Yale School of the Environment faculty and students offer their thoughts about the Environmental Justice Coalition’s recent divestment lawsuit.
Hamera Shabbir
Staff Reporter
Yale Daily News
Yale School of the Environment affiliated presented their views on the allegations after the Yale Environmental Justice Coalition filed an investigation asking the state for an investigation into the University’s continued holdings in fossil fuel-producing companies.
Two School of the Environment professors signed the complaint. It was filed last Wednesday. The complaint alleges that the University is failing ethically to invest by holding on to fossil fuel investments. Although the University has offered several strategies to reduce its contribution towards climate change, the EJC complaint says that the University must cease investing in fossil fuel producing companies. This is according to state law. Students and professors had a variety of reactions to the News’s questions, including emphasizing Yale’s transparency and contextualizing investment and encouraging divestment.
Yale has done a lot, but Yale still has a lot to do. Yale has made an effort to be transparent, but Yale is capable of more, Michael R. Dove of the School of the Environment, a professor of sociology, wrote in an e-mail. Extreme climatic conditions in the past have had a profound impact on human history over the centuries, even millennia. Climate change today demands that we do everything we can to prevent it from happening again.
Dove joined the 83-page complaintJennifer Marlon, Jennifer Marlon’s colleague, is a research scientist at the School of the Environment and Gus Speth64LAW 69, and a former dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Josie Steuer Ingall 24 (an organizer with EJC) stated that roughly 50 YSE members have signed on to the complaint using online forms that have been circulated via EJC.
The School of the Environment is home to several programs that address climate change mitigation and injustice. These include the SEARCH, Solutions for Energy, Climate and Health Center and the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Sustainability Initiative (JEDSI). The Yale Initiative on Sustainable Finance, also known as YSIF, is also located at the Center for Business and Environment. This initiative aims to address sustainability capital, finance policies, and investing.
Nathan de Arriba–Sellier is a research director at YSIF and a postdoctoral assistant. He noted that it can sometimes be difficult to determine the consequences of divestment moves, but they can send signals for the market. He also cited other divestment movements which decreased the market appetite for targeted entities, such California’s move to divest from private prison corporations.
Fossil fuel activities, which are still very profitable are not experiencing much divestments. In fact, divestment campaign are very limited, de ArribaSellier stated. I would say it is very small because [where]In universities, where there is a large number of committed students who are socially engaged and who are concerned directly about climate change and their future, divestment campaigns can also take place.
He also pointed out that divestment is not a one-size fits all solution, as it does not engage companies to encourage them into transition.
Yale has announced new strategies in response to requests for divestment. They include the establishment of ethical investment principles and the goal of zero actual greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. According to estimates, 2.6% of the endowment would be invested in fossil fuel producers by April 2021. According to the EJC complaint Yale’s fossil fuel holdings were estimated to be worth between 800 million and 2.5 Billion dollars.
John Wargo, professor in environmental health and politics, said Yale’s April 2021 statement of principles, criteria, and guidelines governing oil-and gas investments is a remarkable step forward. Some of the top 10 oil and natural gas producers in the world are on the list of companies that are no longer eligible to receive investment from Yale’s endowment. However, other top 10 companies are still eligible. Yale’s increased transparency is something I support strongly. However, I urge accelerated divestment of the fossil fuel sector.
Yale’s rival Harvard announced its divestment in September 2021 from fossil fuels.
Hamera Shabbir is responsible for covering golf and fencing for the Science and Technology Desk and the School of the Environment. Born in California’s Central Valley, she is currently a sophomore at Branford College and majoring in Political Science. She also has an interdisciplinary focus in Environmental Studies.