Oberlin College pledges to fully divest from fossil fuels

OBERLIN — Oberlin College no longer has any direct holdings in the fossil fuel business, and it has pledged to eliminate its indirect investments by 2025. After meeting in October, the board of trustees said it would join 76 colleges and universities across the nation and more than 1,500 higher-education institutions worldwide that have divested in excess of $40 trillion from the fossil fuel industry. That public statement was important "to make clear that fossil fuels are not a sustainable practice and we need to pivot," Molly Niles Cornell said. She is one of four members of the Class of 1965 who sit on the steering committee of the Oberlin Fossil Fuel Divestment Working Group. The student and alumni-led group called in May for the college to fully divest its fossil fuel holdings by 2025. "We understand that Oberlin's existing investments in fossil fuel industries may be small and may be through indirect holdings," it said in a prepared statement. "This does not change the importance of a clear and public policy. This action will set a powerful example to other institutions of higher learning." In 2016, Oberlin College directed the managers of its more than $1 billion endowment fund to avoid investing in companies that refuse to acknowledge the impact of greenhouse gas emissions. It no longer invests directly in fossil fuels, and less than 1 percent of the endowment still has indirect ties to the industry. Cornell said she is thrilled by the steps the college has taken "to dial it down to zero." She said the use of coal, oil and natural gas is not sustainable, and contributes to the rapid heating of the Earth. Her alumni group also said fossil fuels place an "unjust burden" on "the world's poorest people." John Petersen, professor of environmental studies and biology at Oberlin College, said divestment is an important milestone. "The recent decision to make this divestment commitment formal and public sends a message to the world that Oberlin views a fossil fuel-free global economy as central to the education and survival of future generations," he said. Prominent environmentalist Bill McKibben, a professor at Middlebury College, also hailed the decision. "Oberlin has been such a standout in the field of environmental studies, and now it is walking the talk in a powerful way," he said. "Many thanks to the students, faculty, and alumni who have persevered for many years to make this happen. That kind of persistence will be key in all the climate fights that lie ahead." Oberlin College signed the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment in 2006, becoming one of the nation's first higher-education institutions to say it would become climate-neutral. That commitment is reiterated in the Oberlin board of trustees' divestment resolution. The college is on track to balance its carbon emissions with the amount that can safely be absorbed into the atmosphere by 2025. To hit that goal, the college is purchasing green electricity, installed a solar array, increased its building efficiency and stopped using coal as a campus power source. It is also converting to geothermal heating and cooling, a $140 million project that will also save about 5 million gallons of water each year and improve campus energy efficiency by 30 percent. Jason Hawk can be reached at (440) 329-7122 or news@lcnewspapers.com.