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In a letter submitted to the Massachusetts Attorney General, SEI Scientist Ploy Achakulwisut expresses support for Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard’s legal complaint based on SEI’s research on fossil fuels and climate change.
Photo: Joe Daniel Price / Getty Images.
In March 2021, the student-led group Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard submitted a legal complaint to the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office, alleging that the Harvard Corporation’s estimated $838 million invested in the fossil fuel industry represents a violation of its fiduciary duty under state laws.
To help inform this consideration, SEI Scientist and Harvard alumna Ploy Achakulwisut submitted a letter to the attorney general, summarizing three key insights based on research conducted within SEI’s Initiative on Fossil Fuels and Climate Change and beyond, that compel the case for fossil fuel divestment.
After nearly a decade of organizing by students, faculty, alumni and community members, Harvard University announced on 9 September 2021 that it will stop investing in fossil fuels. Student organizers believe that their legal complaint, which could be applicable to other US states, may have been one of the crucial tipping points.
Initiative / The Carbon Lock-In Initiative seeks to uncover and address the barriers that uphold the fossil fuel-based economy.
Feature / Read the testimony of SEI's Peter Erickson and watch the Earth Day hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on the Environment.
Other publication / The report considers the impact of COVID-19 on the gap between countries’ planned fossil fuels production and the levels needed to limit global warming.
Press release / A study in Environmental Research Letters finds that subsidies could increase the profitability of new oil and gas fields by more than 50% over the next decade.
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