How urgent is the climate crisis?
Scientists first understood carbon dioxide’s effect on the Earth’s climate as early as the late 19th century. Clear proof of rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations was established beginning in 1958, the term “global warming” was coined in a scientific paper by Wallace Broecker in 1975 and in 1988 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was formed to gather and assess evidence for climate change. However, despite the scientific knowledge on anthropogenic climate change accumulated over the last two centuries, insufficient action has been taken to curb emissions.
Today, the term “climate change” has entered public discourse and many local and national governments and institutions have declared a climate emergency. 2020 and 2016 are tied as the warmest years on record, and the results of a volatile climate are becoming increasingly apparent each year. Take the severe winter weather that recently hit the southern US, the occurrence of increasingly devastating wildfires in North American and Australia, and intensifying heat waves, to list only a few examples.
Cutting our reliance on fossil fuels and achieving a clean energy transition has proven to be more difficult than perhaps anyone imagined. Nevertheless, progress is (and must continue) being made.
What is divestment?
Fossil fuel divestment is one of many strategies within the broader climate movement to achieve a just and sustainable energy transition. In its most simple terms, divestment refers to abandoning stocks, bonds, or investment funds that contribute to a practice which you choose to not support -- for example, oil, gas and coal exploration, extraction, refinement and transportation.
Universities across the world have removed fossil fuel assets from their investment portfolios and many Canadian universities have either already committed to divestment or are facing pressures to divest. The University of Victoria, for example, recently divested its working capital investment fund from fossil fuel assets. Across the border, the University of California, one of the largest universities in the US, has “sold more than $1 billion in fossil fuel assets from its pension, endowment and working capital pools and invested $1 billion in clean energy projects”. Fossil fuel divestment is gaining traction. Over 1,000 institutions have made fossil fuel divestment commitments around the planet, spanning a range from religious organizations to Ireland (the world’s first country to fully divest from fossil fuels).
The IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC highlights how “the impacts of 1.5°C of warming would disproportionately affect disadvantaged and vulnerable populations through food insecurity, higher food prices, income losses, lost livelihood opportunities, adverse health impacts and population displacements”. As an engaged, research and educational institution, we believe it is crucial that York University join the climate movement as a sustainability leader and commit to full divestment from fossil fuel assets.
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