A coalition of students, faculty, staff, and alumni has called for an investigation of Princeton University’s fossil fuel industry investments.
Divest Princeton, a coalition of concerned students, alumni, parents, faculty, and staff have urged the university to divest and dissociate from the world’s most harmful fossil fuel companies.
Getting no response from the university, the organization has initiated a complaint.
Although Princeton has taken steps to combat climate change, critics say it must join the growing tide of universities, foundations, and other institutions in taking stronger action.
If only two percent of Princeton’s total $37.7 billion endowment are investments in fossil fuels, the holdings would be conservatively estimated at $750 million. The actual value may be much higher.
Peer universities like Brown, Cornell, Cambridge, and Oxford have already made strong commitments.
Princeton’s Board of Trustees must approve and strengthen the recommendations recently made by the CPUC Resources Committee to ensure that meaningful divestment happens urgently, and that dissociation from fossil fuel companies proceeds as swiftly as possible.
I invite you to visit Divest Princeton’s website and consider signing the open letter yourself.
On February 16th, 2022, Divest Princeton filed a legal complaint with the New Jersey Attorney General, urging them to compel Princeton University to fully divest from fossil fuels. The complaint was prepared with the help of pro bono lawyers from the Climate Defense Project.
The plaintiffs argue that Princeton University’s ongoing fossil fuel investments represent a violation of its legal obligations as a charitable nonprofit corporation under the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act (UPMIFA).
In 2016, former SEC commissioner Bevis Longstreth suggested that under the law, institutions that expose themselves to investment in companies materially dependent on long-term carbon emissions (such as the fossil fuel industry) could be found to be acting imprudently and at odds with their charitable mission.