THE DIVESTMENT DEBATE, SHOULD UTAS DITCH FOSSIL FUELS?

Fossil Free UTAS is gearing up to host a Divestment Q & A this Thursday evening with guest speaker’s including prominent barrister Greg Barns, chairperson of Tasplan Super Naomi Edwards and representative of 350.org Vicky Fysh.

Professor Richard Eccletson, Director of the institute of social change at UTAS will be a moderator for the evening. Fossil Free UTAS is a student run organisation focused on working with the university to review its investments and move towards investing in renewable energy.

The University of Tasmania has the opportunity to be leader on the issue of climate change by divesting its investments from the fossil fuel industry. This forum will involve a panel of experts discussing the issues involved in universities around Australia divesting: should universities divest, what political issues are there blocking them from doing so, what is the best way to move beyond fossil fuels.
The importance of the Divestment Debate highlighted by estimates that UTAS has lost $92,000 through their investment in six fossil fuel companies.

“This revelation a strong argument for UTAS to begin planning a restructure of their investment portfolio which currently stands at $256 million, which an estimated $25-50 million invested in fossil fuel industries,” said fossil free spokesperson Tom Crawford.

“Fossil Free UTAS organised the Q&A event at the behest of Peter Rathjen who suggested Fossil Free UTAS to develop dialogue between them and the University,” said Mr Crawford.

“A formal invitation was extended to the university to attend the Divestment Debate in order to understand their current stance on their investments,” said Mr Crawford.

“At first David Clerk, Chief Operating Officer for UTAS had agreed to attend the event, however with less than a month before the event he pulled out without explanation,” said Mr Crawford.

“Fossil Free are putting pressure on the University to send a notable representative to participate in an event initially encouraged by themselves,” said Mr Crawford.

Event – Fossil Free UTAS Divestment Q & A
Date – Thursday 21st May
Time – 6:00 – 8:00pm
Location – Stanley Burbury Lecture Theatre, UTAS Sandy Bay Campus.
Carly Rusden