Universities are the institutions that lead most research outlining the scale and severity of the climate crisis. Many universities have their own pools of invested capital (money), their endowments, which are still invested in fossil fuel companies like Sasol and Exxaro.  Universities can choose to take their money out of these investments and reinvest it in more sustainable alternatives. You can read more about why divestment is important, and some of the most frequently asked questions about it, here. 

Universities that continue to invest in fossil fuels despite the consensus of science and their own researchers are undermining that research and creating public confusion – it’s reasonable for the public at large to think climate change isn’t really so much of a problem if supposed centres of research and insight don’t care enough about the issue to stop investments that make it worse.

University pension fund investments in fossil fuels also arguably create a conflict of interest for researchers – they could be said to have an interest in downplaying the impacts of fossil fuels in order to preserve the values of their pensions, as Wits public health professor Matthew Chersich has pointed out.

Universities can also choose to disassociate from fossil fuel companies when it comes to how research is conducted and bursaries are created. For example,  a key moment coming up soon is that Cambridge University will vote on its ties to the fossil fuel industry. There are also groups such as Fossil Free Research,  a coalition of activists and researchers from US, UK and European universities researching the links between their institutions and lobbying for ending fossil fuel influence. Pledges of disassociation can be organised institute by institute and faculty by faculty, building momentum for a university-wide campaign/pledge. You can read more about this on this Defossilising Universities post on our Substack.