Investment & Finance

Introduction

Collectively, colleges and universities invest hundreds of billions of dollars. Like other decisions that institutions make, these investments have impacts that are both local and global in scope. Institutions with transparent and democratic investment processes promote accountability and engagement by the campus and community. By using the tools of sustainable investing, institutions can improve the long-term health of their endowments, encourage better corporate behavior, support innovation in sustainable products and services, support sustainability in their community, and help build a more just and sustainable financial system.

719 resources

Framework for Implementing Change

  • Green Whys Consulting (TX)

Business schools seeking to integrate sustainability into business education can benefit from the same change management framework leveraged in corporate transformations. 'Change management' is to business education change what LEED ...

  • Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Colloquium on Sustainability in Business Higher Education Discussion

  • Appalachian State University (NC)

We are agents of change, and realize that sustainability is the future of business and business education. Higher education institutions are in the initial phases of examining this question, with ...

  • Posted Nov. 18, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
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The Economics of Sustainability: Using Microeconomic Principles to Teach Sustainability

  • Aquinas College (MI)

As a means to support a sustainable business program at Aquinas College, principles of microeconomics courses take on a unique sustainability focus. Here the concepts of consumption and production are ...

  • Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Utilizing Carbon Offsets To Fulfil the Second Nature Climate Leadership Commitments

  • Ball State University (IN)
  • Colgate University (NY)
  • Oberlin College (OH)
  • Second Nature (MA)

This session will give an overview of the new guidelines for utilizing carbon offsets as part of the Second Nature Climate Commitments and highlight a sampling of some of the ...

  • Posted Nov. 18, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
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Renewable Energy for Colleges: Onsite and Virtual Solar Solutions

  • NRG Energy, Inc (NJ)

Procuring renewable energy is expanding beyond its obvious value as the environmentally responsible thing to do; now it's increasingly becoming an economically viable option, as well. Colleges and universities ...

  • Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Funding Campus Sustainability with Student Green Fee Grants: Campus Collaborations are Greater than the Sum of their Parts

  • Georgia Southern University (GA)

Georgia Southern University's Center for Sustainability is partly funded by a $10 student fee, proposed by students. The fees finance a grant program that has funded >$650,000 ...

  • Posted Nov. 18, 2016
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Engaging Investment Managers on Proxy Voting & Other Forms of Shareholder Engagement

  • Intentional Endowments Network (MA)

The Intentional Endowments Network's "Engaging Investment Managers on Proxy Voting & Other Forms of Shareholder Engagement" document outlines potential questions for investment managers on their proxy voting and other ...

  • Posted Nov. 17, 2016
  • Publications
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The Business Case for ESG Briefing Paper

  • Intentional Endowments Network (MA)

The Intentional Endowments Network's "Business Case for ESG Briefing Paper" was developed to help endowment stakeholders understand what Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing is, how ESG investing and ...

  • Posted Nov. 17, 2016
  • Publications
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White Paper: Investing in Clean Energy: Campuses and Endowments

  • Intentional Endowments Network (MA)

The Intentional Endowments Network's new report titled “Investing in Clean Energy: Campuses and Endowments” was designed to encourage conversation about the financial and societal benefits of clean energy investments ...

  • Posted Nov. 15, 2016
  • Publications
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Bringing Responsible Investment to Campus: A Handbook for Committees on Investor Responsibiity

  • Responsible Endowments Coalition (PA)

This toolkit is intended to be a guide to the creation, organization, and operation of Committees on Investor Responsibility that function effectively. Many schools have adopted the model of the ...

  • Posted Oct. 31, 2016
  • Publications
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Unity College Students at the People's Climate March

  • Unity Environmental University (ME)

Unity College students participate in the People's Climate March. Unity College was the first to divest its endowment from fossil fuels.

  • Posted Sept. 23, 2016
  • Photographs
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Sustainability 2020

  • Green Mountain College (VT)

Ten years ago, students in an honors seminar investigated ways to reduce Green Mountain College’s ecological footprint. The class identified the biggest source of carbon emissions–the college’s ...

