Pressure to divest from fossil fuels

John Ward
John Ward
The University of Otago Foundation Trust is ''currently considering'' divestment from fossil fuels, its chairman John Ward says.

A group of 24 senior University of Otago academics sent a letter to the trust in December, urging trustees to divest from fossil fuels.

Mr Ward said this week that the trust's investments in the fossil fuel industry were ''immaterial by percentage fund value at less than 1%''.

He did not respond to a request to clarify the exact amount of trust money invested in fossil fuels, but the university's 2013 annual report cited the trust's value as $169.1million, putting 1% of the fund's value at over $1million.

Mr Ward said the trust ''has an existing policy that discourages direct investment in munitions, alcohol and tobacco''.

''The trustees are currently considering amending this policy to include the fossil fuels sector.''

University of Otago professor Colin Campbell-Hunt has spoken publicly about the fossil fuel industry's role in causing climate change, and was one of the signatories of the letter.

''It's not seen to be ethical to be dumping carbon into the atmosphere; it's poisonous to the world at large,'' he said.

Oil Free Otago spokeswoman Annabeth Cohen said she supported the professors who sent the letter.

''It is contradictory to offer courses on climate change, sustainability, and renewable energies while funding the fossil fuel industry,'' she said.

A movement pushing for universities, city councils and other bodies to divest from fossil fuels - inspired by other divest movements in the past, such as the one that helped to end apartheid in South Africa - was spearheaded by the environmental organisation 350.org.

Victoria University became the first New Zealand university to divest from fossil fuels last November.

The Dunedin City Council voted to draft an ethical investment policy that would divest the council from fossil fuels (among other investments deemed unethical) last May, and will probably be voting on the policy this month.

Last month, the council decided to let go about a third of its investments in the fossil fuel industry, although council financial officer Grant McKenzie said at the time the decision was a financial, rather than ethical, one.

Prof Campbell-Hunt believes that the university's divestment from fossil fuels is ''inevitable''; the letter was designed to nudge the university in the right direction.

He said, in his opinion, ''it doesn't mean much that it's taken [this long] for the university to respond - you're dealing with standard bureaucracy procedures''.

-carla.green@odt.co.nz


Key divestment facts

Many funds held by public bodies - such as universities or governmental councils - have some money invested in the fossil fuel industry.

The fossil fuel divestment campaign - also known as the ''divest movement'' - encourages those bodies to take that money out of fossil fuels, and invest it elsewhere.

The divest movement targets the fossil fuel industry because the extraction and use of fossil fuels has been proven to be a leading cause of climate change.

The University of Otago Foundation Trust has ''less than 1%'' of its funds invested in fossil fuels, trust chairman John Ward says.

The total value of the trust was $169.1 million at the end of 2013.


 

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