Georgetown University Commits to Sustainability

Georgetown University Commits to Sustainability

The divestment won’t happen overnight, it’s a years long strategy, but activists will claim this as a win.

From the Georgetown website:

Fossil Fuels Divestment Continues Georgetown’s Commitment to Sustainability

The Georgetown University Board of Directors today adopted a policy on fossil fuel and impact investments that is part of the university’s broad commitment to sustainability.

Under the new policy, the university will continue to make investments that target a market rate of return in renewable energy, energy efficiency and related areas while freezing new endowment investments in companies or funds whose primary business is the exploration or extraction of fossil fuels.

Georgetown will divest from public securities of fossil fuel companies within the next five years and divest from existing private investments in those companies over the next 10 years.

Long-Term Solutions

“Divestment allows us to divert more capital to fund development of renewable energy projects that will play a vital role in the transition away from fossil fuels – part of the long-term solution required to prevent the most dangerous effects of climate change,” says Michael Barry, Georgetown’s chief investment officer.

“Our endowment has for a number of years profitably invested in the development of renewable power assets and energy efficiency companies, and we are continuing to search for new opportunities,” he adds. “But climate change, in addition to threatening our planet, is increasing the risk of investing in oil and gas companies, as we expect a more volatile range of financial outcomes. We will continue to evaluate the efforts of these companies, and be hopeful that many will move further toward contributing to a sustainable future.”

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