  • Posted Sept. 12, 2016
  • Videos & Webinars
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Supporting Solar Energy through a Student-Financed Renewable Energy Initiative

  • Appalachian State University (NC)
  • Second Nature (MA)
  • Midwest Renewable Energy Association (WI)

The "Solar University Network: Innovation in Solar Energy Finance & Development" case study series highlights higher education investment in solar energy projects. The purpose of these case studies is to ...

  • Posted Sept. 12, 2016
  • Publications
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Public College Foundation Investment in Solar

  • Wake Technical Community College (NC)
  • Second Nature (MA)
  • Midwest Renewable Energy Association (WI)

The “Solar University Network: Innovation in Solar Energy Finance & Development” case study series highlights higher education investment in solar energy projects. The purpose of these case studies is to ...

  • Posted Sept. 12, 2016
  • Publications
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Third-Party, Supporter-Financed Campus Solar: An Approach and a Partnership that Works

  • Luther College (IA)
  • Second Nature (MA)
  • Midwest Renewable Energy Association (WI)

The “Solar University Network: Innovation in Solar Energy Finance & Development” case study series highlights higher education investment in solar energy projects. The purpose of these case studies is to ...

  • Posted Sept. 12, 2016
  • Publications
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Pack Forest at UW

  • University of Washington, Seattle (WA)

Pack Forest is a working forest and owned by the University of Washington. Located outside of Eatonville, Wash., the University of Washington’s Pack Forest began with the purchase of ...

  • Posted Sept. 12, 2016
  • Photographs
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SUNY Polytechnic Institute Sustainability Path

  • State University of New York Polytechnic Institute (NY)

Solar PV and small wind turbine demonstration project funded by SUNY Small Grant Sustainability Fund

  • Posted Sept. 12, 2016
  • Photographs
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Harnessing the Power of Solar

  • University of California, Merced (CA)

The Science and Engineering Building 2 features solar panels on the outside to help power the building and provide shade during the hottest months.


Implementation Model: Tying Energy Costs to Building Occupants

  • University of California, Berkeley (CA)
  • United States Department of Energy (DC)

UC Berkeley's Energy Management Initiative (EMI) targets building occupants through building surveys and energy dashboards, and allocates energy cost responsibility to individual campus operating units to achieve savings of ...


Building Community Investment at New York University

  • New York University (NY)

Anchor institutions – large non-profit organizations like colleges, universities, or hospitals that are tied to a place by infrastructure and mission – should be harnessed to positively affect the growth of the ...


Raising Student Voices: Student Action for University Community Investment

  • University of San Francisco (CA)
  • Wesleyan University (CT)
  • Case Western Reserve University (OH)
  • Loyola University New Orleans (LA)
  • Fordham University (NY)
  • Duke University (NC)
  • American University (DC)
  • University of Chicago (IL)
  • University of Pennsylvania (PA)
  • Responsible Endowments Coalition (PA)
  • University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (TX)

This report from The Democracy Collaborative and the Responsible Endowments Coalition seeks to connect struggling communities to local institutional wealth through engaging student activism. The report profiles three administration-led initiatives ...


Rationale of early adopters of fossil fuel divestment

  • Lake Forest College (IL)

Purpose This research uses the social science perspectives of institutions, ecological modernization and social movements to analyze the rationale used by the early-adopting universities of fossil fuel divestment in the ...

  • Posted July 18, 2016
  • Publications
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Sustainabiliy Impact Fund

  • Northwestern University (IL)

This project is a student-led initiative to allow Northwestern alumni to donate to supporting sustainability initiatives on our campus. Titled the Sustainability Impact Fund, this initiative includes directed fundraising efforts ...

  • Posted June 11, 2016
  • Case Studies
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Middlebury College's Innovative Land Conservation and Financing Project

  • Middlebury College (VT)

In 1915, a visionary Vermont environmentalist bequeathed to Middlebury College a large tract of land, located 12 miles from the main campus, part of which became home to the College ...

