ABOUT FOSSIL FREE STANFORD

As young people, we refuse to sit idly by and accept a future wrought with climate destruction. We know that solutions to the climate crisis are numerous and complex. But we know that above all, we need the will to change. The consequences of inaction are unacceptable, and our society must muster the bravery to to what is required for our planet and its people.

 

In May 2014, Stanford made a historic commitment to divest its $22 billion endowment from the coal industry. But today, Stanford is still invested in oil and gas companies that contribute massively to climate change. We can and must do better.

 

We ask Stanford University to:

1. Immediately freeze any new investment in the top 100 oil and gas companies, ranked by carbon content of their proven fuel reserves, and,

2. Divest within five years from direct ownership in those 100 companies and from any commingled funds that include their equities or corporate bonds

 

Unless those 100 companies publicly commit to:

1. Only burning 20% or less of their reserves, which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has agreed is the maximum before we hit "dangerous anthropogenic interference with our climate system"

2. Stop seeking new fossil fuel reserves, given that they already control five times the resources we can afford to burn

3. Stop actively lobbying against national legislation and international agreements that would limit GHG emissions