Recommended Reading

As Middlebury continues to explore issues related to its endowment management and practices, we are assembling a list of readings looking at various aspects of investment. The following articles have been suggested by a variety of people interested in this topic. If you would like to suggest an article that offers new insight to this discussion, please email us your suggestion. 

Divestment Debate

Harvard Institute of Politics: Does Divestment Work?

New York Times: To Stop Climate Change, Students Aim at College Portfolios

WGBH: Gone Viral: Campus Campaigns to Divest

Harvard Magazine: The Fight for Fossil-Fuel Divestment

National Review: Fossil Fuel Divestment: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Aperio Group: Do the Investment Math: Building a Carbon-Free Portfolio

Financial Implications

The Economist: Unburnable Fuel

Carbon Tracker: Unburned Carbon 2013: Wasted Capital and Stranded Assets 

Journal of Investment: The Long-Term Performance of a Social Investment Universe (Full text of the article available through license only to users on the Middlebury campus.)

Chronicle of Higher Education: What Fossil-Fuel Divestment Would Cost

Journal of Business: The Effect of Socially-Active Investment Policies on the Financial Market: Evidence from the South African Boycott (PDF)

Financial Analysts Journal: Fewer, Richer, Greener: The End of the Population Explosion and the Future for Investors

The Actuary: Climate change looms large on investment risk radar

The Guardian: Actuaries' assumptions on future growth may need to change

Carbon Tracker: Are the world's financial markets carrying a carbon bubble?

Unity Focus: Unity College announces fossil fuel divestment

Responsible Endowments Coalition: Maximizing Returns to Colleges & Communities

Sustainable Endowments Institute: Greening the Bottom Line

Sustainable Endowments Institute: The Trend Toward Green Revolving Funds on Campus

Sustainable Endowments Institute: Investment Primer for Green Revolving Funds

Sustainable Endowments Institute: An Opportunity to Lead Sustainably: The Benefits and Considerations of Student-Led Green Revolving Fund Projects

The Actuarial Profession: Resource Constraints: sharing a finite world

Statement by Tom Steyer to Middlebury College Board of Trustees

Aperio Group: Do the Investment Math: Building a Carbon-Free Portfolio

Unity College President Stephen Mulkey: Time for Higher Education to Take a Stand on Climate

HSBC Global Research: Oil & Carbon: Value at risk from "unburnable" reserves 

UNEP Finance Initiative: Fiduciary responsibility -- Legal and practical aspects of integrating environmental, social and governance issues into institutional investment

UNEP FI and Mercer: Demystifying Responsible Investment Performance

Mercer: Climate Change Scenarios - Implications for Strategic Asset Allocation

Transitioning from Fossil Fuels

New York Times: Life After Oil and Gas

Energy Policy: Examining the feasibility of converting New York State’s all-purpose energy infrastructure to one using wind, water, and sunlight