Student group wants Dalhousie to divest
Posted Jun 30, 2014 06:07:00 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Dalhousie University’s Board of Governors has agreed to take a look at the university’s investments in the fossil fuel industry.
A group of students and alumni called Divest Dalhousie has been campaigning for 14 months in support of ending the school’s endowment fund investments in the fossil fuel industry.
“(The school is) already a sustainability leader in some senses, so this would really put its name out internationally,” said Emi Belliveau, a spokesperson for the group.
Belliveau called the current status quo hypocritical, given that the school has a sustainability program, of which she is a graduate.
The university’s endowment portfolio currently holds investments in 35 of the 200 companies with the largest carbon reserves, including coal, oil and gas companies.
Totalling $20.3 million, the investments represent 4.3% of the university’s endowment portfolio.
Divest Dalhousie wants to see that money invested elsewhere, ideally in “sustainable alternatives to help grow the renewable sector.”
Belliveau is optimistic following the Dalhousie Board of Governors’ decision to investigate fossil fuel divestment.
“The work plan has given us a timeline of when they hope to have a finished report and recommendation to the board – by the end of the 2014 year. So we’re hoping to get a vote at the November board of governor’s meeting on divestment,” said Belliveau. “They’ve done their research about where the money is, so now the research needs to shift to how we get it out, and the process – to make sure that it’s done in a way that’s safe and not risky to the school in any way.”
Dalhousie would be the first university in Canada to divest, following just a few of its peers in the United States.
The idea of Dalhousie being the first has Belliveau excited.
“I’d be extremely proud,” she said. “That an institution that’s research based and very much pursuing this side with the College of Sustainability then to have investments in the fossil fuel industry is a bit hypocritical. Removing those investments would really show its true commitment to sustainability.”
