Umeå University went public today with its decision to divest from fossil fuels. The university manages approximately 200 million swedish krona in assets, and they are now being shifted away from companies that extract, refine or distribute coal, oil and gas. At the same time the university has changed its investment policy to exclude fossil fuels.
To us as a university, the decision is foremost a way to take up a stand showing that we take research on the climate change seriously, and that we want to make a difference, says Hans Adolfsson, Vice-Chancellor of Umeå University.
The Fossil Free Umeå University campaign started up in 2015 and has been researching, talking to the board and gathering support for divestment amongst students. At first there was no sign of change from the side of the University, they even stated that the financial returns trumped climate concern. The campaign had not been very active this past year, but was visible during Whole Earth Day.
In the meantime however, Fossil Free campaigns increased their pressure around Sweden and many other decisions to divest were taken (e.g. Stockholm University). This momentum seems to have spread to Umeå with this latest decision and will hopefully lead to similar decisions in other places.
The timing is perfect – less than two months until the Global Divestment Mobilisation – and campaign groups around Sweden, the rest of Europe and around the world are making plans to join in on May 5-13th.
By uniting in our demand globally, we can make a stronger more lasting impact. When institutions like Umeå University make a decision to divest, they not only cut their own ties to the fossil fuel industry, but they also signal that it’s unacceptable for public institutions to support fossil fuels any longer and open the political space needed to bring about the transition to a renewable energy future.