Incensed over Oxford University’s plan to divest from oil sands and coal, some 70 alum symbolically gave back their degrees.

From Clean Technica:

Oxford University Divestment Plans Yields No Support From Alum

Oxford University announced last week its intentions to divest from coal and oil sands companies, however, almost 70 Oxford alumni have criticized the lackluster decision, “symbolically” handing in their degrees in protest.

Oxford University considers itself “a world leader in the battle against climate change,” however it has taken a long time for the university to make any strong decision with regards to its investment decisions. In March, at the Oxford University Council meeting, it was decided that no decision would be made on fossil fuel investments until their next meeting in May. This brought with it a host of criticisms from the campaigning Oxford University Student Union, and a number of alumni who conducted a sit-in of the university administration building “to demonstrate their anger over today’s announcement” regarding differing the investment decision to May.

Fast forward to last week, and the Oxford University Council met again, and announced a raft of decisions, while noting that Oxford University Endowment Management (OUem) “already has robust mechanisms to ensure environmental and social factors are fully and properly considered in its investment decisions.” The peer pressure, however, has given the OUem reason to “strengthen” their “engagement with and reporting of the issue.” Subsequently, the Council agreed to a number of new decisions, including:

The Council has encouraged the OUem “to maintain its rigorous assessment of potential investments across a number of risk criteria, particularly social and environmental impacts, alongside other investment criteria.”