Institutional Climate Action—University of Washington

Fossil Fuel Divestment Press Release 2022

Press Release 1: Big Win For Fossil Fuel Divestment At UW?

Press Release: UW to Divest from Fossil Fuels

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Press Release: UW to Divest from Fossil Fuels

Divestment group celebrates long-fought victory at University of Washington but warns decision fails to uphold climate justice

Institutional Climate Action

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9/6/2022, 9:00 AM

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After more than 2 years of pressure from student climate activists at the University of Washington, the University’s Board of Regents voted today to divest the school's endowment, worth more than $6B, from the fossil fuel industry.

The resolution, released last Friday, will move investments of around $124 million currently funding fossil fuel projects into "climate-solutions." This move would

add UW to a long list⁠

of public and private universities which have committed to removing investments from fossil fuel projects.

Advocates argue that widespread divestment is needed in order to remove the

social license⁠

granted to fossil fuel companies by investors. The

International Energy Agency⁠

(IEA)

reported in 2021⁠

that to avoid serious climate collapse and catastrophic global warming, “there can be no more new investments in fossil fuel supply beyond that already committed as of 2021.” According to activists, by continuing to invest in companies that are still primarily focused on fossil fuel expansion, investors are funding deadly projects and granting a financial “vote of confidence,” to an industry set on overshooting the globe’s carbon budget.

Members of Institutional Climate Action (ICA)—a coalition of students and faculty across campuses which was founded in 2019 to fight for climate justice at public institutions of higher education in WA—and their followers rejoiced after the decision, but the mood was somber.

While groups like ICA are relieved that a divestment resolution finally made it into the Regents agenda, ICA’s members say there are concerning gaps that resulted from a lack of consultation in finalizing the language. Under the

board’s standing orders⁠

, the original sponsors of the petition were supposed to be included in the formation process. But ICA says it was never contacted, and that the language was finalized at a physically remote and inaccessible “special retreat”

held in July⁠

For ICA, one major loss is the elongated timeline issued by the resolution to divest direct investments by 2027: two years later than the generous timeframe provided by an

independent panel of experts in May⁠

. Convening the Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing (or

ACSRI⁠

) which issued that recommendation after 9 months of study, was itself an arduous endeavor for activists. The University administration first required ICA to collect a large amount of signatures and endorsements from the student and faculty senates before considering whether to convene a committee to investigate the matter. According to ICA, issues such as infrequent Faculty Senate meetings and the fact that classes were still being held remotely on zoom for most of the process made organizing more difficult.

After submitting their petition, the climate coalition waited for 5 months before the Regents agreed to begin an investigation into divesting from fossil fuels. The Regents had

set up a process⁠

to evaluate demands for divestment in 2016 after agreeing to decline new investments directly into coal fired powerplants.

Officials at UW have voted to remove investments for moral reasons only a handful of times in the institution’s history, ranging from investments in Big Tobacco to war criminals in Sudan. The first instance of divestment was from the

South African apartheid state⁠

in the

late 1986⁠

. Activists credit that movement with inspiring the fossil fuel divestment movement of recent years.

Another major concern brought up by ICA are the numerous exceptions which the resolution makes for any fossil fuel companies considered to be “contributing to the sustainable energy transition,” . In recent years, the fossil fuel industry has claimed they are actually “

energy companies⁠

” committed to the transition from fossil fuel based energy to renewables. But the numbers tell a different story. Overall, fossil fuel companies have played a

minuscule role in financing renewables⁠

: less than

5% of their current expenditures⁠

. Despite this, ICA worries that fossil fuel companies will be excused under the current resolutions. In conversations with UW’s investment managers (UWINCO) the year before, ICA learned that UWINCO had been investing more than $40M into developing natural gas pipelines. UWINCO justified the decision arguing that natural gas is a bridge fuel and pipelines can be repurposed for hydrogen. Members of ICA believe that the loopholes inscribed in the resolution will encourage UW’s investment managers to continue investing in fossil fuel companies as they had in the past, setting the infrastructure for a coming half century of continued fossil fueled climate catastrophe.

Regardless, ICA is hopeful for the coming months. Activists still plan to continue the pressure in coming meetings with decision-makers to hold the state’s largest public institution to account for it’s climate altering impacts. ICA is also looking forward at efforts tackling various other financial relationships between the University and the fossil fuel industry.

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Contact:

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—ICA, or Institutional Climate Action, is made up of students and faculty. ICA is dedicated to upholding intersectional climate justice, and recognizes that their activism is done on the stolen and unceded lands of the Duwamish people. Without help and input from Indigenous partners, as well as other groups on campus, and inspiration from divestment movements such as BDS, the UW divestment movement could never have had the success it has had today. Learn more on our website or send us an email at institutionalclimateaction@gmail.com

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