We are writing to you as staff, students and alumni of Imperial College London, as we are concerned that the university endowment fund is investing heavily in fossil fuels. In 2016 Imperial College's direct investments in oil, coal and gas totalled over £5.4 million (the third largest of UK universities) out of a £126m million endowment fund [1]. Imperial has no responsible investment policy [2].
We call on Imperial to:
1) Immediately freeze any new investment in fossil fuel companies
2) Divest from direct ownership and indirect investment in fossil fuels within 5 years
3) Implement a Responsible Investment Policy, in line with the stated missions and aims of Imperial College London, with student and staff consultation representation.
Imperial is a world-leading institution in environmental and climate change research, and we feel the college fund should reflect this and not be investing in resources that are the root cause of climate change. Imperial College is currently ranked 141st in People & Planet's Green League, reflecting a lack of commitment to environmental issues.
Why is this important?
Climate change has been described as the most serious challenge of our generation. Under the United Nations Copenhagen Accord, countries have agreed to limit warming to 2 degrees to prevent dangerous climate change.
Moreover, investing in fossil fuels poses a serious financial risk. According to recent research led by Professor Lord Stern at LSE, two-thirds of current fossil fuels reserves are unburnable if climate change is to be kept to the globally-agreed limit of 2 degrees of warming [3].
In this regard, we call upon the Endowment Fund Board to issue explicit guidance to ensure the funds are divested away from fossil fuels, for the sake of current and future generations.
References:
[1] FOI Request
[2] People & Planet, Platform, 350.org: http://peopleandplanet.org/dl/fossil-free/knowledge-power-report.pdf
[3] Carbon Tracker Initiative Report (Carbon Tracker & The Grantham Research Institute, LSE) : http://www.carbontracker.org/wastedcapital
How it will be delivered
We will deliver the petition to Alice Gast a future meeting of College Council.