Grinnell College Sustainability Plan
Bringing Responsible Investment to Campus
A handbook for committees on investor responsibility from the Responsible Endowments Coalition.
Websites
Ceres
Ceres is a sustainability nonprofit organization working with the most influential investors and companies to build leadership and drive solutions throughout the economy. Through powerful networks and advocacy, Ceres tackles the world’s biggest sustainability challenges, including climate change, water scarcity and pollution, and human rights abuses.
Climate Action Network International
The Climate Action Network (CAN) is a worldwide network of more than 1,100 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in more than 120 countries, working to promote government and individual action to limit human-induced climate change to ecologically sustainable levels.
Intentional Endowments Network
The Intentional Endowments Network (IEN) is a broad-based, collaborative peer-learning network advancing intentionally designed endowments – that enhance financial performance and are aligned with institutional mission, values, and sustainability goals. IEN supports learning on a variety of sustainable investing strategies, such as ESG integration, impact investing, and shareholder engagement, that will make significant and critical contributions to creating a healthy, just, and sustainable society.
350.org
350 uses online campaigns, grassroots organizing, and mass public actions to oppose new coal, oil, and gas projects; take money out of the companies that are heating up the planet; and build 100% clean energy solutions that work for all. 350’s network extends to 188 countries.
Articles
Climate Change
- Climate Change Is Complex. We've Got Answers to Your Questions, The New York Times
- CO2 Emissions Were Flat for Three Years. Now They’re Rising Again., The New York Times
- Colleges' Message on Upholding Paris Climate Accord: 'We are Still In', The Chronicle of Higher Education
- Connecting on Climate Change Research, Inside Higher Ed
- Consumption Dwarfs Population as Main Environmental Threat, Yale University
- Exxon Mobil: Climate Change website
- In a Warming World, Keeping the Planes Running, The New York Times
- In Flint, Overdue Bills for Unsafe Water Could Lead to Foreclosures, The New York Times
- Iowa Climate Change Advisory Council Final Report (PDF)
- Is Environmental Racism the New Jim Crow?, Colorlines
- Just Energy Policies & Practices, NAACP
- Michigan sues companies for allowing Flint water crisis to ‘occur and worsen’, The Guardian
- NYS Comptroller DiNapoli: One of Largest U.S. Carbon Emitters Commits to Lower GHG Emissions, New York State
- Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions, EPA
- Summary of the Paris Agreement, United Nations
- There Is Still No Room for Complacency in Matters Climatic, The Economist
- We Are Still In
- We can battle climate change without Washington, D.C. Here's how, The Guardian
Divestment
- 350.org: 124 institutions committed to divestment, Fossil Free
- Barnard Endowment Switches Manager to Help It Avoid Climate Deniers, Bloomberg Climate Changed
- Beyond Fossil Fuels: The Investment Case for Fossil Fuel Divestment, Impax Asset Management
- California pension fund divests from coal as industry rebounds, The Sacramento Bee
- Campuses and Organizations That Have Divested, University of Wisconsin - Osh Kosh
- The Carbon Underground 200 list, Fossil Free Indexes
- Cashing Out from the Climate Casino, The New York Times
- Climate Council Hears from Both Sides of the Argument, The Scarlet & Black
- Congressional Stock Holdings, Washington Post
- Debate on Divestment of Fossil Fuels at MIT
- Divest from the Carbon Bubble? (PDF), University of British Columbia
- Divest, Disregard, or Double Down? (PDF), Federal Reserve Board
- Divesting Fossil Fuels (PDF), University of Groningen
- Divesting is an exercise in real fiduciary care, Pensions & Investments
- Divestiture Is Nothing but a Distraction, The Chronicle of Higher Education
- Divestment from fossil fuels has not caused Syracuse University's endowment to suffer, official says, The Daily Orange
- A Divestment from Industrial Multinational Use of Fossil Fuels and Investments in Community-Based Sustainable Energy Solutions (PDF), The Movement for Black Lives
- The Divestment Penalty: Estimating the Costs of Fossil Fuel Divestment to Select University Endowments, Social Science Research Network (SSRN)
