The University of California has decided to uphold its investments in fossil fuels, disappointing student protestors who were part of the effort to divest the school from oil, natural gas and coal projects.
UC Board of regents said that they might consider lessening their investments in fossil fuels, but the option of divestment is not possible.
Jagdeep Bachher, UC Regent's chief investment officer, said that UC's fossil-fuel holdings amount to $10 billion of the $91 billion in the college's investment portfolio. "It is clear to me . . . that these actions will have financial consequences on all of us and on our portfolios," Reuters reports
In May, Stanford announced its divestment of coal company holdings from its $18.7 billion endowment fund.
"Stanford has a responsibility as a global citizen to promote sustainability for our planet, and we work intensively to do so through our research, our educational programs and our campus operations," said Stanford President John Hennessy in a statement. "The university's review has concluded that coal is one of the most carbon-intensive methods of energy generation and that other sources can be readily substituted for it. Moving away from coal in theINVESTMENT context is a small, but constructive, step while work continues, at Stanford and elsewhere, to develop broadly viable sustainable energy solutions for the future."
Harvard University, which has the largest financial endowment of any academic institution in the world, has ignored pleas from students and to divest from fossil fuel stocks. However, the prestigious Ivy League University has embraced a set of environmental and social investment principles that encourages transparency by companies about their carbon emissions.
