An Open Letter

from Scholars of Climate Change at Rutgers University

to the University’s Board of Governors and Board of Trustees

Calling for Divestment from Fossil Fuel Production

In the effort to combat climate change, Rutgers has made remarkable contributions. The University supports leading scholarship and research institutes devoted to understanding the causes and consequences of climate change. Our curriculum educates students in every aspect of the phenomenon. As natural scientists, social scientists, applied scholars, and teachers in this field, we thank administration and governing boards for their support. We also appreciate the University’s initiatives in sustainability, including the installation of the largest solar farm on any US college campus. By all these measures, Rutgers provides necessary leadership in addressing what is undoubtedly the greatest single threat to communities and ecosystems worldwide.

In one respect, however, Rutgers has remained passive. The University continues to invest roughly 3% of endowment monies in companies which produce coal, oil, and gas. Upon combustion, these hydrocarbons release carbon dioxide and drive global warming. Even the most dire, unequivocal alarms have not yet provoked significant reform. Scientific findings – confirmed by signatories to this letter – suggest that the bulk of fossil fuel reserves should stay in the ground, as “stranded assets.” The combustion of coal should almost cease, and we must drastically slow the rate of exploitation of petroleum and natural gas as well. No hydrocarbon firm has embraced this recommendation. On the contrary, these companies persist in a business plan that directly undermines our best hope to stabilize the climate. Through lobbying and political contributions, moreover, fossil fuel companies oppose national legislation and international treaties that would protect our climate. Regrettably, the current investment plan of Rutgers University also obstructs any turn towards global sustainability.

Rutgers should, therefore, divest its endowment from firms extracting coal, oil, and gas. Given the likelihood of future regulation, hydrocarbons are risky investments in any case. More importantly, the University holds an ethical obligation. In 1985, Rutgers divested from firms doing business in Apartheid South Africa – as the first major university to do so. That action helped provoke the U.S. Congress to pass sanctions against South Africa, leading to the end of Apartheid. Rutgers was on the right side of history. With respect to coal, oil, and gas, the Rutgers portfolio confronts a similar turning point. By terminating investments in fossil fuel, Rutgers will join with a growing number of universities, colleges, foundations, cities, and churches in addressing climate change as a moral issue. Our scholarship has created a responsibility to lead. Thousands of young people in New Jersey expect the University to sustain, rather than undermine, their future. Now, approaching its 250th year, Rutgers must act with the full wisdom of its science and its humanism.