- Divestment Rising: Student #FossilFree Movement Demands 230 Campuses #DivestNow, Power Shift Network
- Does Divestment Work?, The New Yorker
- The Financial Case for Divestment of Fossil Fuel Companies by Endowment Fiduciaries, Huffington Post
- ‘Fossil-free’ movement shows the way for ethical divestment, Times Higher Education
- Fossil Free Somerville (PDF)
- Fossil Fuel Divestment: A Costly and Ineffective Investment Strategy (PDF), DivestmentFacts.com
- Fossil Fuel Divestment and Public Pension Funds (PDF), DivestmentFacts.com
- Fossil Fuel Divestment: Risk and Opportunities (PDF), Advisor Partners
- The Hard Questions of Fossil Fuel Divestment, The Financial Times (subscribers only)
- How Harvard Divestment Was Won, The Nation
- Is College Divestment from the Fossil Fuel Industry Worthwhile?, The New York Times
- Let's give up the climate change charade: Exxon won't change its stripes, The Guardian
- Letter to the Editor: The Case for Divestment, The Scarlet & Black
- New England Aquarium Fossil Fuel Divestment Petition, Better Future Project
- NYU Board of Trustees Won't Divest from Fossil Fuels, New York University
- The Path to Fossil Fuel Divestment for Universities: Climate Responsible Investment (PDF), Boston University
- Pitching Divestment As a "Moral" Crusade is Misguided, The New York Times
- Presidential Task Force to Examine Divestment. Final Report to the Barnard College Board of Trustees Committee on Investments (PDF)
- Pressure Grows on £6.3 Billion Cambridge University Fund to Drop Fossil Fuels, The Financial Times (subscribers only)
- Understanding the shadow impacts of investment and divestment decisions: Adapting economic input-output models to calculate biophysical factors of financial returns, Science Direct
- University Fossil Fuel Divestment Total Tips £80 Billion Globally, Times Higher Education
Energy
- 2017 Alliant Energy Sustainability Report
- Annual Energy Outlook 2017 with projections to 2050 (PDF), U.S. Energy Information Analysis
- Projected electricity generation mix is sensitive to policies, natural gas prices, EIA
- Iowa Alternative Energy Law
- Links to Subject Matter Expert Contact Information, EIA
- Monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook, EIA
- Primary Energy Consumption by Source and Sector, EIA
- U.S. Energy Information Administration
- Wind developer's dispute with Iowa utility reveals a broader schism on clean-energy law, Midwest Energy News
Fossil Fuels
- The Climate Accountability Scorecard: Ranking Major Fossil Fuel Companies on Climate Deception, Disclosure, and Action, Union of Concerned Scientists
- Leaked Documents Reveal Counterterrorism Tactics Used at Standing Rock to "Defeat Pipeline Insurgencies," The Intercept
- Oil, Gas and Coal Interests Filling Donald Trump's 'Swamp' with Cash, The Center for Public Integrity
- The Outlook for Oil and Gas Production in the United States: Short- and Long-Term Perspectives (PDF)
- Rex Tillerson, Exxon, and When an Oil Subsidy Isn't Really an Oil Subsidy, Forbes
- Shell foresaw climate dangers in 1988 and understood Big Oil's big role, The Washington Post
- Standing Rock Protesters Hold Out Against Extraordinary Police Violence, The Guardian
- Tobacco industry tactics for resisting public policy on health (PDF), World Health Organization
- Trump's Cabinet of Fossil Fools, Sierra Club
- Water Use Rises as Fracking Expands, Scientific American
Investment
- 21st Century Engagement Investor Strategies for Incorporating ESG Considerations into Corporate Interactions (PDF), Black Rock/Ceres
- The 21st Century Investor: Ceres Blueprint for Sustainable Investing, Ceres
- BlackRock calls on companies to improve climate risk reporting, Pensions and Investments
- BlackRock unveils gun-free investment options, The Washington Post
- Building a Carbon-Free Equity Portfolio (PDF), Aperio
- Climate Risk Technical Bulletin, Sustainability Accounting Standards Board
- David Swensen Letter, Yale Investments Office (PDF), Yale University
- Ethical investment is booming. But what is it?, The Economist
- Exxon Mobil Shareholders Demand Accounting of Climate Change Policy Risks, The New York Times
- How One College Decided to Invest More Responsibly, The Chronicle of Higher Education
- How tiny Grinnell College's endowment outperformed the Ivy League, MarketWatch
- Institutions picked up pace in governance this year, new report finds, Pensions & Investments
- Intentional Endowments Network
- The Intentionally Designed Endowment, Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges
