Student groups hold Alumni Weekend protest calling for divestment, sustainable campus infrastructure4/14/2024
Read this article in the Duke Chronicle by Zoe Kolenovsky about DCC's Alumni Weekend Day of Action.
Duke recommits itself to fossil fuels and an unlivable future for its students in recent ACIR report4/2/2024
Read this op-ed by DCC in the Duke Chronicle: https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2024/04/040224-duke-climate-coalition-acir-report-response As of today, 234 other universities across the world have committed to divesting their endowments from fossil fuels, meaning that they no longer invest any portion of their endowments in the stocks, bonds, or funds of oil, coal and gas companies. In a recent report by the Duke Advisory Committee on Investment Responsibility (ACIR), Duke has recommitted itself to the opposite, deciding once again that profits and loyalty to its fossil fuel shareholders come first, before the precious Climate Commitment and before the future of our world. As President Price said in a recent interview, "It is presently not practical for DUMAC to account for carbon emissions in its portfolio."
Read this op-ed by DCC in the Duke Chronicle: https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2023/12/100823-duke-climate-coalition The COP28, the annual summit where nations gather to assess the world’s progress in fighting climate change, is currently undergoing its second week. This year’s summit is being held in the United Arab Emirates under the direction of Sultan Al Jaber, an Emirati politician and oil executive who, according to recently discovered documents, is using the event to promote fossil fuel production by lobbying other countries. Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General António Guterres is warning the world that “humanity has opened the gates to hell” by failing to take aggressive actions to mitigate climate change. Our politicians are gathering at a conference where key leaders plan to discuss the expansion of fossil fuels without seemingly any care for how that impacts our future.
DCC releases new report about the efficacy of divestment as a tool for fighting climate change12/4/2023
Abstract: Fossil fuel divestment (FFD) is a common tactic by which institutions facilitate a transition away from fossil fuels to green energy. However, there is conflicting research on the efficacy of fossil fuel divestment as a tool for reducing the emissions of fossil fuel companies (or so-called “brown firms”). This review will provide a broad background on the effects of divestment on brown firms’ operations and emissions based on the available literature in order to help determine whether FFD is a successful strategy for fighting climate change. We begin by examining the consequences of divestment on the cost of capital for fossil fuel companies, followed by a discussion of how that impacts the emissions of those companies. Additionally, we examine current literature on the effects of divestment on emission-regulating policy and the efficacy of alternatives to divestment.
by Abigail Saks
I have been active in the campaign to get Duke to fully divest from fossil fuels since I was a freshman. I went into it knowing it would be frustrating and that the work would rarely yield any significant results. Still, I’m graduating in less than a year now, and I cannot stand the fact that I will likely be leaving having made no impact on Duke’s investment practices, despite the years of hard work by Duke Climate Coalition’s (DCC) campaign. I have tried my best to be patient, to understand that the bureaucracy of a college administration can often hinder rapid change, but I am sick of being patient. As I write this, many island nations are facing the threat of becoming uninhabitable in the coming decades, millions of people are dying annually because of climate change, and we have already passed the point of no return. Now is not the time to slowly let things happen at a pace that our current system feels comfortable with. At the request of the ACIR, which advises Duke's president on ethical investing issues, DCC submitted two reports calling for improved investment sustainability:
Article in the Duke Chronicle by Charlotte Kane about DCC's recent protest calling for the Duke administration to divest from fossil fuels.
On the global stage, Duke is known for its public commitments to sustainability and the advancement of climate science and conservation. Much of the research that Duke does is, in fact, at the forefront of discovery in this field. The recent Climate Commitment announcement, however, demonstrates that we are still falling short of gold-standard university climate action. During the kickoff event, members of the Duke administration emphasized their commitment to focus more on energy transformation, climate and community resilience, environmental justice, and data-driven climate solutions. To be clear, this expansion of Duke’s climate action plan is a great step forward, and we are grateful to the people who have spent so much energy on making Duke a leader in the environmental field. Still, the ceremony notably failed to mention the Board of Trustees’ refusal to divest the Duke endowment from fossil fuel companies, thus implying that the university will maintain its position as a financial supporter of the fossil fuel industry. While this announcement is no surprise considering the Duke administration’s history of failing to fully commit to combatting the climate crisis, the Duke Climate Coalition and the Divest Duke team are nonetheless disappointed. We know that the university can do better.
Article in the News and Observer by Kate Murphy and Adam Wagner about the divestment legal complaint filed by DCC with the North Carolina Attorney General.
Article in the Duke Chronicle by Vishal Jammulapati about the legal complaint that DCC filed with the North Carolina Attorney General calling for Duke to divest.
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