Dive Brief:
- Syracuse University’s endowment has become the largest to divest entirely from fossil fuels.
- According to The New York Times, the institution dropped all fossil fuel stocks from its $1.2 billion endowment this week.
- Syracuse students conducted an 18-day sit-in in November to push for divestment and consider the university's latest action to be a victory.
Dive Insight:
A number of other universities have divested from fossil fuels — or coal mining, specifically — including Stanford, Prescott College in Arizona, Hampshire College in Massachusetts, the University of Dayton in Ohio, and the California Institute of the Arts. While Stanford has a larger endowment than Syracuse, its 2014 divestment was from coal mining only. Syracuse, according to a statement from the university, refuses to invest in stocks for companies whose primary business is the extraction of fossil fuels of any kind. It is looking for new investment options in alternative energy and advanced recycling. Student protests have been a significant contributor to investment change at colleges and universities in the United States and abroad.