- Intentionally Designed Endowment Primer, Intentional Endowments Network
- Investing in Clean Energy: Campus and Endowments, Intentional Endowments Network
- The investment logic for sustainability, TED@State Street Boston
- Pitzer College and BlackRock Launch First Ever ESG-Focused, Fossil Fuel-Free Global Equity Index Fund, Business Wire
- Responding to the Call for Fossil-fuel Free Portfolios (PDF), MSCI ESG Research Issue Brief
- Responsible Endowments Coalition
- Stanford Management Company CEO: 'The endowment is not a tool for social activism', The Stanford Daily
- Starting Point for Analyses and Projections, U.S. Energy Information Administration
- Sustainable Investing: What you didn't know could make you money, TEDxWilmington
- There's One Unspeakable Fix That Would Help Pay for the GOP's Tax Cuts, Bloomberg
- Tiny Iowa School Leads Endowments with 18.8% Investment Return, Bloomberg
- Update from the Board of Trustees on investment responsibility issues, Stanford University
- Vanguard Takes a Stand Amid ESG Criticism, Fundfire/Financial Times
- Wasted Capital and Stranded Assets, Carbon Tracker
Shareholder Engagement
- The Business Case for the Current SEC Shareholder Proposal Process (PDF), Ceres
- CalPERS Report Details Role in Dakota Pipeline Controversy, Chief Investment Officer
- DiNapoli withdraws shareholder proposals at 3 energy companies, Pensions and Investments
- Engagement Guide for Asset Owners & Asset Managers, Sustainability Accounting Standards Board
- Four Mutual Fund Giants Begin to Address Climate Change Risks in Proxy Votes: How About Your Funds?, Ceres
- Investor Expectations of Oil and Gas Companies: Transition to a lower carbon future (PDF), Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change
- N.Y. State Common withdraws shareholder request after AEP sets greenhouse gas reduction targets, Pensions & Investments
- The Power and Limits of Shareholder Advocacy with Fossil Fuel Companies, Green Century Funds
- Shareholder support for climate change proposals grows in the second half of 2017, Pensions & Investments
Sustainability
- 2016 Cool School Full Ranking, Sierra Club
- 2017 Cool School Full Ranking, Sierra Club
- Barron’s 100 Most Sustainable Companies, Barron's
- Ceres: Sustainability Nonprofit Organization website
- Climate Action Network International
- EcoCiv (Toward Ecological Civilization)
- How to Reduce your Carbon Footprint, The New York Times
- Lewis & Clark Sustainability
- Oberlin College Environmental Policy Implementation Plan (PDF)
- Second Nature: Higher Education Specific Sustainability Organizations
- Sustainable Travel Can Be Budget-Friendly, The New York Times
Peer 16
- Board Rejects Student Divestment Proposals, The Oberlin Review, Oberlin College
- Bowdoin College Rejects Students’ Calls to Divest Fossil-Fuel Investments, Banger Daily News, Bowdoin College
- Campus Investment Responsibility Committee (CIRC) Statement re. Vassar College Fossil Fuel Divestment Proposal (PDF), Vassar College
- Carleton Responsible Investment Committee report and responses, Carleton College
- Divest Washington & Lee University from Fossil Fuels, Washington and Lee University
- An Open Letter to the Davidson College President and Board, from Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaigners, Davidson College
- Pomona Opts Not to Divest, Pomona College
- Protesters to demand Smith College divest from fossil fuels, MassLive.com, Smith College
- Reed Won't Divest, Reed College
- Report and Recommendation on Fossil Fuel Divestment and ESG Investing (PDF), Carleton College
- Report on “A Proposal for Divestment” Submitted to the Board of Trustees, Williams College (PDF), Williams College
- Smith Trustees Approve Recommendations on Climate Change Endowment (PDF), Smith College
- SRC Does Not Recommend Fossil Fuel Divestment, Macalester College
- Statement by the Board of Trustees and President Adam F. Falk on the College’s Role in Addressing Climate Change, Williams College
- Statement from Amherst College Board of Trustees, February 24, 2015, Amherst College
- Sustainability and Investment Policy, Swarthmore College
- Trustee Investor Responsibility Committee Letter, Vassar College
- Trustees address divestment, status of the capital campaign, Kenyon College
- Trustees Say No to Divestment, The Amherst Student, Amherst College
- Why Isn’t Colorado College Divesting? A Look into CC’s Inaction, The Catalyst, Colorado College