The University of Washington Board of Regents on Thursday approved a resolution to begin exiting all direct investments in fossil-fuel companies with the goal of complete
divestiture by Fiscal Year 2027. The resolution includes a commitment not to renew indirect investments in funds primarily focusing on fossil-fuel extraction or reserves. Bot
commitments include allowances for firms contributing to the transition to sustainable energy.
The resolution also includes a goal of investing at least 2.5% of the UW’s entire Consolidated Endowment Fund in climate-solutions companies or asset managers and a
commitment to achieving net-zero emissions in the University’s endowment fund by Fiscal Year 2050.
The Board’s action puts the UW among the leaders in higher education — and among a small group of public universities — acting on climate change through its investments.
“The Board of Regents recognizes the gravity and the urgency of the situation with respect to climate change. With this resolution, the Board wishes to avoid greenwashing and to
take meaningful action, putting the University of Washington in the front ranks of universities addressing climate change through research, teaching, operations and investments,”
said David Zeeck, chair of the UW Board of Regents. “This is an early step in a very important journey to reduce the UW’s impact on the environment through our investments and
operations. We want to thank both the petitioners for bringing this issue to the fore and the members of the Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing for their
considered, actionable recommendations.”
The Board’s directives acknowledge the need to act, the incomplete energy transition, lack of corporate disclosures of greenhouse gas emissions precluding measurement of
portfolio emissions, and the Board’s fiduciary duties to the people of Washington. The Board will receive annual reports on progress in sustainable investing and measuring
portfolio emissions and will revisit these directives at regular intervals. Future investment reports to the Board will include measurement of portfolio emissions — as soon as
regulatory mandates or corporate disclosures make this possible — with the goal of reducing portfolio emissions over time.
The resolution comes approximately 18 months after the UW’s Institutional Climate Action group submitted a petition. The Board convened an Advisory Committee on Socially
Responsible Investing (ASCRI) over the summer of 2021, and the committee met from September 2021 to April 2022. The committee presented its recommendations to the Board
in May and the Board asked the University of Washington Investment Management Company (UWINCO) for its evaluation of the recommendations, which were presented in
June. The Board will consider revised climate-investing guidelines at its November meeting.
“This is an important step forward for UW in realizing the full impact of all of the ways we can be part of the solution to addressing climate change,” said Ben Packard, chair of the
ACSRI and executive director of EarthLab at the UW. “Our investment portfolio, research, teaching and operations are all part of mitigating climate change and to making our
communities more resilient. The ACSRI recommendations acknowledge UW Regents should take these steps to deliver on their fiduciary responsibility.”
Original source can be found here.
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