Earlier this year, Greta Thunberg called on world leaders at Davos to end the ‘madness’ of fossil fuel investments and subsidies. In a letter co-authored with other youth climate activists from across the globe, they demanded that all companies, banks, institutions and governments ‘immediately and completely divest from fossil fuels’, citing the $1.9tn that has been poured into fossil fuels since the 2015 Paris Agreement.
The global climate movement has grown exponentially over the past few years, increasingly putting pressure on high profile institutions and companies to take action and change their investment portfolios to exclude fossil fuel companies, with some notable successes. Many universities hold endowments funds comprising millions of pounds, and whether these investments are held in companies that discover, extract and distribute fossil fuels raises difficult moral questions.
But is divesting from these companies the best way for large institutional investors like universities to effect change in the energy sector, or is it just needless ‘virtue-signalling’? Is it a problem that universities considering divestment accept large donations from the energy sector? Finally, would it not be more productive to stay invested and capitalised on their position as stakeholders to pressure Big Oil to be more environmentally responsible?
In the light of Cambridge University’s recent announcement to fully divest and the tireless campaigns within Oxford and its colleges for divestment, we look forward to discussing the role that universities and colleges can play, as investors, in the transition to a cleaner economy. To provide insight to this debate, we are delighted to be
be joined by Jonathon Porritt and Dr Ellen Quigley.
Jonathon Porritt is a veteran campaigner and eminent writer, broadcaster and commentator on sustainable development. A prominent member of the Green Party in its early days, he served as co-chair and presided over changes that rapidly expanded the party’s membership. He is the Founder-director of the Forum for the Future, one of the UK’s leading sustainable development charities, and was previously the Director of Friends of the Earth from 1984-1990. An alumnus of Magdalen College, where he studied modern languages, Jonathon was installed as the Chancellor of Keele University in February 2012 and is also a Visiting Professor at Loughborough University and UCL.
Dr Ellen Quigley is the Advisor to the Chief Financial Officer at the University of Cambridge, on Responsible Investment. A Research Associate in Climate Risk and Sustainable Finance at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, she was lead author of a report titled Divestment: Advantages and Disadvantages for the University of Cambridge, published earlier this year. She holds an A.B in english literature from Harvard College, an MSc in Nature, Society and Environmental Policy from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Economics Education from the University of Cambridge.
