US students score win in push for fossil fuel divestment by private high schools

A high school in California has decided not to invest in coal, oil or gas, instead pledging to put money into clean energy. It's the latest win in a new fossil fuel divestment campus campaign launched by high schoolers across 11 countries that is gaining support in the US.

The Nueva School, an elite private school outside San Francisco , pledged in spring 2024 to invest a portion of its $55m endowment in renewable power. The commitment followed months of pressure from students.

"If you're choosing to put that money in the right projects, then you're helping the world get where it needs to be," said Ines Pajot, 18, a former student of the Nueva School who helped spearhead the campaign.

Unlike many other institutions that have faced divestment calls, the Nueva School had no direct investments in coal, oil or gas to pull. But it does have indirect investments, with less than 4% of its endowment in funds that are indirectly exposed to fossil fuels.

The students at the Nueva School say their win was made possible by engaging with the school's board of trustees over the course of six years. By including a promise to place financial stakes in climate-friendly causes, they say the institution's pledge goes a step further than traditional divestment commitments like those seen on many college campuses.

"The divestment movement looks different now than it did 15 years ago," said Anjuli Mishra, 18, a Nueva student and coalition leader. "There are more opportunities to invest in clean energy, and it's imperative for schools to align with this new investment landscape."

Pajot said the students took a "collaborative" approach to their pressure campaign, choosing to work openly with the board and hear its concerns rather than simply making demands.

"We had a lot of conversation with the board and our knowledge very much evolved," she said. The students started by calling for divestment, then became interested in a "divestment and reinvestment" framework. Eventually, they landed on a call for sustainable investment "because we realized that, to our core, we wanted to use money to facilitate the energy transition", Pajot said.

The Nueva School organizers are part of the International High School Clean Energy Investment Coalition , which officially launched this fall after two years of informal organizing. The group of private high school students – hailing from about 50 schools, half of which are in the US and the rest of which span 10 other countries – are pushing their institutions to clean up their financial portfolios. Some of those schools have endowments of more than $1bn, rivaling those of some private universities, Pajot said.

In another recent win, the board of the prestigious Seattle Academy in Seattle, Washington, officially voted in favor of a divestment proposal this year and is determining next steps. And St Marks, a private boarding school in Southborough, Massachusetts, started to phase out its fossil fuel investments in 2022, while pledging not to directly invest in fossil fuels in the future. Today, less than 3% of the school's endowment is tied to fossil fuels.

"The fact that the schools are making this decision shows that they're taking climate change, in and of itself, seriously," said Pajot.

Bill McKibben, the veteran environmental activist and author, praised the students' efforts. "They understand the deep contradiction between educating people for the future and investing in ways that make sure that future won't exist," he wrote in an email. "Thank heaven they're gently calling out that hypocrisy!"

High schools are a new arena for the fossil fuel divestment campus movement. Until now, activists have largely been focused on universities, where they have seen major wins.

More than 260 educational institutions worldwide have in recent years committed to halt investments in fossil fuel companies, according to data from Stand.earth and 350.org. Over the past four years, students at two dozen schools in the US have also filed legal complaints arguing that their institutions' investments in planet-heating fossil fuels are illegal.

In 2015, a Pennsylvania high school made history when, under student pressure, it divested its $150m endowment from all holdings in coalmining companies. At that time, at least five other east coast high schools had launched fossil fuel divestment campaigns; an initiative at St Paul's School in New Hampshire resulted in a decision not to divest.

Some educators are bringing the divestment movement beyond individual private institutions. In 2022, the American Federation of Teachers, the second largest teachers union in the nation, overwhelmingly supported a resolution calling on pension trustees to pull members' retirement funds from fossil fuels and reinvest in "projects that benefit displaced workers and frontline communities".

"As a lifelong educator, I've learned that climate change is probably the No 1 concern on their list that is keeping them up at night," said Lee Fertig, head of the Nueva School. "They're looking at this as an educational endeavor and not just a financial endeavor – what they can do, as young people dealing with pressing challenges thrust upon them."