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Tufts University will not directly invest in a group of coal and tar sands companies with large reserves, making the private Boston-area institution the latest wealthy university to take steps toward fossil fuel divestment.
The Tufts Board of Trustees approved a plan last weekend under which the university will prohibit direct investment in 120 coal and tar sands companies considered to have the largest reserves. Plans also call for the university to invest $10 million to $25 million over five years in positive impact funds related to climate change. Allocations above the minimum $10 million will be structured as matching funds intended to encourage endowment contributions from donors concerned about climate change.
In addition, Tufts plans to call on its investment managers to take into account environmental, social and governance considerations when investing. The university will also create a dashboard showing the university’s progress toward its goals.
It’s possible Tufts could still hold indirect investments in the large coal and tar sands producers on its do-not-invest list. The university is not able to dictate underlying investments in commingled funds in which it invests, according to a spokesman. Tufts will seek to avoid investments in any small coal and tar sands producers that do not appear on the list, he said.
The list of companies in which Tufts will not invest is expected to be updated annually. It doesn’t specifically target other types of fossil fuel producers, like companies producing natural gas. However, it includes major companies involved in coal or tar sands production that are also engaged in other types of fossil fuel production.
A Tufts spokesman declined to disclose the university’s individual security holdings. But Tufts indicated it currently has no direct holdings in the companies excluded by its new policy.
The new policy comes after students, faculty members and staff members took part in a 2020 advisory group to study divestment. The group issued recommendations in December.
Divesting from fossil fuel producers has been an issue at Tufts for years. In 2015, students took over the office of the university’s president, Anthony P. Monaco, in an attempt to force Tufts to sell off its holdings in companies producing fossil fuels.
“Tufts is committed to the mission of addressing the most consequential challenges of our time, including the urgent global crisis of climate change,” Monaco said in a statement Wednesday. “We are taking practical and symbolic steps to advance the cause of sustainability and positive environmental impact, both at Tufts and beyond.”
Tufts had the 57th-largest endowment in the country in 2019, according to data compiled by the National Association of College and University Business Officers. The endowment’s market value was about $1.9 billion, or roughly $170,000 per full-time-equivalent student.
Other U.S. universities announcing various steps related to divesting from fossil fuels in the last year include Georgetown, Brown, Wesleyan, American and Columbia.
