The Endowment’s Carbon Footprint

Members of the Princeton Sustainable Investment Initiative met with the University’s Resources Committee March 3 to discuss the group’s goal of reducing the impact of Princeton’s endowment on climate change. “It is time Princeton invests its $21 billion endowment in a manner consistent with the core values it has demonstrated through its commitment to environmental research and on-campus emissions reductions,” says the sustainable-investment committee, which is aligned with fossil-fuel divestment campaigns across the country, in a petition with more than 1,570 signatures.

The group has proposed adopting the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI); publishing an annual report estimating the carbon footprint of the endowment; creating a committee to develop “environmentally and financially responsible investment guidelines” for managing the endowment; and other measures. 

The Resources Committee, which considers endowment issues including those related to socially responsible investments, did not set a timetable for its response.