Our client, a sustainable finance consultancy, specializes in ESG advisory and impact investing. They tasked us with examining the ESG strategies of asset owners in the U.S., such as public pension plans and university endowments. Their thesis is that asset owners can influence the ESG commitments of investment managers and portfolio companies. Our inputs would help them advise their clients, largely asset managers, on how to align their ESG strategies to asset owners’ priorities.
This project gave me the opportunity to analyze the endowment of my own academic institution, Columbia University. I was pleased to discover that Columbia “puts its money where its mouth is” on sustainable and socially responsible investing. While Columbia’s Plan 2030, a ten-year strategic plan to achieve its sustainability goals, is well known across the university, what people are less aware of is the school’s ethical investment practices. I was fascinated to discover how Columbia is not only reducing its own greenhouse gas emissions to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, but also driving down its financed emissions to net zero.
While I expected many enriching experiences by working with the Sustainable Investing Research Initiative (SIRI), I never thought that it would give me new found pride in being a Columbian. I am happy to say that I will soon be a graduate of a school that has strategically divested from fossil fuel producers, private prison operators, and tobacco manufacturers. I can proudly say that Columbia is an institution that not only invests in ESG and DEI, but recognizes the value in putting people and the planet before profits. I know that I have only scratched the surface, and I look forward to exploring more about my soon-to-be alma mater with this project.