A campaign for university money to act in the interests of students, not against them.
UK universities have over £15 billion(1) in investments. This is frequently invested against the interests of students and the world they will graduate into. Often these decisions are left entirely to externally appointed investment managers with students locked out of the process.
The Invest for Change campaign is working to change this, supporting students to campaign for their universities to invest in the interests of young people, frontline communities and the planet, not against them. To invest in a liveable, just future for all.
To invest for change.
We call on universities to:
Divest
from industries at the forefront of social and environmental harms, starting with arms and fossil fuel companies.
Challenge
companies in their investment portfolios to eliminate environmentally destructive and socially harmful practices.
Invest
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in environmental and social justice solutions, like community-owned renewable energy projects or affordable housing.
But what does this mean in practice?
Divest: Commit publicly to excluding investments in fossil fuel companies and arms companies across all investments and instruct the university's asset managers to remove any existing investments in these companies within a reasonable timeframe.
Challenge: Use shareholdings (investments in companies) to challenge companies on environmentally destructive practices and vote at AGMs for environmental and social justice, e.g. for company transition plans and against directors blocking climate action.
Transform: In consultation with students and staff, develop a radical responsible investment policy setting standards for investment manager reviews and appointments.
Invest: Allocate a growing percentage of overall investments to impact investments which directly finance solutions to environmental and social injustice, such as renewable energy or social housing projects.
What we want:
Who we are:
Invest for Change is a campaign which aims to radically reform how universities invest their money to secure a more just, liveable future for all. We support students to run campaigns on campus, as well as working directly with universities.
Our campaign is run by Students Organising for Sustainability UK, with support and expertise from our Steering Group, and funding from Friends Provident Foundation.
Get involved:
Get in touch to see how we can support you and your university to take action to Invest for Change.
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Check out our resource bank to help develop your Invest for Change campaign
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Book a workshop or meeting with us to learn more about the campaign, or start your campaign planning
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See if your university has a publicly available responsible investment policy and how you can engage with it
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Check out where your university stands on divestment, using People & Planet's fossil free scorecard
(1) The £15 billion figure is taken from a conservative estimate of current UK university endowment funds (figures from 2018/19 official audited financial statements) and based on the general assumption that majority of universities invest using their endowment funds.