Oxford Varsity Under Fire for Raising Investments in Fossil Fuels

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Oxford University has come under heavy criticism after its £6 billion endowment fund increased its investment in fossil fuels just a few years after making a landmark commitment to divestment, the Financial Times of UK has reported.

Countries and pressure groups have in the last few years mounted pressure on hydrocarbons producers to reduce investment in dirty fuels and put more money into cleaner sources of energy.

But although its investments are small, the report said the fund’s indirect exposure to fossil fuels increased from 0.32 per cent to 0.52 per cent between 2021 and 2022, according to published reports, stressing that bout £1 out of every £200 of the fund is now invested in fossil fuels.

The university said in 2020 that it would dump all direct investments in fossil fuels after sustained pressure from students and academics. But this does not apply to indirect exposure held through investments with external asset managers.

Head of Sustainability and Corporate Affairs at Oxford University Endowment Management, which oversees the endowment fund, Antonia Coad, said the fund has “fully implemented” the university’s divestment commitments.

She added that the fund’s indirect exposure “will fluctuate for a variety of reasons on a year-by-year basis”, including market movements as seen in 2021 and 2022.

The endowment fund, which oversees money for the university, its colleges and others, typically uses fund managers to invest, meaning it makes few direct investments.