“Do you agree that the University of Guelph should freeze all new investments in 200 of the world’s largest fossil fuel companies, withdraw (divest) completely from these companies within a period of 5 years, and re-invest the proceeds in ecologically and socially responsible alternatives?”
This is the question Fossil Free Guelph wants to ask the student population early in 2016. Fossil Free Guelph is a student club and OPIRG action group on campus that works to shift our dependence away from fossil fuels by withdrawing funds that support the industry. The idea is that once investments in fossil fuel companies are stopped opportunities are created for investment in green technology and long-term renewable energy solutions.
The above question was submitted to the Central Student Association (CSA) for consideration near the beginning of this semester and was approved early last week. Now, the club must collect signatures from 10 per cent of undergraduate students for the question to be posed as a referendum question to the entire undergraduate population during the CSA by-elections next year. Over the remainder of the fall semester, members of Fossil Free Guelph will be canvassing around campus to reach the goal of roughly 2000 signatures – if you’re supportive of the movement, make sure to sign on when you see them.
Fossil Free Guelph has been active for two years trying to influence the university to change its investment portfolio. Last year, Fossil Free Guelph’s divestment campaign was officially endorsed by the CSA and received unanimous support from the student union. To date, the club has organized demonstrations, created posters, and met many times with administration—all in pursuit of getting the university to stop investing in the fossil fuel industry. These actions have helped raise awareness of the issue by starting a discussion around the morality of investing large sums of money in big fossil fuel companies.
Fossil Free Guelph has also been active in contacting people who specialize in the creation of environmentally friendly investment portfolios, to strengthen the case for the profitability of divestment. The financial advisor pointed out that, due to highly fluctuating oil prices, divestment from fossil fuel companies may help reduce the risk of losses in the event that oil prices are low, as is currently the case. However, the Board of Governors at the University of Guelph (the group in charge of the university’s endowment fund investments) has made no commitment to divest from fossil fuels. Fossil Free Guelph is pursuing the referendum question to allow students the chance to voice their opinions on the issue and to publicize the topic to all members of the university community.
“By investing its endowment funds in the world’s largest fossil fuel companies, the University of Guelph is directly financing and profiting from the growth of the fossil fuel industry, and, in effect, the perpetuation of climate change. This contradicts the University’s commitment to sustainability,” said Sarah Rotz, an organizing member of Fossil Free Guelph.
As confirmed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, the last three decades have been the warmest since 1850. This has caused severe environmental changes, including the significant heating of the Earth’s surfaces and oceans, the contraction of polar ice caps, and rising sea levels. The effects of climate change have disrupted the integrity of ecosystems and contributed to displacement experienced disproportionately by countries in the Global South, and marginalised communities of people.
The IPCC further confirmed that a growth in anthropogenic greenhouse gases, driven primarily by fossil fuel combustion, is “extremely likely to have been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th Century”. It is clear that mitigating global climate change must be founded in ending dependence on fossil fuels. The divestment movement at Guelph, and across the world, realizes this and seeks to address the threat of global warming by restricting the demand for expansion in the fossil fuels sector while advocating for a transition to renewable forms of energy.