In Pursuit of Climate Justice: How DivestUVic Won Fossil Fuel Divestment at the University of Victoria: Difference between revisions
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Finally, activities were categorized based on which pillars (assumptions) the movement was targeting as part of their work. A single activity could be targeting multiple pillars, as was often the case with direct action taken towards University Leadership. | Finally, activities were categorized based on which pillars (assumptions) the movement was targeting as part of their work. A single activity could be targeting multiple pillars, as was often the case with direct action taken towards University Leadership. | ||
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| style="width: 50%; text-align: left;" | Student, Faculty, Staff Opinion | | style="width: 50%; text-align: left; height: 28px;" | Student, Faculty, Staff Opinion | ||
| style="width: 50%; text-align: center;" | 80% | | style="width: 50%; text-align: center; height: 28px;" | 80% | ||
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| style="width: 50%; text-align: left;" | University Reputation | | style="width: 50%; text-align: left; height: 28px;" | University Reputation | ||
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| style="width: 50%; text-align: left;" | Commitment to Sustainability | | style="width: 50%; text-align: left; height: 28px;" | Commitment to Sustainability | ||
| style="width: 50%; text-align: center;" | 38% | | style="width: 50%; text-align: center; height: 28px;" | 38% | ||
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| style="width: 50%; text-align: left;" | Public Opinion | | style="width: 50%; text-align: left; height: 28px;" | Public Opinion | ||
| style="width: 50%; text-align: center;" | 36% | | style="width: 50%; text-align: center; height: 28px;" | 36% | ||
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| style="width: 50%; text-align: left;" | Long-Term Financial Planning | | style="width: 50%; text-align: left; height: 28px;" | Long-Term Financial Planning | ||
| style="width: 50%; text-align: center;" | 26% | | style="width: 50%; text-align: center; height: 28px;" | 26% | ||
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Revision as of 20:36, 15 April 2026
This article was written by Teresa Lawson, and is the product of a collaboration between the HUB Librarian (Anglophone) and students in Jen Gobby's winter 2026 course "TCA425: Organizing for Transformative Change" at the University of Victoria. Many thanks to Teresa and Jen for their collaboration on this project.
Introduction
This article covers the DivestUVic Movement, a student-led fossil fuel divestment campaign that spanned 8 years of efforts to achieve full divestment at the University of Victoria in Victoria, BC, Canada.
Sources used:
- Public reports, social media posts, recordings, and press releases made by the campaign organizers
- Public documents, meeting minutes, statements, and press releases by the *University of Victoria
- News and media coverage
- Many reports by student newspaper The Martlet
What is the Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement?
Fossil fuel divestment refers to the removal of investment money held in stocks, bonds, and funds from oil, gas, and coal companies for moral, financial, and environmental reasons. Fossil fuel divestment is not the first time divestment has been used as a tool to affect change - it has previously been to target the tobacco and gambling industries and played an important role in the fight against apartheid in South Africa. [1]
The arguments for fossil fuel divestment primarily fall into moral, factual, and financial categories:
|
Moral |
Fossil fuel organizations are not concerned by the harms (current, past, or future) caused by their industry and are motivated almost entirely by short-term financial gain; as such they will continue to conduct business to satisfy this motivation even when even doing so is self-destructive. |
|
Factual |
Research shows that, to limit warming to a 2°C increase in global temperature, that 66% to 80% of fossil fuels need to remain in the ground. |
|
Financial |
If, and when, international climate action targets change are met, fossil fuel investments will be worthless and thus become ‘stranded assets’. |
The purpose of fossil fuel divestment campaigns is to:
- Reframe the business practice of fossil fuel companies socially unacceptable, undermining their legitimacy.
- By undercutting legitimacy, undermine fossil fuel lobbying power therefore making space for politicians to take effective actions.
- Highlight that the transition requirement is not an if, it is a when.
- Emphasize that fossil fuel investments will not hold value once the transition occurs.
The Fossil Fuel Divestment movement is a global movement with action being taken by a huge range of people from grassroots University student clubs like DivestUVic to robust mutli-national watchgroups like the Climate Policy Initiative. Together, these groups seek to achieve progress towards divestment of fossil fuels and re-investment in renewable, sustainable alternatives.
Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaigns in Higher Education
The movement is traced back to student activism in 2011, was taken up by 350.org in 2012, and eventually found its way to the University of Victoria with the founding of Divest UVic in 2013., According to the Global Fossil Fuel Divestment Commitments Database, there are over 260 educational institutions with divestment commitments, including 17 in Canada. Divestment in Canada began with Laval University's announcement in Feb 2017, followed by a steady series of announcements between 2017 and 2024. The University of Victoria was the 8th to announce divestment commitments, two years after both Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia released their own announcements.
What is the University of Victoria Foundation?
The University of Victoria Foundation is responsible for the management of the university’s Working Capital Investments, Pension Funds, and Student Investment Fund. As of March 2025, it is responsible for managing over $600 million in assets and administering over 1,500 endowment funds that disburse more than $20 million each year for scholarships, bursaries, and other university purposes.
DivestUVic requested that the Foundation's Board divest of all fossil fuels in all of these holdings, however University action has primarily been with regard to the Working Capital Investments.
Campaign breakdown
Summary
On February 4, 2014 the University of Victoria Student’s Society, on behalf of DivestUVic, submitted a letter to the university’s Board of Governors and the Foundation’s Board seeking divestment.
