FAQ

Divestment is when an institution withdraws its investments from certain companies. In this context, the HS Divestment Coalition advocates for secondary institutions to divest from the fossil fuel industry and any companies that profit from the production, transportation, or holding of fossil fuels such as oil, coal, or natural gas.

Reinvestment Is the Idea that the divestment movement can magnify its Impact If the funds divested from fossil fuels are then reinvested In companies that are leading the world In the right direction to solving climate change.

• Heavily stigmatizes fossil fuels and the fossil fuel companies that are not investing in the future/the salvation of our planet. These companies are one of the most significant roadblocks to solving climate change (if not the largest).

• Incentivizes and pressures fossil fuel companies to invest in renewable energy and the transition because they see the trillions of dollars being divested from fossil fuels and reinvested in the transition.

• Aligns the school with its mission, empowers the students that change is possible, and in the process, educates the student body and takes a stand by putting their money behind their words.

Investors often divest as a result of moral or financial reasons. However, for fossil fuel divestment, the paramount consideration is the environment. The Nueva Divestment Team strongly believes that investing in companies which are perpetuating ecological destruction and climate change contradicts our community values and Mission Statement. More generally, we also believe that it is unethical and financially unsustainable to profit from the environmental exploitation of the fossil fuel industry. Recent research has revealed that due to the larger shift towards clean energy as well as both diminishing and more volatile returns from fossil fuel plants, fossil fuel divestment is becoming more popular solely because of its financial benefits. 

Divestment aligns with the responsibilities of secondary institutions to foster engaged citizens, promote environmental sustainability, and enact change. Retracting financial support for the fossil fuel industry is the next logical step in pursuing an environmentally friendly campus and is a great way to set a track record of accountability, leadership, and advocacy for future initiatives.

Generally, students begin advocating for divestment at their schools by forming a team of educated and passionate students, communicating with their endowment committee or school board, gauging community interest in divestment (through surveys), and hosting educational community events. 

Some secondary institutions are involved with the divestment process or have already divested, but not a substantial amount. We hope to have this coalition to gain more momentum for the divestment of fossil fuels at secondary institutions, not just universities. We encourage you to explore this link with hundreds of institutions who are divesting from fossil fuels. In total, over 1,556 institutions have divested from fossil fuels. 

Educational Institutions

On-campus protests of the fossil fuel industry erupted at Swarthmore College in 2011. Since then, at least 100+ universities across twelve countries have begun pursuing divestment. This is done by allowing their current holdings in the fossil fuel industry to expire. Some universities with dates for when they announced their divestment include: 

• Stanford University | 2014 | Coal 

• UC System | 2017 | All fossil fuels

• Harvard University | 2018 | All fossil fuels 

• Middlebury College | 2019 | All fossil fuels 

• University of Cambridge | 2020 | Coal and tar sands

• Brown University | 2020 | All fossil fuels 

• Dartmouth | 2021| All fossil fuels

• Princeton | 2022 | Almost all fossil fuels (90 of the big FF companies and don't accept research funds from them)

Cities and Countries

Divestment isn’t just limited to university endowments and company portfolios. Entire towns, cities, and countries have divested their pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and governments from fossil fuels, including:

• City of Copenhagen | 2016 | All fossil fuels 

• New York City | 2018 | All fossil fuels

• The Country of Ireland | 2018 | All fossil fuels 

• The Country of Norway | 2019 | All fossil fuels 

• The Country of Sweden | 2019 | All fossil fuels 

Financial Institutions 

Lastly, several major financial institutions have divested from fossil fuels. Some of the following institutions have divested billions of dollars from the fossil fuel industry:

• BlackRock Investments Management | 2020 | the largest fund manager in the world (manages $10 trillion in assets) divests from thermal coal 

• Rockefeller Family Fund | 2016 | multi-million dollar philanthropic fund divests from all fossil fuels 

• Liberty Mutual | 2019 | insurance company pursuing partial divestment in all coal holdings

• Goldman Sachs | 2019 | arctic oil, thermal coal mines, and mountaintop removal projects