Statement on SFU's Board of Governors decision to reduce carbon footprint of investment portfolio

SFU’s Board of Governors passed a motion Thursday to approve the university’s commitment to measure and reduce the carbon footprint of the public equity portion of the $900-million investment portfolio managed by the university by 45 per cent below the baseline measurement reported as of March 31, 2016 and to achieve this reduction by 2025.

In September 2016, SFU committed to measure and reduce the carbon footprint of the public equity portion of the university's investment portfolio by 30 per cent by 2030.

The target was increased in September 2018 to 40 per cent by 2030.
Today we again increased the target to 45 per cent and tightened the time frame to 2025.

SFU was one of the first Canadian universities to become a signatory of the UNPRI, which challenges us to measure the carbon footprint of these investments.

The student group SFU 350 has been a significant contributor to development of the policy to pursue more aggressive targets.

SFU 350 has encouraged the university to be more aggressive in setting targets but also to use our leverage to send a message to the investment community and other universities that it’s possible to reduce carbon footprint and manage risk at the same time.