  • Posted June 11, 2016
  • Case Studies
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Utility-Scale Solar Farm for University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (IL)

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is proud of its sustainability initiatives, and Facilities & Services (F&S) is honored to support the campus wide Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP). The ...

  • Posted June 10, 2016
  • Case Studies
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Union College's Presidential Green Grants: Empowering our community to make a more sustainable world

  • Union College - NY (NY)

Our greatest resource as an institution is the creativity and energy of our community. Union College’s Presidential Green Grant (PGG) program leverages this creativity and energy by supporting novel ...

  • Posted June 10, 2016
  • Case Studies
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Institutional Framework for Student-Led Sustainability Initiatives

  • University of Nebraska - Lincoln (NE)

The Environmental Sustainability Committee (ESC) is a self-sustaining committee within the Association for Students of the University of Nebraska (ASUN), otherwise known as UNL’s Student Government. The framework of ...

  • Posted June 10, 2016
  • Case Studies
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The Virginia Tech Green RFP Program

  • Virginia Tech (VA)

Student engagement is an important factor in advancing sustainability at Virginia Tech. The University created the “Request for Proposal for Sustainability Initiatives from Student Organizations Program (Green RFP Program)” to ...


Lowell Canal Bridges TIGER Grant: Campus-Community Partnerships Leveraging Transformative Change

  • University of Massachusetts Lowell (MA)

The University of Massachusetts Lowell (UMass Lowell) is a fast growing university nestled within our host community of the City of Lowell, Massachusetts. Lowell enjoys an authentic urban character structured ...


Development of a Carbon Capital Methodology for use by the Higher Education Community

  • Ball State University (IN)

Over a multiyear period, Ball State University collaborated in the development and piloted the implementation of a new methodology by which colleges and universities can qualify their carbon reduction credits ...


The Green Action Fund at Kansas State University

  • Kansas State University (KS)

The Green Action Fund (GAF) at Kansas State University was initiated in 2013 as a joint project of the Office of Sustainability and the Student Governing Association (SGA). The GAF ...


Student Design Fund

  • University of Tennessee at Knoxville (TN)

The Student Design/Research Project Fund is a new and innovative sustainability project from the University of Tennessee. It created a pool of money to where applicants can apply for ...


Green revolving funds: A sustainable investment

  • College of Saint Benedict (MN)
  • University of Dayton (OH)
  • Sustainable Endowments Institute (MA)
  • Blessed Earth (KY)
  • Saint John's University (MN)

There has recently been a groundswell of interest in sustainability in all its forms, and two organizations — Green Seminary Initiative and Seminary Stewardship Alliance — have emerged to provide resources and ...


LEED Certification of Campus Buildings - A Cost-Benefit Approach

This is the first comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) buildings certified within the higher education sector. 16 institutions of higher education (IHEs) were surveyed ...

  • Posted April 14, 2016
  • Publications
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Commonfund Study of Responsible Investing: A Survey of Endowments and Their Affiliated Foundations

  • Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (DC)
  • National Association of College & University Business Officers (NACUBO) (DC)

Commonfund Institute, NACUBO and AGB survey builds upon the 2014 NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments by delving in to responsible investing practices, policies and portfolio strategies. Topics covered include:

  • Defining responsible ...

  • Posted April 8, 2016
  • Publications
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Institutional Pathways to Fossil-Free Investing: Endowment Management in a Warming World

  • Responsible Endowments Coalition (PA)
  • Sustainable Endowments Institute (MA)

This report provides an analysis of climate-related portfolio risk faced by educational and philanthropic endowments and presents three pathways toward reallocating an endowment portfolio into fossil-free investment opportunities, across asset ...

  • Posted April 8, 2016
  • Publications
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The Reinvestment Handbook: Green Endowments Initiative

The Reinvestment Handbook is a resource for the next generation of responsible investors. It is designed to help students better understand their university endowment, the key pillars of SRI funds ...

