UW has 5 years to divest from fossil fuel

The University of Washington has five years to pull its investments from fossil fuel companies and refineries.

UW's Board of Regents voted unanimously in favor of a resolution last week stating the university will divest those funds, based on advice from its financial advisors. That advice says the university could do it by 2027.

“The Board of Regents recognizes the gravity and the urgency of the situation with respect to climate change," said David Zeeck, chair of the UW Board of Regents, in a statement. "With this resolution, the Board wishes to avoid greenwashing and to take meaningful action, putting the University of Washington in the front ranks of universities addressing climate change through research, teaching, operations and investments.”

Zeeck added that this is an "early step in a very important journey to reduce the UW’s impact on the environment through our investments and operations."

Second-year student Jacob Anderson is part of a student-faculty activist group. He says UW currently has $124 million worth of investments in the fossil fuel industry through its endowment fund.

"The UW kind of leans on this endowment fund," Anderson said. "They're taking out a lot of loans to build new construction all across campus and they do rely on a lot of the earnings, but how much money you make is not as important if the world is uninhabitable."

Anderson says he wants their success to inspire other students to create change at their schools.

The resolution that the Board of Regents passed also states a goal of investing 2.5% of UW's endowment fund in companies involved with climate solutions.