Most schools won’t divest completely from fossil fuels because of the massive amounts of money that come from such investments.

The Guardian reported.

Edinburgh university rejects calls to divest from all fossil fuels

Climate change campaigners reacted with disappointment as Edinburgh University announced on Tuesday that it would not fully divest from fossil fuels.

Students lay down in protest on the steps of the building where senior vice principal Professor Charlie Jeffery set out the unanimous decision by the university’s court.

Insisting that the university was committed to a change of investment policy, Jeffery said: “Our commitment is to engage before divestment, but the expectation is that we will bring about change by engagement.”

Why the University of Edinburgh will not divest from all fossil fuels
Read more
Outlining what is essentially a company-by-company approach, Jeffery explained that the university would divest from companies involved in the extraction of coal and tar sands, only where feasible alternative sources of energy exist, and where companies do not invest in low carbon technologies.

The university was unable to specify what percentage of its investments are in those companies specifically, although 8-9% are accounted for by companies involved in fossil fuels extraction more generally. Edinburgh’s endowment is worth £291m – the third biggest of any UK university, behind Oxford and Cambridge.

Arguing that the university did not see its choice as “limited to no change or pulling out of all investment in the sector”, Jeffery said that the matter was “not a black and white issue of the world against fossil fuels companies”.