For years, we’ve seen environmental groups and students urge universities to divest from dirty fossil fuels. Finally, it seems those efforts are paying off. A total of seventy-eight of the UK’s 154 public universities have jumped onto the divestment bandwagon, either divesting or pledging to divest hundreds of millions from the fossil fuel industry.
Although some of the universities have only withdrawn from certain fossil fuels – such as tar sands or coal – others have already divested from all fossil fuels as part of what campaigners say it is an accelerating process of delegitimization of the industry.
With that said, several major universities, including Cambridge, have been reluctant to end their relationship with the fossil fuel industry. But considering the relentless pressure from activists, it seems only a matter of time until these universities get with the program and divest their money from fossil fuels.