A Georgetown University panel has come out in favor of divesting from coal but not all fossil fuels, rejecting a student proposal that called for the university to pull its investments from the top 200 oil, gas and coal companies.
The Georgetown Committee on Investments and Social Responsibility issued a report this week recommending a partial divestment strategy of withdrawing over time from “companies whose principal business is the mining of coal for use in energy production.”
In a memo, the committee listed its reasons for the decision, including “the specific role that Georgetown, as a Catholic and Jesuit institution, has in confronting the real dangers of climate change while at the same time being mindful of our need to ensure the maximum return on Georgetown’s endowment consonant with a broad range of moral concerns.”
The recommendation is similar to one adopted in May by Stanford University, whose board of trustees also rejected a proposal to divest from the top 200 fossil-fuel companies but agreed not to invest in coal.
Still, students with GU Fossil Free said in a statement that the “decision not to support full divestment is disappointing.”
“We cannot mount an appropriately consistent and comprehensive institutional response to this climate crisis while we continue to hold a financial stake in the success of its primary authors,” said the GUFF statement.
The committee also recommended a “reflective strategic engagement” approach of working with other fossil-fuel companies to reduce their environmental impact, and conducting a review of the policies in three years.
The committee’s report goes to the Georgetown University Board of Directors’ Committee on Finance and Administration, which meets in February. Georgetown has an estimated endowment of $1.286 billion.
At least three dozen universities, including Harvard, Cornell and the University of California, have rejected calls to divest fossil fuel stocks from their endowments, while a dozen academic institutions, mainly small colleges, have agreed to do so.
In November, American University rejected a student proposal to divest its $550 million endowment from fossil fuels.
Divesting from coal is emerging as the compromise position for some universities under pressure from the climate-change movement.
On Monday, the University of Maine System Board of Trustees unanimously agreed to divest its direct holdings from coal companies, making it “the first public land grant institution and first university system in the country to divest any fossil fuel holdings,” according to Divest UMaine.
“We are ecstatic about this historic victory, and we are ready to continue to press the board for full fossil fuel divestment, aligning our investments with justice for the communities most impacted by climate change and the fossil fuel industry!” said a statement on Divest UMaine’s Facebook page.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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