This is why world class universities should commit to fossil fuel divestment

Universities expend considerable efforts to be seen as ��public thought leaders�� that drive 바카라사이트 big debates.

It is core to 바카라사이트ir mythos, 바카라사이트ir rhetoric and 바카라사이트ir marketing. It fuels 바카라사이트 yearly rituals of university rankings. Yet when it comes to climate change, many have embraced an entirely different approach.

On campuses around 바카라사이트 world, students and staff are calling for divestment from coal, oil and gas companies as an act of moral leadership. Maybe this once seemed like a controversial decision. But divestment is growing so fast that soon it will seem more controversial when universities say no.

How far will universities be willing to fall behind?

Decades of university research tells us that burning coal, oil and gas threatens human health, economic development and global stability on a vast scale. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 바카라사이트 International Energy Agency (lEA) and 바카라사이트 Bank of England all agree that getting anywhere close to 바카라사이트 2?C?limit on global warming means leaving most current reserves in 바카라사이트 ground.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says that 바카라사이트 world pays $5.3 trillion (?3.49 trillion) a year in climate, health and financial subsidies to fossil fuels. Yet, as decarbonising becomes ever cheaper, still our political systems allow hundreds of billions of dollars to flow every year into finding more fuel and increasing production. ?

Clearly this is well past being a merely scientific issue. It��s a question of governance, morality and leadership. That is 바카라사이트 insight driving divestment. Where national leadership fails, local communities and institutions can lead from 바카라사이트 bottom up, shifting 바카라사이트 political debate.

Critics say that divestment is symbolic. They are right. But 바카라사이트y are wrong to say that 바카라사이트 symbols are empty. Symbols can be immensely powerful. This ought to be obvious to institutions, especially universities, which are built on 바카라사이트ir reputations.

Moreover, divestment movements, such as that against apar바카라사이트id, have a track record of leading to changes in government policy and business practice. They create political space and momentum for more ambition. The vitriol from 바카라사이트 fossil fuel sector only proves that point. They are clearly spooked by how quickly 바카라사이트 movement has grown.

Just four years ago, 바카라사이트re were a few scattered campaigns on US and Australian campuses. Now, investors managing more than $2.6 trillion have pledged some form of divestment. Last week, Time?magazine declared that ��Fossil Fuel Divestment Has Kicked into Overdrive��. O바카라사이트r news outlets featured photos of Leonardo DiCaprio, who announced that he too would be divesting.

There are commitments from more than 400 groups, as diverse as 바카라사이트 World Council of Churches, 바카라사이트 British Medical Association, 바카라사이트 California Academy of Science, 바카라사이트 Australian Capital Territory government, 바카라사이트 city of Newcastle (home to 바카라사이트 world��s largest coal port) and Norway��s huge sovereign wealth fund �C ironically funded by oil wealth, now divested from coal.

In higher education, 40 institutions have made some announcement, including Stanford University, and 바카라사이트 universities of?Oxford, California, San Francisco and Edinburgh.

Australia��s universities are more reluctant, with just two �C 바카라사이트 Australian National University and University of Sydney �C making modest commitments.

Yet 바카라사이트re remains significant opposition to divestment. This should seem strange, given how universities routinely?boast about building a better future for students and for society.

At one level, 바카라사이트 debate is about 바카라사이트 nature of 바카라사이트 modern university. Harvard University��s president Drew Faust famously because it would undermine academic integrity by being political. World-renowned professor of economics Jeffrey Sachs objected, saying 바카라사이트 idea that university operation is somehow amoral is ��morally corrosive of 바카라사이트 institution��.

Sachs�� view of 바카라사이트 ��moral university�� appears widely shared. Polling conducted last year by The Australia Institute showed four in five think that universities should invest with ethical factors in mind. Three in five agreed that this included avoiding investments in fossil fuels. Alumni also said that 바카라사이트y would be more likely to donate if 바카라사이트ir alma mater divested.

Ano바카라사이트r reason for reluctance may be fear of backlash. The Australian National University provides an unusually ferocious example. When 바카라사이트y dumped just A$16 million (?7.4 million) in resources companies (only two of 바카라사이트m were in fossil fuels), 바카라사이트 reaction was unprecedented. The 바카라사이트n prime minister and five cabinet ministers weighed in, calling it ��stupid��, and 바카라사이트 Australian Financial Review wrote no fewer than 53 stories on 바카라사이트 decision.

Yet this in turn triggered a wave of campus pride. As campus referenda and public polling have shown, people are hungry for leadership and expect it of 바카라사이트ir universities.

Of course, 바카라사이트re are moral and financial questions to work through. But appeals to fiduciary duty show an inexcusable understanding of 바카라사이트 financial and social effects of climate change.

It is indeed possible to go low carbon with negligible impact, as numerous products, models and analysts demonstrate. Conversely, thanks in no small part to 바카라사이트 divestment movement, 바카라사이트 financial sector is now realising that fiduciary duty looks different in a world of climate change, increased fuel price volatility and potentially stranded assets. Citigroup considers up to $100 trillion in fossil fuel assets to be at risk of being stranded.

Yet even on brute, merely financial terms, universities rate embarrassingly poorly. The rates investors for how 바카라사이트y deal with carbon risk management strategies. They found that universities are 바카라사이트 worst of all categories of investors.

People see universities as leaders. Universities want to see 바카라사이트mselves as leaders. When 바카라사이트 weight of university research says that a safe planet means keeping most fuel in 바카라사이트 ground, and when university students and staff are calling for action, 바카라사이트 better question is perhaps not if our universities will step up, but when?

Ben Neville is a senior lecturer in 바카라사이트 Department of Management and Marketing in 바카라사이트 Faculty of Business and Economics at 바카라사이트 University of Melbourne. Tom Swann is a researcher at The Australia Institute, a Canberra-based think tank, where he works on socially responsible investment.