Investing in Renewable Energy

Leaving the ethical obligation to divest of fossil fuels completely aside, how does it make sense for Princeton to be investing in dying industries that won’t grow our endowment the way better alternatives will? One better alternative is renewable energy. Wind and solar are now the cheapest sources of new energy generation in the United States. The U.S. solar industry has been growing at an average annual rate of 48 percent over the last 10 years, and in the first half of 2020 alone, it supplied 37 percent of new generation. The financial manager of Princeton’s endowment, Princo, might want to talk to the CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager with a $7 trillion portfolio. “Climate risk is investment risk,” says Larry Fink, chairman and CEO, who has committed BlackRock to divest from coal and is directing part of its portfolio to climate industries. For more information go to:  https://divestprinceton.wixsite.com/divestprinceton.