THEVOICE | 4 TUESDAY, NOV. 28,2017 | EDITOR EVAN HAGEDORN Specialinvestigation Divestment push fossilized Institutions leave students in the dark about investments in the oil industry = By JENNIFER WILSON, TREVOR NAULT AND ELEANOR CLARKE hree years after the peak of fossil fuel divestment campaigns on B.C. cam- puses, students still have little idea how much their institu- tions invest in oil. The international environmental network 350.org, launched their first fossil fuel divestment campaign in 2012, urging post-secondary ad- ministrations to pull out of their in- vestments in fossil fuel companies. Less than a month later, over 100 individual, student led campaigns had spread across the United States. ‘The movement quickly spread to Canada and the University of Brit- ish Columbia was the first to take up the cause in B.C.in 2014. Cameron Fenton, an organizer for 350.org, said post-secondary divestment gave the David of en- vironmental activism considerable leverage against the fossil fuel in- dustry Goliath. “Up against governments and some of the world’s largest and wealthiest corporations we were up against unfathomable odds. Divest- ment is changing that. Positioned as centres of social and technologi- cal innovation, what happens on campuses ripples across our SsOCi- ety,” he said. He added that campus divest- ment may not effectively impact the bottom line of the fossil fuel indus- try but that awareness can impact reputation something more valu- able than money. Money is still an essential ele- ment in the divestment debate however, and post-secondary en- dowment funds are big money. In July, Canada’s Oil and Natu- ral Gas Producers released a re- port arguing that their industry is key for a prosperous British Columbia,”claiming global demand for oil will increase by 12 per cent by 2040. On the other hand, pro-divest- ment reports argue that since oil prices have collapsed since 2014 and more organizations commit to divest from fossil fuels, divestment is a financially secure option. A Langara Voice investigation shows that as of December 2016, long term investments at 27 of the 35 post-secondary institutions in B.C. totaled $3.7 billion. To put this in perspective, the federal and provincial governments provide about $3.3 billion in annual subsi- dies to the oil and gas industry. Members of the Divest UVic student group stand in solidarity with their counterparts at McGill University during a sit in in September 2006. divest uvic PHOTO ‘The funds, supplied by donors, are re-invested through third-party investment managers and mutual funds. Schools use the interest gained on these investments to fund operations and special projects. At its peak, there were nine active fossil fuel divestment campaigns at post-secondary schools in B.C. Despite the reputational impact of divestment campaigns, no universi- ties in B.C. have committed to di- vestment. Fast forward to 2017. f the nine university fossil @) fuel divestment campaigns in B.C., only three remain active. On a national level, Laval University in Quebec has com- mitted to full divestment, but they remain the only post-secondary in- stitution in Canada to do so. Most institutions in B.C. have made drawn out commitments of par- tial divestment while others have responded to student and faculty campaigns with a flat-out no. The University of Victoria is cur- rently one of the most active cam- paigns in B.C., Natalia Karpovs- kaia, active with UVic’s campaign S wey Se Natalia Karpovskaia (centre), poses for a photo with the Divest UVic student group after a meeting in March, 2016. divest Uvic PHOTO since their Student Society’s refer- endum on fossil fuel divestment in 2015, said their tactics have been a major factor in their longevity. “A lot of our tactics are focused on two things, one of which is gathering support but also the other is hav- ing conversations with UVic, or at- tempting to.” she said. Similarly, Alice-Anne Simard, the student who led the ULaval Sans Fossiles campaign said “it’s important not to villainize the school, but to emphasize the op- portunity for leadership.” Maintaining a respectful con- versation, however, will only take a campaign so far according to Ka- povskaia, who feels UVic is waiting for other institutions to take the first step in B.C. The University has so far rejected divestment despite both student and faculty voting in favour of it. Karpovskaia said that when their group met with the UVic Founda- tion, they agreed that divestment is the right thing to do both ethi- cally and financially, however, “the reason they're not divesting is be- cause if they do, it's too much of a political statement to make... It’s too controversial to make a decision that big, and universities tend to stay a-political on issues like this.” Another major issue mentioned by activists is longevity. Students are overworked, overburdened and often poor. Mike Hudema, climate and energy campaigner for Green- peace Canada said when the core campaign groups graduate, so does the energy for the movement and therefore the pressure on adminis- trations. ‘The challenges of political hesi- tancy, anxiety around investment income and student body tran- sience are exacerbated at commu- nity colleges, said Jessie Smith, a Latin American studies instructor at Langara College. She first raised the issue of di- vestment with her union in 2014. “Student engagement of that na- ture is challenging here in terms of clubs and groups and that kind of thing. Once you get started, be- fore you know it you're off to study somewhere else.” mall scale, sustainability ini- S tiatives are increasingly com- mon on B.C. campuses. Lan- gara for example, has invested in sustainable architecture and waste reduction efforts on campus. “We understand that the world’s resources are finite and need to be used conservatively and wisely. We know that our choices, both big and small, impact on our world and fu- ture generations,” the Langara web- site said. While sustainable modelling, partnerships and programming are advocated on the site, sustainable investments are not mentioned. The Langara College Foundation, however, invests with Genus Capi- tal, whose homepage touts the fi- nancial security of fossil free invest- ment. Officials from UVic, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, and Douglas College have confirmed to UNIVERSITY INVESTMENTS IN ENERGY SECTORS NUMBERS FROM 2016 - 17 The University of British Columbia invested $85 million in t energy sectors. The University of Victoria has $30 million in energy investments. ‘The Langara Voice that they have no specific exclusion policies in regards to fossil fuel investment, but also pointed to sustainability initiatives on their campuses and investors who promote sustainable invest- ment policies. It remains largely unclear how much of their multi-million-dollar endowment funds are invested in fossil fuel companies, particularly- when endowment investments are Rime handled by third- parties. Divestment, it seems, has gradu- ated. According to Hudema, while B.C. — campusus ; see fewer divest- Mike Hudema ment actions than CANADA in 2014, the di- vestment move- ment as a whole is alive and well. High-profile campaigns, like the one at UBC, have accepted less than full divestment as a step in the right direction, a sign that the ob- jectives have changed and adapted as students move on from institu- tions or grow weary in the face of the vast entrenchment of the Ca- nadian economy in resource extrac- tion. According to Simard, though, student campaigns in B.C. should continue to use the divestment victory at ULaval as leverage in their arguments, saying that while no B.C. school will be the first to completely divest, “they certainly wouldn't want to be the last.” SOURCE: UBC, UVIC AND DOUGLAS COLLEGE DOCUMENTS Douglas College a small post secondary institution invested $1.3 million.