Lennart Olsson, Kimberly A. Nicholas, Johanna Alkan Olsson and more than 170 other employees at Lund University request the University Board to divest from assets in fossil fuels.
Dear Lund University Board – Torbjörn von Schantz, Jonas Hafström, Ann-Katrin Bäcklund, Sven Lidin, Tommy Andersson, Anna Stellinger, Börje Ljunggren, Cecilia Christersson, Mats Svegfors, Sofia Halth, Ulf Ewaldsson, Lars Ljungälv, Omar Khalil, Cecilia Skoug, and Johan Svantesson Sjöberg,
We the undersigned, faculty and staff of Lund University, acknowledge the urgency of the scientific community’s warning that the burning of fossil fuels puts society at risk. We thereby support the many students at Lund University who have repeatedly urged the university to divest from assets in fossil fuels. We invoke three compelling reasons for Lund University to divest from fossil fuels:
- The overwhelming scientific consensus on future risks for society with unabated climate change
- The long-term economic risks of fossil fuel assets in a low-carbon future
- To be true to the ethical foundations of academia and Lund University values
The scientific consensus shows that unabated climate change causes widespread ecological and social calamities. To reduce the risk of unmanageable climate change, there is widespread political agreement in Sweden and beyond, to limit global warming to 2°C above pre-industrial levels. To achieve this target, about one third of the known oil reserves, half of natural gas reserves, and over 80% of the coal reserves should not be burned.
In economic terms, avoiding dangerous climate change means that many of the assets of the fossil fuel industry will be substantially devalued, leading to stranded assets. Many of these fossil fuel companies are publicly traded and investor-owned, supported in large part by institutional investors, including universities.
There is a strong and rapidly growing trend for many influential investors in Sweden and worldwide to divest from fossil fuels. Several universities including Stanford University and University of Glasgow have already decided to do so. Chalmers was the first university in Sweden to take this step on January 22, 2015, and Jönköping University College followed universities are joined by several major institutional investors, such as the Rockefeller Foundation – one of the world’s largest private research funding organizations, built on the dynasty of Standard Oil – and in Sweden the Church of Sweden decided to divest from fossil fuels already in 2009. The World Council of Churches, representing over 300 churches with a global congregation of 600 million people, decided in July 2014 to follow the example of the Church of Sweden and other ethical investors in divesting.
In this context, and as a first step, we welcome the decision of Lund University to sell their shares in Gazprom last summer. Now it is time make a final move and divest completely from fossil fuels. Students have twice voiced a clear demand, supported by petitions signed by about 2,000, for the Lund University board to order foundations owned by the university to divest their assets in fossil fuels. The response was an inquiry about Lund University’s investment portfolio and a subsequent decision in November 2014 not to liquidate assets in fossil fuels, with the main argument that only about 1 per cent of the assets are in fossil fuels. To us, this is an argument for divesting immediately, with great gains from little effort.
Finally, in line with Lund University’s mission to be a “world-class university that works to understand, explain and improve our world and the human condition” to do. We would also like to stress the important strategic advantage and positive visibility to be gained from a university deciding to divest from fossil fuels. If universities seek to educate extraordinary youth so they may achieve the brightest possible future, what does it mean for that university simultaneously to invest in industries profiting from the destruction of that future?
Kimberly A. Nicholas, Assistant Professor, Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies
Johanna Alkan Olsson, Lecturer, The Centre for Environmental and Climate Research.
Photo: Private
Therefore, we respectfully ask you and the board to recognize the need for comprehensive and immediate divestment from fossil fuels.
Yours sincerely,
