Glasgow Becomes First University in Europe to Divest From Fossil Fuels

Glasgow University in Scotland has voted to divest from the fossil fuel industry and is selling its holdings in the sector, worth £18 million, or US $12 million. The decision follows a year of pressure and campaigning from a student organization, the Glasgow University Climate Action Society, part of a broader international university movement. The “Fossil Free” university movement began in the United States three years ago and 13 US universities have committed to ending direct fossil-fuel investments. Although those universities are primarily small, the commitment of Stanford earlier this year served as a harbinger of broader change. The UK campaign is targeting the country’s three largest endowments – Oxford, Cambridge, and Edinburgh. More than 800 investors including major foundations have pledged to divest assets in the fossil fuel industry over the next five years, and Libby Brooks of the Guardian reports, “A study by Oxford University last autumn found that [the Fossil Free movement] had grown faster than any previous divestment campaign, including those relating to apartheid, armaments and tobacco.” – YaleGlobal