Climate change is accelerating. We are witnessing the increasing impacts of a warming planet more and more consistently; in this last year alone our country experienced record-breaking heat, droughts, and hurricanes, which impacted hundreds of thousands of people and cost our country hundreds of billions of dollars. Experts agree that global warming caused by humans burning fossil fuels will conti
nue to accelerate and intensify these tragic climate disasters. The scientific consensus is clear and overwhelming; we cannot safely burn even half of global fossil-fuel reserves without dangerously warming the planet for several thousand years. As public pressure to confront climate change builds, we call on DePaul University to immediately freeze any new investment in fossil-fuel companies, and to divest within five years from direct ownership and from any commingled funds that include fossil-fuel public equities and corporate bonds. The University, in accordance with its Institutional Sustainability Mission must work diligently to further DePaul’s mission of becoming an agent of social change in regards to sustainability. Such action would work towards answering the Vincentian question, "What must be done?" with regards to an issue that threatens the very existence of humans and animals on Earth. Sustainability is nothing new to us at DePaul; we have found sustainability to be a very important thread woven into DePaul’s institutional fabric. Divestment will not only be the right decision for our institution's financial portfolio, but also for the wellbeing of its graduating classes, who deserve the opportunity to graduate with a future not defined by climate chaos.
