Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard COVID-19 Statement

We cannot ignore the connection between the COVID-19 crisis and the climate crisis — the confluence of these two issues will serve to compound inequality and injustice.

For the students, alumni, faculty, staff, and community members who make up the divestment movement and broader Harvard community, these are trying times. This is a crisis shaping the lives of so many of us, and our hearts go out to everyone whose health, safety, and livelihood is being touched by the coronavirus pandemic. In the coming months, Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard will work to support the community however we can.

For eight years now, Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard has been fighting for a more just and stable system, one that values our planet and all of the life it supports. The current public health crisis is only highlighting the dramatic need for this sort of work to continue.

We cannot ignore the connection between the COVID-19 crisis and the climate crisis — the confluence of these two issues will serve to compound inequality and injustice.

Climate change, as Harvard’s own experts have pointed out, is fundamentally a public health issue. The marginalized and low-income communities that are most impacted by the effects of COVID-19 are the same communities that are at the highest risk of climate disaster.

Indeed, this hits home for many Harvard students: when the university evicted its student body, many had to return to regions that had been destabilized by rising sea levels and extreme weather events. We will face further injustices if we come out of this crisis only to resume the status quo.

In the past few weeks, we have seen just how quickly Harvard can mobilize in response to an existential threat. As President Bacow wrote, “if we wanted to help protect the health of our nation, we had to take drastic action,” even if it meant “turning university life upside down.” Rather than dragging its heels, trying to find a middle path, or denying the obvious, Harvard acted quickly and decisively. The administration proved that it can act with urgency if it wants to, and we support their general decision to rapidly upend the status quo when necessary.

But we also see in Harvard’s response just how easily it forgets its most vulnerable community members. It originally refused to fulfill promises of wages and benefits to some workers and exposed others to unsafe situations. It did not properly address how the closure of campus impacts countless other members of the Cambridge community. It gave students a five-day notice without clearly guaranteeing support for those who needed it, disregarding the ways in which going home might be easier said than done for some. Faced with these failings, students, faculty, staff, and alumni organized mutual aid networks, secured improvements in COVID-related health insurance coverage, collected safety gear for at-risk employees, persuaded the university to provide travel stipends and storage for students on financial aid, won pay and benefits for those laid off, and more, illustrating the vital need for activism and mobilization in times like these.

Continued investment in fossil fuels doesn’t just threaten the long-term success of the institution: it interferes with their potential ability to fight pandemics in the here and now.

The carbon economy is a fundamentally unstable one, and as the coronavirus recession becomes a reality, fossil fuel stocks have been among the hardest hit. Had Harvard divested in 2019, rough estimates suggest that it might have avoided over $700 million dollars in financial loss in the months since.¹

The university could, of course, still easily make a difference if it wanted to, while barely making a dent in its remaining billions. Harvard remains the wealthiest university in the world and should be putting that wealth to meaningful use. Nevertheless, that’s $700 million that could have gone towards leading the way on pandemic research, paying staff, or helping students out at this critical juncture.

Now, on both a national and a local scale, we have a chance to reimagine our energy and economic system. This is a moment to realize that a better world is in our hands. Instead of bailing out the industry at the heart of the climate crisis, let’s react to this coronavirus-induced downturn by investing in the sustainable, socially responsible, and community-owned business models that can pave the way toward a better future. Around the world, we’re seeing that stronger communities are better able to respond to crises like the COVID-19 pandemic — we all benefit from a more stable future.

We are facing a critical void in leadership right now — one that Harvard must help fill. The people we should be able to rely on to protect our interests seem to be casting them aside instead. Now, we are holding Harvard and our institutions accountable; we are asking them to rise to the occasion. Already, universities like Brown and Georgetown are seizing that opportunity, having already divested from fossil fuels. Yet if it does not change its course, Harvard risks being left in the dust — and reinforcing the economic structures that make pandemics like this so dangerous.

These are scary times. But as in crises of the past, we will find strength in solidarity. We wish for good health and speedy recoveries for all members of the Harvard community and beyond who have been touched by this crisis, and know that when we are back together, the community will be stronger than before. In the coming months, we look forward to supporting and uplifting all the student voices calling for a better future, based on the lessons being learned in our present time.

Whether we’re together or scattered around the world, FFDH is a community that remains committed to moving forward. We are eager to continue our efforts to bring about climate justice through disclosure, divestment, and reinvestment. We’ll continue to mobilize and fight for a more resilient world, because in crises like these, there is not the luxury of remaining on the sidelines.

¹ As of its most recent public financial report, Harvard’s endowment totaled 40.9 billion dollars. If the percentage of the endowment invested in fossil fuels matches the Ivy League average of 6.5%, then it held around 2.7 billion dollars in the industry at the end of 2019. Since December 31, 2019, the Dow Jones Oil and Gas index has decreased by about 53%, while in the same timeframe, the Dow Jones has decreased by about 26%. Had Harvard divested in 2019, and that $2.7 billion had tracked the latter index instead of the former, over $720 million dollars in losses would have been averted as of March 26th. This is, to be clear, an exceedingly rough estimate, since given Harvard’s secrecy surrounding its holdings, the actual losses could be lower or far higher. If this estimate errs, we welcome Harvard to practice basic financial transparency and prove us wrong.