Sustainable universities a better business

New Zealand universities that have sustainable investments encourage a better commercial model and improve future profits according to a organisation that supports sustainable businesses.

Sustainable Business Network is an organisation that supports and advises how businesses can improve profitability though sustainable investments and management.

Sustainable’s community and national network coordinator, Julia Jackson, said universities that invested in fossil fuels would not be able to sustain profitability in the future.

“Investments in fossil fuels aren’t going to make money in the future, so it’s not just an ethical decision anymore, it is really looking at what the current situation is and the limits of the world that we’ve got right now”.

She said it was a business’s “responsibility to not go beyond the limits of what our planet can sustain” and that universities divesting from fossil fuels reflected a logical reasoning.

“If we continue to invest in the types of industries and businesses that we have been currently we physically won't be able to sustain the life that we currently have.”

Student campaigns are underway to end university fossil fuel investments at Auckland University, Canterbury University, Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT) and Otago University.

Victoria University in Wellington became the first university in New Zealand to divest in fossil fuels in 2014 with AUT University also following suit.

Victoria University’s vice-chancellor, professor Grant Guilford, in a statement said the university was striving to lead the battle against climate change and provide a better future for their students.

“Victoria University of Wellington made a deliberate decision as the first New Zealand university to initiate divestment from fossil fuels. As I have previously noted, the science behind climate change is crystal clear and the university is taking a leadership position on the issue. It was important to align the results of our research and public stance on climate change with our investment decisions.

“As well as divesting from fossil fuels we have integrated sustainability into our strategic plan, encouraged government to set more ambitious climate change targets, and established a role of Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Sustainability).”

Green MP and spokesperson for energy and resources, Gareth Hughes, said public opinion influenced businesses such as universities to divest in fossil fuels.

“It’s harder and harder to support companies which we know are involved in climate change and investors are getting out.”

He said not only were investments in fossil fuel commercially a bad investment,, they also posed an ethical dilemma.

“Is it right to be investing in the very causes of climate change which we know is killing people at the moment but also could lead to huge costs socially and economically in coming years?”

According to an Oxford study, the ‘Go Fossil Free’ effort has developed quicker than past historical divestment movements like tobacco or anti-apartheid.