Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
5/9/2014
Stanford University has announced that it will no longer invest in companies whose primary business is the mining of coal for energy generation. The decision is the result of a recommendation by the university’s Advisory Panel on Investment Responsibility and Licensing. According to a release from the university, the basis for the decision is the increasing availability of alternative fuel energies, which emit fewer greenhouse gases. Listed among these alternatives is natural gas. "The university’s review has concluded that coal is one of the most carbon-intensive methods of energy generation and that other sources can be readily substituted for it. Moving away from coal in the investment context is a small, but constructive, step while work continues, at Stanford and elsewhere, to develop broadly viable sustainable energy solutions for the future,” said Stanford President John Hennessy
The Board of Trustees cited Stanford’s Statement on Investment Responsibility which states that if the trustees judge the policies or practices of a business to “create substantial social injury,” they may take that into consideration when making investment decisions. This conclusion was linked, in part, to the recent U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that connected climate change with greenhouse gas emissions and stated that climate change could result in cataclysmic events. The university has not acknowledged the report’s statements in regard to the importance of carbon capture technology.
Much of the decision has been attributed to a student-lead petition to the university which called for the university to divest from 200 fossil-fuel extraction companies. The petition was sponsored by student-lead organization Fossil Free Stanford, who said in a statement following the announcement, "Stanford’s commitment to coal divestment is a major victory for the climate movement and for our generation."
