100 signatures reached
To: VUW Senior Leadership & Foundation Board of Trustees
VUW: Divest from Fossil Fuels
All signatories demand that Victoria University of Wellington | Te Herenga Waka takes urgent action to:
- Disclose any financial investment into fossil fuel companies via the VUW Foundation Trust (the Foundation);
- Divest from fossil fuels by terminating any fossil fuel investments; and
- Implement a specific exclusion policy for the Foundation, ensuring zero tolerance for fossil fuel investments.
VUW must uphold their commitments.
We call for Vice-Chancellor Nic Smith and the Office of the Vice-Chancellor, the Chief Financial Officer, and the Foundation Board to acknowledge these demands and enact the necessary changes to uphold VUW’s existing commitments to divest from fossil fuels.
Why is this important?
In 2014, VUW promised to divest from fossil fuels. The Vice Chancellor of Te Herenga Waka announced VUWs “ethical investment stance” and pledged to divest $650,000 invested in fossil fuels. A decade later, evidence reveals that the Foundation still holds significant investments in fossil fuels through third-party investment managers. The 2014 commitment was clearly a false promise.
The world that we wish to create is one of climate justice: where communities across the world live and thrive without the threat of flooding or drought, where our needs can be met through sustainable means, and where we can enjoy, without exploitation, the ecosystems that support human life. This future is created by investing in renewable energy and sustainable industries, not fossil fuels.
The Foundation should give weight to earth scientists’ “final warning”that “humanity faces ‘devastating domino effects’ including mass displacement and financial ruin” as the planet warms. The UN states that the “world is on the edge of a climate abyss”, and ecologists have said that unless we change course, ecosystem collapse is ‘inevitable’. ExxonMobile, (one of the companies in VUW’s investment portfolio) has known about the devastating effects of fossil fuels since the 1950’s and admitted to systematically undermining the efforts of climate scientists. There are no excuses. Investment in fossil fuels in 2025 is unjustifiable and should be abandoned immediately.
With this in mind, we make the following demands of Te Herenga Waka Victoria University and the Foundation board:
- Disclose the amount of money the Foundation has invested in companies involved in fossil fuel production and distribution. The Foundation has already disclosed their fund managers, one of which oversees the fund “Schroder Sustainable Global Core PIE Fund (Hedged)”. This is of primary concern. According to Mindful Money this fund contains 4.73% fossil fuel companies, including climate criminals such as ExxonMobil and Shell. With the foundation trust overseeing over $100M, dirty investments could make up millions of their portfolio. The VUW foundation must be transparent as this is the starting point for accountability.
- Divest all money away from companies involved in fossil fuels. The Foundation’s divestment from Israeli government bonds in 2024 demonstrates that making changes to their investment portfolio is possible. We urge the Foundation to take the same rapid action and divest from fossil fuels.
- Implement a specific exclusion policy with zero tolerance for fossil fuel investments. The Statement of Investment Policy Objectives (SIPO) that governs Foundation investments has failed to prevent unethical investments and can no longer be relied upon. The Board of Trustees must implement a policy to ensure that the Foundation permanently divests from fossil fuels, both directly and indirectly. VUW must follow through with its original pledge and prevent any money being placed into fossil fuel companies again.