Photo credit: Matt Dempsey’s Twitter
As we reported earlier this week, the odds of environmental activists at University of Denver dictating investment policy within the school’s endowment is non-existent. This fact didn’t stop the energy industry from pushing back hard ahead of the final decision by the Board of Trustees.
Even if DU decided to divest itself of oil and natural gas investments, then, what comes next? The logical next step for a divestment strategy is to divest of companies that use oil and gas. Fossil fuels are so critical to the global economy that for a university to truly divest of investments that rely on fossil fuels, there would be almost nothing to invest in. Eve cosmetic companies use fossil fuels.
Ultimately divestment policies do nothing to impact climate change, and harm institutions that implement them. Even 350.org, the lead national group behind the divestment movement at universities, has admitted that their divestment scheme is really about “changing the story” and not “material changes” to the environment.
Simon Lomax, an energy industry consultant working with DivestmentFacts.org called the divestment movement nothing more than “a political stunt.” And as we reported earlier in the week, it is a very small group of student activists who are driving this narrative. The Denver Post quoted a DU student yesterday, who affirmed that it is a “misconception” that most students actually care about this issue, and that if you would ask his peers about the divestment charade, “you would get a blank stare from my peers.”
Unfortunately, it looks like 350.org and the DU students that they were able to influence have wasted a lot of time and resources with the Board of Trustees and the special committee that held seven – yes seven – hearings on the matter. Can Colorado be done with this ridiculous charade?