Last week, Boston University (BU) said it will divest from fossil fuels, starting immediately.
The decision followed a vote from the university’s board of trustees to adopt a plan to move investments tied to the fossil fuel industry, mainly crude oil and natural gas. The decision came out of numerous meetings over years with members of the BU community focusing on the acceleration of the climate crisis and the concurrent advancement of the clean energy sector.
BU said the board voted to divest from coal and tar sands in 2016.
“Climate change is moving much more rapidly than we thought even five years ago — it’s not something our great-grandchildren are going to deal with, it’s here and something we’re worrying about now,” said trustee Richard Reidy, who heads the board’s advisory committee on socially responsible investing (ACSRI). After meeting with university experts and advocates, the committee concluded that the degree of social harm caused b