Trinity’s decision in 2016 to divest from fossil fuels was met with heady optimism and delight. But in reality it did not divest in a meaningful way, and this is a blow not only to student engagement with College but also to Trinity’s image as a leader in sustainability.
Trinity was opaque in 2016 when it announced that it would divest from fossil fuels, without really defining what that meant. But in the hoopla – which Trinity revelled in – students were clearly led to believe that none of College’s endowment would have any links to the fossil fuel industry – something that Trinity has fallen miserably short of.
Maybe this is unsurprising. Trinity does not directly control the funds that it invests its endowment in and difficulties in investing sustainably are not unique to College.
Companies still aren’t providing the necessary data to figure out if they’re unsustainable – in many incidents, it’s data that they don’t gather. Government agencies are still grappling to create a taxonomy defining labels like “green” and “sustainable”.
But while it is not shocking that the world of finance is ill-equipped to engage in climate protest, it is shocking that Trinity took credit for something that it – by any reasonable measure – did not do. Particularly because divestment symbolised what students and the college administration could do when they worked together.
This is obviously demoralising because it is a textbook example of greenwashing – a practise that feels particularly sickening the same week the IPCC released an apocalyptic report on the future of the planet.
But it also throws into question College’s engagement with students. Students worked with Trinity in good faith on divestment and the push was considered by this Editorial Board as a big win for a strategic approach to lobbying Trinity to do better: a mix of grass-roots activism and political savvy.
Provost Linda Doyle has come out with a contrite-sounding response and promised to look into divestment again. Let’s hope students are not short changed again and Trinity can uphold its claim of being a leader in sustainability.
