Princeton moves to sever financial ties with fossil fuel companies

Bloomberg ($):

Princeton University is moving to sever financial ties with fossil-fuel companies, including energy giants Exxon Mobil Corp. and Suncor Energy Inc., as the school distances itself from major greenhouse-gas emitters. 

The university’s endowment, the fourth-largest in the US, “will also eliminate all holdings in publicly traded fossil-fuel companies,” Princeton said Thursday in a statement.

“While the economy in which we invest will necessarily be entangled with fossil fuels for decades to come, removing public equity exposure to oil and gas companies is a meaningful step toward the university’s long-term goals,” endowment chief Andy Golden said in a separate statement addressing the fund’s divestment decision. 

Earlier this month, the school’s board of trustees voted to “dissociate” from 90 companies that are active in the fossil-fuel industry’s thermal coal or tar sands segments. The university has existing or recent financial relationships with 10 of those firms, including Exxon, which has a five-year research partnership with Princeton’s Andlinger Center for Energy & the Environment.

[Francesca Maglione]

More: Princeton to Cut Holdings in Publicly Traded Fossil-Fuel Companies