After years of public pressure, Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has announced that it will no longer invest in fossil fuels, university president Lawrence Bacow said. With the move, the institution will use its $42 billion endowment to support the green economy, joining a growing wave of investors moving away from polluting industries.
“We must act now as citizens, as scholars, and as an institution to confront this crisis on all fronts at our disposal,” Bacow said in a letter released to university website.
“Given the need to decarbonize the economy and our responsibility as fiduciaries to make long-term investment decisions that support our teaching and research mission, we do not believe that such contributions are prudent,” he highlighted.
The executive also emphasized that Harvard has already ended all direct investments in companies that explore fossil fuels and will not enter this sector again. However, he explained that they still have investments in some equity funds with stakes in this industry, but that they constitute less than 2% of the capital, “a number that continues to decrease,” he concluded.
