In a long post on Harvard's website (Harvard.edu, hard to say that in my head without using the voice of the Winklevosses), President Drew Faust addressed the university's increasing role in climate change research while adding a small note about a new financial collaboration with the United Nations, Campus Reform reported.

Faust began her 1,500-word letter by emphasizing the very real nature of climate change, a subtle reference to the many who deny it. She then addressed the important role Harvard and universities in general should play in environmental issues.

"Harvard has a vital leadership role to play in this work," she wrote. "As a university, it has a special obligation and accountability to the future, to the long view needed to anticipate and alter the trajectory and impact of climate change. Harvard also possesses the wide range of capacities across fields and disciplines that must be mobilized and conjoined in order to create effective solutions. Ideas, innovation, discovery and rigorous independent thought will serve as indispensable elements in combating the climate threat; these are the special province of universities."

Faust named three projects (of many) on which Harvard was currently working: new ways to store energy, an artificial leap capable of mimicking photosynthesis, and solar ovens for counteracting pollution.

In three steps (research, becoming a "model" or "living laboratory" for a more sustainable future, and investments), Faust organized Harvard's approach to reversing the effects of climate change. The third relates to the school's partnership with the U.N. Basically, Harvard and its investment branch, the Harvard Management Company, will work with the international organization in developing a plan for investing in ventures not directly associated with money-making and pertaining to "environmental, social, and governance factors."

"Specifically, Harvard's endowment will become a signatory to the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)," Faust wrote. "The PRI joins together a network of international investors working to implement a set of voluntary principles that provide a framework for integrating environmental, social and governance factors into investment analysis and ownership practices aligned with investors' fiduciary duties. Harvard Management Company will manage Harvard's endowment consistent with these principles."

Harvard will also participate in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) to keep track and take responsibility for its emissions.