  • Posted April 8, 2016
  • Publications
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Intentionally Designed Endowments Primer

  • Intentional Endowments Network (MA)

The Intentionally Designed Endowments Primer was developed to help endowment stakeholders establish a baseline understanding of the key issues related to aligning investment practices with institutional mission and values. It ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Publications
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Evaluating Campus Green Funds: Student Review of Campus Impacts

  • University of Houston (TX)
  • University of Texas at Austin (TX)

Motivated by the work of the Campus Green Fund Collaborative and its AASHE publication, How-To Guide: Campus Green Fund Implementation, the Office of Sustainability at the University of Texas at ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
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Student sustainability grants for research, scholarship, projects and travel at Ohio State

  • The Ohio State University (OH)

For the first time, Ohio State's sustainability offices are jointly managing a grants program for student projects in the areas of energy, environment and sustainability. The program helps to ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
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Launching a Student Sustainable Investing Advisory Committee: Successes and Challenges

  • Ohio University (OH)

In 2014, Ohio University established a new student group, the Sustainable Investing Advisory Committee (SIAC), with the financial backing of The Ohio University Foundation. The mission of SIAC is 'to ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
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The Evolution of a Campus as a Living Lab Grant Program

  • California State University, Chancellor's Office (CA)

This session will introduce the California State University Campus as a Living Lab Initiative, the grant program designed to support sustainability in the curriculum. With two years of experience running ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
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Creating and maintaining a Student Managed Action Fund

  • University of Northern Colorado (CO)

A growing way to create and build sustainability projects on campus is to create a student fund. These are often managed by students themselves, yet despite the enthusiasm and innovative ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
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Investing in a Cooler Planet: the movement to divest colleges and universities from fossil fuels and reinvest in the new economy

  • Carleton College (MN)

Since 2011, when campaigns first started popping up at a handful of colleges, the fossil fuel divestment movement has exploded onto the college activism scene and beyond. There are currently ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
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Cashing in Carbon: Selling Carbon Reductions to Leverage Campus Sustainability

  • Boston University (MA)

This year, with momentum from the Chevy Campus Clean Energy Challenge, Boston University reached its 2020 goal to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent. Through the robust Verified ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
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Intentionally Designed Endowments

  • Intentional Endowments Network (MA)

For decades the socially responsible investment community has puzzled over the fact that colleges and universities have not been more intentional in aligning their investment practices with their mission and ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
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Sustainability without sacrifice: How URIs are saving money & reducing GHG emissions by investing in energy efficiency

  • Sustainable Endowments Institute (MA)

Finding a way to prioritize and finance sustainability projects can be difficult for any institution, but may present a unique struggle at minority-serving institutions (MSIs) and under-resourced institutions (URIs). To ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
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Finance 101: How can Campus Sustainability Officers and Business Officers Speak the Same Language?

  • Second Nature (MA)

Campus sustainability professionals must frequently build the business case for campus sustainability projects. While they are well versed in environmental issues, communication strategy, and other planning skills, greater knowledge of ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
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Taxing Campus Air Travel to Create a Climate Action Fund

  • Southern Oregon University (OR)

As carbon neutrality deadlines loom on the horizon, many universities are scrambling to find ways to reduce emissions to meet our goals. Reducing our carbon footprint can be difficult as ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
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Non-Profit Non-Starters? Using Creative Economic Levers on Campus

  • Colby College (ME)
  • Harvard University (MA)
  • University of Virginia (VA)

Financial limitations are often a primary barrier to sustainability implementation at colleges and universities. Often, universities share best practices, and occasionally lessons learned, but less frequently do they describe the ...

  • Posted Feb. 26, 2016
  • Conference Presentations
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This tab provides access to data collected through AASHE’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ (STARS). STARS is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. STARS enables meaningful comparisons over time and across institutions using a common set of measurements developed with broad participation from the campus sustainability community.

All responses reference content from reports under the latest version of STARS, version 2.2. AASHE membership and log-in is required.

PA 9: Committee on Investor Responsibility

PA 10: Sustainable Investment

PA 11: Investment Disclosure

Additional analysis on scores and quantitative fields can be conducted using the STARS Benchmarking Tool.

Investment & Finance Partners