This letter is asking the Board of Trustees of Boston University to divest BU's endowment from fossil fuel companies. It will be submitted to the board and to the Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing who will make a recommendation to the Board about whether or not to divest.

To get involved with the divestment movement at BU contact: sarabeth@bu.edu


March 2015
To the Trustees of Boston University:
 
As graduate and postgraduate students we have devoted ourselves along with Boston University to advancing knowledge for the betterment of society.  Man-made climate change is the single greatest challenge facing our generation.  As we live into the 2050s, 2060s, and 2070s, the climate crisis will pose an increasing threat to the safety and prosperity not only of ourselves but also our university and our world, unless we all act now.

We, the undersigned, call on the Board of Trustees to divest the Boston University endowment entirely from fossil fuels.
From cutting edge research into climate systems and clean energy technology to the work of Sustainability@BU, Boston University is greening its campus, its classrooms, and its laboratories.  Now it is time for Boston University to green its endowment.  Stopping damaging climate change will require a variety of responses, and we believe fossil fuel divestment deserves to be part of the portfolio.

Fossil fuel divestment is not a political statement but a practical and moral requirement.  We do not seek to indict the fossil fuel industry for providing the energy that powers many of our homes, schools, hospitals, and industries.  However, while past and present use of fossil fuels is morally ambiguous, burning all the remaining fossil fuels is no longer a defensible course of action.  By all accounts, the remaining fossil fuel reserves still in the ground represent three to five times what could be safely burned without catastrophic changes to the climate (1).  The World Bank, an institution not known for hyperbole, has stated that it has no reason to be confident that civilization can adapt to 4 C of warming (2).  By continuing to use fossil fuels at our current rate, we could see 4 C of warming in our lifetime, and 6 C in the lifetimes of our children (3).  Doing nothing to change our business-as-usual consumption of fossil fuels will inevitably deliver us an unacceptable future.

By continuing to invest in fossil fuel industries, the University is already taking a stance on climate change just as clearly as deciding to divest. Boston University can no longer invest in its students and at the same time invest in (and benefit from) activities that threaten those students and the world in which they live. We should instead invest in a future we all believe in and hope for.

Divestment is a reaffirmation of our values and our vision for the future:  A future in which we unleash the clean energy industry, bolster the high-tech economy, and create safe, fair-wage jobs.  A future of peace, prosperity, and possibility in which our children can also benefit from the Boston University we are all proud of having built.  Science tells us that this future is attainable, but that it won’t be easy.  Reaching this future will require bold leadership -- the kind of bold leadership Boston University has shown before.  For the sake of preserving our university and creating a sustainable future, we call upon the Trustees:  Please divest the Boston University endowment from all fossil fuel interests.

 
Sincerely:  Graduate and Postgraduate Students of Boston University,

1. McGlade, C. and P. Ekins.  2015. The geographical distribution of fossil fuels unused when limiting global warming to 2 C.  Nature 517: 187–190.
2. World Bank. 2013. Turn Down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience. A report for the World Bank by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Climate Analytics. Washington, DC:World Bank. License: Creative Commons Attribution—NonCommercial–NoDerivatives3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
3. IPCC. 2014. Climate change 2014: Synthesis Report -- Summary for Policymakers. http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/syr/SYR_AR5_SPMcorr2.pdf