019 Harvard-Yale football game, staged campus protests, and gained seats on school governance boards, according to The Crimson.
Other news coverage of the announcement:
Harvard to divest from fossil fuel industry (Washington Post)
Harvard’s Heat Week Sparks Fire for Divestment (Inside Climate)
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