Fossil fuel divestment on Auckland University Council agenda

On Monday December 7, the University of Auckland Council will vote on whether to encourage its associated Foundations to divest from fossil fuel investments. The student representatives on the University Council will present a report as well as a 2500-strong petition from students, staff and alumni recommending divestment.

The report highlights how dis-investing from industries contributing to climate change fits within the University’s Strategic Plan, which states that “despite the many challenges we face today, we cannot plunder the future in order to pay for the present.”

“As world leaders meet in Paris to negotiate a global climate change agreement, it is the perfect time for the University of Auckland Council to show leadership in response to the climate crisis by divesting from polluting industries,” said Fossil Free UoA spokesperson Alex Johnston.

“Benchmark institutions such as Australian National University, Oxford University, and the University of Glasgow have all shown leadership and divested. This is a chance for the University of Auckland to do the same, and to fulfill the goal of the Strategic Plan to be a sustainable university of international standing,” said Johnston.

University of Auckland distinguished alumni award winner, and environmental advocate, Jeanette Fitzsimons, said “I would be delighted to see my alma mater take leadership intellectually, morally, and prudentially by divesting from fossil fuel investments.”

Nearly 500 institutions worldwide including universities, pension funds, churches and city councils have divested over $2.6 trillion worth of assets from fossil fuel industries. This is in recognition of the ‘carbon budget’, a limited amount of fossil fuels that can be burnt to keep global warming to relatively safe levels of 2 degrees Celsius.

Ms Fitzsimons said: “We owe our children a climate that allows them to flourish. We owe our donors a safe investment which will not be stranded as ‘unburnable carbon.’”

ENDS

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