McGill University will continue investing in companies that profit from fossil fuels and oil sands after its board of governors voted May 23 to reject two petitions from an environmental activist group to divest from such organizations.
The board’s decision to reject the petitions was made following a recommendation by its Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility (CAMSR), which reviews concerns about the university’s financial commitments.
The committee decided to reject the petitions because the group, Divest McGill, failed to provide sufficient evidence that social injury had been caused by the actions of firms in the energy sector, according to board of governors chair Kip Cobbett.
“The students and professors made their case, the committee deliberated it and came to the conclusion that there was not sufficient evidence to warrant a recommendation of divestment to the board,” he said.
Cobbett said divestment from the university’s stock in fossil fuels would negatively affect McGill’s finances.
Divestment “would have a significant impact [on the university] because much of the Canadian economy is so resource-based,” Cobbett said.
The vote is a major setback for Divest McGill, which said it called on the university to divest from companies tied to the development of Canadian tar sands and Quebec’s Plan Nord project in its proposal to CAMSR.
The project is an $80 billion program proposed by the Quebec government in 2011 which would allow energy companies to mine and extract resources on lands currently owned by a number of indigenous communities, according to Divest McGill.
Divest McGill had collected more than 700 signatures from students and members of the community supporting its cause, the group said.
Divest McGill’s campaign mirrors similar efforts made by a number of campus groups across North America, according to Divest McGill spokesperson Amina Moustaqim-Barrette.
She said more than 300 campuses in the United States and Canada have held divestment campaigns as a way of pressuring university administrators to consider moving their investments away from companies which the group feels harm the environment.
“Climate change causes hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide every year and these industries put the livelihoods of every species on this planet in imminent danger,” Moustaqim-Barrette said.
“If that’s not social injury then I’m not sure what is.”
McGill currently has investments in 35 of the world’s largest fossil fuel corporations including Suncor Energy Inc., Enbridge Inc., and TransCanada Corp., according to Divest McGill.
Many of these investments have been unsuccessful over the last five to ten years, making divestment a feasible option, Moustaqim-Barrette said.
She said Divest McGill hopes to continue its divestment campaign by sitting down with incoming university principal Suzanne Fortier in the coming months.
Jamie Henn, communications director of climate safety advocacy group 350.org, said Divest McGill’s efforts have at the very least brought debate about climate change and the economic viability of fossil fuels into the spotlight.
“In one way, the success has been the public debate,” Henn said.
“This is exactly what we hoped to see. We want people debating the future of the economy about whether we should be investing in these companies.”
Katie Larson, president of McGill’s undergraduate student association, said McGill has a moral obligation to be a leader in environmental sustainability, which is why the association supports Divest McGill.
“I think it is obvious that students involved in the Divest movement feel a strong moral imperative towards divestment,” Larson said.
“The role of a university is to be a role model and innovator in society, and [by] supporting certain companies through investment holdings, [McGill] is not socially responsible.”
