What is Divestment?
Divestment from fossil fuels is a nationwide movement across college campuses calling upon university/college Trustee Boards to divest their endowments in unclean energy and reinvest that money in a socially responsible manner. Divestment is a symbolic stance which universities choose to make in order to signal to students, alumni, and the public that climate change is not a viable option for our future. This is about shifting our cultural attitude toward sustainability. The Guardian Online provides an extensive summary of the fossil fuel divestment movement.
How much money has been divested thus far from college endowments globally?
Over 5.44 trillion USD have been divested by 690 institutions, 96 of which are educational institutions like colleges. Click here http://gofossilfree.org/commitments/ for the latest tally.
How large is the divestment movement?
Divest encompasses 503 institutions globally.
What is Students for a Just and Stable Future?
Boston University’s student-run climate justice activist organization. Our current issue is pressuring the BU Board of Trustees to divest.
What is the ACSRI?
ACSRI stands for Advisory Committee for Socially Responsible Investing and is a committee formed by the BU Board of Trustees to advise them on issues of socially responsible investing. The committee is comprised of three Trustees, three faculty members, and three students. In 2015 and 2016, the committee considered the topic of fossil fuel divestment and came out with their recommendation to prohibit new and divest of any direct investments in companies that are exploring for more fossil fuel reserves or extract coal and tar sands. The committee also recommended the creation of a Climate Action Plan (CAP) as well as an initiative to pursue more green investments for the endowment. The full recommendation can be found here and the ACSRI website is https://www.bu.edu/trustees/boardoftrustees/committees/acsri/.
Additional resources:
“Do the Math,” a documentary chronicling the climate crusader Bill McKibben as he works with a rising global movement in a David-vs-Goliath fight to change the terrifying math of the climate crisis.
DivestBU 