fossil free usyd

Fossil Free USyd is a student-led group formed on campus in 2014 to advocate for the University of Sydney to fully divest from fossil fuels.

The University of Sydney has three main sources of income: government funding, student fees, and investment returns on its $2.5 billion endowment. The USyd’s endowment is made up of donations, legacies and bequests amassed over the many years since its inception, and this money is invested for an annual return of a few percent, which is used to fund the university’s operations.

As Fossil Free USyd’s Freedom of Information requests revealed in 2019, the university has $22.4 million invested in the following fossil fuel companies: BHP Billiton ($9.35M), Woodside Petroleum ($5.9M), AGL Energy ($1.60M), Oil Search ($1.56M), South 32 ($1.30M), Royal Dutch Shell ($1.04M), Whitehaven Coal ($541K), EOG ($400K), CNOOC ($354K), CLP Holdings ($232K), and Santos ($137K).

By remaining invested in fossil fuels, the university lends social licence to these companies, allowing them to extract and release more dangerous greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than we can afford if we want to stay below 2°C of global warming. Fossil Free USyd calls for our university to divest from these companies and commit itself to protecting the future of its students.

In 2019, as USyd began putting together its Sustainability Strategy, Fossil Free USyd joined with staff divestment advocates to propose that divestment from fossil fuels be included in the strategy. In spite of this, the university has not made any commitments to divesting as part of the Sustainability Strategy. In 2020, as USyd announces and begins rolling out its Sustainability Strategy, our goal is to highlight the hypocrisy of remaining invested in fossil fuels while promoting a grand vision a “sustainable future”.

Fossil Free USyd is one of many Fossil Free Uni groups on campuses across Australia and the world, and this network of student-run campaigns is part of a broader global fossil fuel divestment movement, working to push institutions towards climate justice. Since the divestment movement began in 2013, more than $12 trillion has been divested from fossil fuels worldwide. Fossil fuel companies are recognising the divestment movement as a real threat, with American coal company Peabody Energy citing divestment as one of the reasons for its 2016 bankruptcy.

Some recent divestment wins from universities include the University of British Cloumbia’s December 2019 commitment to fully divesting from fossil fuels, as well as the University of California’s September 2019 announcement that it was immediately divesting its $80 billion portfolio from fossil fuels.

The time is ripe for USyd to follow the lead of these institutions, and to use its endowment to make a real impact.