For Immediate Release: Thursday, June 28, 2018
Contact: Tricia Coates, (802) 793-1417
Vermont State Colleges System Shifts Portion of Endowment Funds to Fossil Free Investments
Montpelier — The Vermont State Colleges System Board of Trustees has agreed to shift a portion of its endowment funds into fossil free investments starting this July. At its summer meeting on June 21st, the Board approved moving 20% of its endowment, or approximately $5,700,000, into investments that are screened to be fossil-free.
This reallocation is a pilot effort and will allow the VSCS to monitor and evaluate investment returns for similarly invested fossil free and non-fossil free portfolios. The Board worked with its investment advisors, as well as with faculty, staff and students from Fossil Free VSC for a year to craft the investment initiative. At their Board meeting last week, trustees received an informative presentation from students in Northern Vermont University-Lyndon’s Atmospheric Sciences Department who have organized a national effort, the Climate Consensus, to share scientific information about climate change in language that is broadly understood.
“We’re taking this important step on behalf of the environment, while maintaining vigilance over the performance of our investments,” said Board Chair Churchill Hindes. “I am confident this is a responsible move on behalf of science, the world’s climate, fiduciary accountability and the integrity of our endowment program.”
VSCS endowment funds provide support student scholarships at each of the System’s four colleges.