Foundation News

Investing in a Clean Energy Future

 

The Sierra Club Foundation is committed to stopping climate disruption. As a grantmaking institution, we do this by investing grant funds in programs – from the Beyond Coal Campaign, which to date has led to the retirement of 184 coal-burning power plants, to the Forward Fund, which expands current efforts to promote clean energy while catalyzing new and transformational strategies. We also helped finance the Sierra Club’s involvement in the People’s Climate March to demonstrate to global leaders that there is broad-based public support for climate solutions. But we wondered if we could do more.

With nearly $70 million in investments, The Sierra Club Foundation has the opportunity to leverage our investment power to advance our vision of a clean energy future. That is why in 2013, The Sierra Club Foundation Board of Directors voted to divest of all fossil fuel holdings in our operating and endowment investments. In January 2014, we signed onto the Divest-Invest Philanthropy Initiative dedicated to divesting from fossil fuels and re-investing those funds into clean energy. At the time, the Divest-Invest Philanthropy Initiative was comprised of 17 foundation signatories controlling $1.8 billion in assets.

Since then, we have helped recruit more foundations and steadfastly advocate that other environmental nonprofits also divest. As of September 2014, the Divest-Invest Philanthropy Initiative has grown to 73 philanthropic organizations representing over $4.3 billion in assets. What’s more, the Initiative has gained traction with campuses, churches, cities, states, hospitals, pension funds, other institutions, and individuals for a total of $50 billion in assets pledged for divestment from fossil fuels! The goal is to secure a total of $150 billion in pledges before the United Nations Climate Change Conference scheduled to be held in November 2015.

As president and founder of Boston Common Asset Management, a global investment firm, I combine my work in finance with my passion for environmental and social justice. Financial analyses and our own experience show that we do not need to sacrifice financial performance over the long term in order to make a social and environmental impact with our investments. With Sierra Club Foundation’s divestment work nearly complete, I am working with my talented colleagues on the Foundation’s Investment Committee to reinvest in efficiency opportunities and renewable energy solutions.  Our effort has been to create diversified well-managed portfolios with the goal of maintaining competitive returns and managing risk through investments that are fully aligned with our mission.

If the Sierra Club Foundation stops at divesting from fossil fuels and investing in solution companies, we would be leaving an important change mechanism unused.  To maximize impact, we also use our voice as shareowners to engage portfolio companies across all sectors, urging them to measure, monitor, report, and reduce their carbon footprint.  Our engagement efforts, ranging from investor letters and dialog to shareholder resolutions, will make a large number of companies accountable for their resource use and emissions, thereby encouraging innovation and change towards efficiency and sustainability.

Our investments are truly working to support our mission!  We divested to gain mission consistency; we have been reinvesting to usher in a clean energy future; and we engage companies to promote efficient stewardship of the earth’s limited carbon capacity. 

-- Geeta Aiyer, The Sierra Club Foundation Board of Directors

 

Category: News and Updates