Macgreeninvest

MacGreenInvest and Carbon Footprint Reduction On Wednesday, February 26 the Office of Financial Affairs at McMaster organized a townhall meeting to outline the university’s infrastructure and investment policies and plans. Part of the meeting was taken up with the plan to reduce the university’s carbon footprint. Reducing carbon footprint is clearly an essential part of addressing the climate crisis, and McMaster should be applauded to undertaking the initiative to do this. Carbon footprint represents the consumption of energy derived from burning fossil fuels, whether this is direct consumption such as using vehicles powered by internal combustion engines, or indirect such as using electricity generated in gas-fired power plants. The reduction of carbon footprint entails two courses of action. The first is conservation—finding ways to consume less energy by making energy use more efficient and less wasteful, such as developing more energy-efficient technologi

The McGill International Portfolio Challenge The pros and cons of institutional divestment from fossil fuels was tackled by 87 teams of students in this year's challenge. Among the conclusions put forward by the top teams was the need to re-invest any funds taken out of fossil fuels into environmentally sustainable alternative ventures. https://www.corporateknights.com/channels/responsible-investing/universities-abruptly-divest-stocks-fossil-fuel-industry-15820401/

"Something Big is Shifting" Georgetown University's board of directors has announced that the university will divest from fossil fuels and seek instead to invest in renewable energy. The announcement follows a student referendum in which 90% voted in favour of divesting. For details: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/08/something-big-shifting-georgetown-announces-fossil-fuel-divestment-students-across

An update on the divestment campaign at Harvard University and recent changes in student strategy The failure of student activism at Harvard to bring about action on divestment has led to a re-think about how to get the university to move on the issue. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/opinion/harvard-divestment-fossil-fuels.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

CNBC's Jim Cramer: fossil fuel stocks are in their "death knell phase" https://www.cnbc.com/video/2020/01/31/jim-cramer-fossil-fuels-oil-energy-squawk-box.html

Divest Waterloo The divestment movement is growing at the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University. For more information about the campaigns at both universities see: http://divestwaterloo.ca/university-divestment-campaigns/