UVic Faculty for Divestment
1,000 signatures reached
To: Jamie Cassels, President of the University of Victoria
UVic, stop investing in fossil fuel companies
Dear President Cassels,
UVic claims to be a sustainability leader while trying to profit from companies like Imperial Oil (whose parent company is Exxon) that have histories of climate change denial and policy obstructionism. Please advise the university's endowment board to immediately freeze new investments in fossil fuel companies and to develop a plan to divest all current holdings in fossil fuels as expeditiously as possible, but certainly within three years.
Why is this important?
UVic invests millions of dollars from its endowment fund into fossil fuel companies. Trying to profit from corporations that have a history of climate change denial is sustainability leadership in high speed reverse. UVic students and faculty have already voted overwhelmingly in favour of divestment. But the administration's response has been to increase their fossil fuel investments. By raising your voice you can help end UVic's hypocrisy. The university spends millions on branding and is very sensitive to public criticism that challenges its carefully cultivated image as a sustainability leader. If you support divestment from fossil fuel companies like Imperial Oil then please sign our petition and help UVic close the book on its complicity with climate change denial and policy obstructionism.
For more information please see this recent article in the Tyee:
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2017/11/03/UVic-Seeks-to-Profit-from-Corporate-Climate-Change-Deniers/