The University of Nottingham today announced that it will remove any investments in fossil fuels.
Currently around 6% of the University’s £50 million endowment fund is invested in the oil and gas sector.
Any investments in coal and tars sands will be removed immediately and the University will completely divest its financial portfolio from fossil fuels within the next 12 months.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Shearer West said: “Fossil fuel divestment is an important part of our global outlook, ethical values and commitment to environmental sustainability.
“Our research has a well-deserved reputation for supporting a more sustainable planet in greener sources of energy, food supply and construction, and it is only right that our investments and campus activity reflect this.”
Nottingham is widely known for its commitment to sustainability. It is a leading international centre for energy research, with a reputation for excellence across a broad range of technologies including bioenergy, energy storage, the built environment and electrical grids, with a history of successful collaboration with industry in the UK and globally through its campuses in China and Malaysia.
Just this week it was announced that the University of Nottingham Ningbo China is electrifying the future of Ningbo’s economy after unlocking a £20m investment in new centre for that will develop the future of sustainable transport.
The University is also a partner in the Midlands Energy Research Accelerator, which aims to deliver a step change in energy innovation and tackle some of the biggest energy challenges facing both the UK and globally.
The University has also made significant strategic investments to reduce its own energy consumption, improve efficiencies, generate more renewable and lower carbon energy sources and reduce our carbon footprint with a carbon management plan to 2020.
Chief Financial Officer for the University of Nottingham Margaret Monckton said: “The University has always maintained that it is not willing to invest in organisations which demonstrate explicit environmental damage which includes severe damage to ecosystems, natural habitats or species.
We have reviewed the Investment Policy and we have concluded that we will divest from coal and tars sands immediately and will complete our transition out of fossil fuel divestments within the next 12 months.”
In 2016 the University opened the Glaxo SmithKline Centre for Sustainable Chemistry in a carbon neutral building and is soon to open its first PassivHaus standard Research Acceleration and Demonstration (RAD) Building.
As a result it has received a number of awards and is proud to be ranked second in the 2017 Green Metric Rankings which analyse campuses and policies related to sustainability in universities all over the world.
The University’s portfolio of renewable energy installations on the campus includes solar electricity, solar water heating, ground/air source heat pumps and wood pellet-fired boilers.
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Notes to editors:
The University of Nottingham is a research-intensive university with a proud heritage, consistently ranked among the world's top 100. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our 44,000 students - Nottingham was named University of the Year for Graduate Employment in the 2017 Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, was awarded gold in the TEF 2017 and features in the top 20 of all three major UK rankings. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement. We are ranked eighth for research power in the UK according to REF 2014. We have six beacons of research excellence helping to transform lives and change the world; we are also a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally.
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