The following is a Letter to the Editor for the Opinions section.
To discuss how this ethical case for divestment develops, I must first introduce a key premise: it is immoral to continue the unabated extraction, transportation, processing and burning of fossil fuels for the production of energy, in light of overwhelming evidence that these actions are destabilising the global climate to a potentially catastrophic extent for humanity.
Fossil fuel consumption alone produces over 75% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and are therefore the primary contributor to the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is an atmospheric mechanism through which our planet’s climate is warming.
Climate Action Tracker analysis shows that GHG emissions, limited only by existing emissions policies, put us on course for an increase of around 2.7 °C in global average temperature from pre-industrial levels. Such an increase would cause rampant suffering for humanity, creating extensive water scarcity, crop failure and sea-level rise, increasing incidence of extreme weather events, and disrupting many climate patterns and ecosystems on which our societies depend.
If you, as I do, accept that an action that is likely to cause large amounts of human suffering is immoral, then it follows that most of the actions of the fossil fuel industry are immoral. Equally, I hold that contributing to or aiding actors doing morally bad things, is itself immoral. This premise is the basis for my belief that divestment from fossil fuels is the morally right course of action.
Financially investing in the fossil fuel industry serves to provide the resources necessary for their immoral actions and thus the University of Denver’s continued investment in the industry is immoral.
To this end, I appeal to the ethical integrity of the University of Denver. Part of a university’s role is to educate and prepare its students for their future, and yet simultaneous investment in fossil fuels jeopardises the social, economic and physical security of this very same future.
Furthermore, an institution has a responsibility to adhere to the values and goals they claim to uphold. I ask this to the DU Board of Trustees: Is investment in fossil fuel consistent with the university’s own vision to “be a great private university dedicated to the public good”? How can it possibly be, when it indirectly contributes to processes which have already begun exacerbating natural disasters and inducing famines? The entire nation of the Maldives may be swallowed up by climate change-induced sea-level rise by the end of this century. Does being complicit to this express a supposed commitment to the public good?
I accept that the consumption of fossil fuels is now so embedded within our economic systems that our material well-being is largely dependent on them. As such, I can see that one could make the argument that investing in fossil fuels does, in some way, contribute to the public good. But, it does not have to be this way forever.
In fact, if human civilization is to persist beyond 2100, it cannot be. If we are to secure a livable and sustainable future for ourselves, then we must decouple fossil fuel consumption from economic prosperity. While doing so obviously must involve significant economic restructuring, it also requires our societal dependence on fossil fuels to be socially delegitimized. While both of these transitions have begun in places, it does not diminish any of our responsibilities to play a part.
DU is an institution with substantial social influence in Denver, the U.S. and the global academic community. The act of divesting shows a public withdrawal of support for the actions of the fossil fuel industry. Even alone, this serves to undermine the legitimacy of these actions going forward, but it also brings the issues of fossil fuel consumption to the attention of the wider community. The more people that denounce fossil fuels as a legitimate, long-term, primary energy source, the greater the erosion of the fossil fuel industries’ social licence to operate. In doing so we build societal pressure for a more renewable economy.
If DU leadership are truly “empowered to create real change through a campus-wide investment in sustainability and environmental responsibility,” as they claim to be, they must draw a line in the sand, and divest from fossil fuel industries.
No amount of greenwashing or empty words will detract from the fact that the University of Denver is currently, through financial resource allocation, complicit in amplifying the greatest existential threat of our time. Talk is cheap, and time is ticking away.
I hope that the arguments I have presented here encourage the Board of Trustees to reassess their present investment policy. The divestment movement is well underway, both in the U.S. and globally, but its goals are far from fulfilled. The University of Denver has a part to play still. I also hope that these arguments embolden the student body to confront University leadership on the matter of fossil fuel investment. I urge students to make their voices heard. Write to the Clarion, as I have, or directly to the Board of trustees, and share the letters of others who do the same. As the movement grows, and petition and protest come to be mobilised, I implore you to express yourselves through these means as well. Knowing what is at stake, we simply cannot afford to be silent.
