CAMSR to decide on divestment by March

By McGill Reporter Staff

A Board of Governors committee charged with considering a request by Divest McGill that the University divest from its investments in the fossil-fuel industry will deliver it’s response to Divest McGill by the end of March, the Board was told at its meeting Thursday.

“I’m happy to report that we will reach a final decision within the first three months of next year,” Board Chair Stuart H. “Kip” Cobbett, who is also interim chair of the Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility (CAMSR), told the Board.

At the same time, Cobbett said the committee had decided against Divest McGill’s request to put in place an immediate freeze on new investments in the fossil-fuel industry, because, as the CAMSR report says, “interim measures, which are implemented before full consideration of an issue, ordinarily are ordered in exceptional circumstances, which the Committee believes do not exist in the current situation. CAMSR also noted that imposing interim measures on our investment managers would raise significant implementation issues.”

Given the short time frame in which the final decision will be rendered, no immediate freeze is necessary, Cobbett said.

As he has done before, Cobbett praised the Divest McGill group for its diligence, respectfulness and thoroughness.

For its part, representatives of Divest McGill produced a mock cheque for $43 million and presented it to Cobbett, who accepted it with good humour. The amount represents what Corporate Knights magazine estimates have been McGill’s market losses in fossil-fuel industry holdings over the last three years, since the request to divest was first made.