The letter included the problem, the goal, and the targets of their demands:
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The Problem |
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The Goal |
For all current holdings to be divested of fossil fuels. |
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The Target |
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The Theory of Change |
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Key Actors
DivestUVic
DivestUVic was founded in 2013 as a group of University of Victoria students, faculty, and staff who advocate that “it is immoral and economically irresponsible to invest in the destruction of our climate, lands, and livelihoods.” In February 2014, the group demanded that the University of Victoria immediately cease any further investment in fossil fuel companies and divest all existing holdings within three years followed by ongoing formal requests for divestment.
The Vice President of Finance and Operations’ response deferred discussion of any action until the next Foundation Board meeting at which point the University explicitly refused to divest.
UVic Foundation Board
The UVic Foundation Board is responsible for protecting the value of the Foundation funds against inflation and providing stability in the earnings distribution to facilitate financial planning of the use of these funds. The Board is guided by the University of Victoria Foundation Act, Endowment Management or Spending Policy, Responsible Investment Policy, and investment objectives and guidelines.
UVic Board of Governors
The University of Victoria Board of Governors is responsible for the management, administration, and control of the property, revenue, business, and affairs of the university. It is a fifteen-member body who sit on committees, including the executive and governance committee, finance committee, operations and facilities committee, audit committee, and compensation and review committee.
Internal Factors
Several internal factors remained in play throughout DivestUVic's campaign.
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Movement modelled like a student club |
The movement conducted itself like a student club with regular meetings, semester-planning sessions, recruitment drives during Club Days, and maintained a social atmosphere which contributed to its resiliency over years. |
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Challenged decision-makers |
Direct actions such as occupations, protests, and deliberate disruptions were focused primarily on decision makers. |
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Embedded art and storytelling |
Co-opting taglines, utilizing memes, wielding satire and humour as effective tools to highlight the absurdity of the delay, deflect, and downplay tactics of decision-makers |
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Commissioning professional opinions |
Divest UVic commissioned legal and banking opinions that contradicted the 2014 recommendations, indicating that UVic was both legally and financially able to pursue full divestment. |
External Factors
In addition to the internal factors, there were several external factors at play during the campaign:
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Substantial support within the university |
Over the course of two referendums on the subject, there was overwhelming support expressed by both students (with 77% in favour) and faculty (with 77% in favour). |
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Conflicts of interest |
The Foundation’s Board of Directors and UVic’s Board of Governors were both found to have members with clear conflicts of interests regarding divestment and fossil fuel companies. |
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Pro-fossil fuel UVic advisors |
The Board of Governors sought advice from its investment managers in Sept 2014 on the impact of divestment. This advice was broadly that fossil fuels were “too large of a market segment to exclude,” that over the following 10-15 years “we are not seeing any dramatic or concerted environmental requirements… that might significantly impact the fundamental valuation of Canadian energy companies,” and that “excluding companies from portfolios eliminates the possibility of engagement and of a dialogue with these companies.”
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Global movement |
Other prominent institutions within Canada, the USA, and globally were vocally divesting from fossil fuels, representing growing reputational pressure for UVic, which had positioned itself as a leader in sustainability and social responsibility. |
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Social upheaval |
The COVID-19 Pandemic forced many movements online as of March 11 2020, marking the beginning of a series of global initiatives to shut down and curb the spread and death caused by the novel disease. Simultaneously, social and climate justice movements garnered global attention particularly through social media and became connection points for a variety of social and climate justice movements, such as School Strike for Climate, Wet’suwet’en Solidarity Protests, and Black Lives Matter Protests. |
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Oil price crash |
The WTI Crude Oil Price fell below $80 in December 2014, just 3 months after the opinion letters commissioned by UVic, a graph of the oil prices is provided below with key dates highlighted.
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Organizational activities
| Category of Activity | Description | % of Total Activities | Examples | |
|
Engage with students and faculty through multiple communication channels such as email blasts, news releases, newspaper coverage, photo events, poster campaigns, and clever or humorous taglines in order to build support for the movement. | 45% |
| |
| Building Public Awareness Outside University | Engage with local residents and media through news releases, newspaper coverage, and interviews to build public support for the movement. | 16% |
| |
| Dedicated Organization & Planning | Maintaining a regular structure and internal organization that enables the movement to endure over multiple semesters, pass on knowledge, and benefit from fresh ideas from new recruits. | 30% |
| |
| Recruitment | Ongoing recruitment to ensure there is capacity to take action. | 7% |
| |
| Direct Action on Decision-Makers | Directly engage with targeted decision-makers through protest, letter-writing, and creating communication/public image dilemmas that highlight contradictions between action and promises. | 31% |
| |
| Satire & Humour as Criticism | Use satire and humour through communications to highlight contradictions, invite people into conversation, and get complex concepts across in an accessible way. | 18% |
| |
| Public Shaming | Explicitly and clearly articulate when target fails to follow through on a commitment, is delaying, or when public reputation is at stake. | 20% |
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| Demonstrate Support for Movement | Highlight collaboration or mutual support from related events to demonstrate positive public opinion on issue topic. | 18% |
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| Solidarity Actions | Collaborate and support related initiatives to network, sharing information, ideas, and tactics while demonstrating commitment to the ideals of the movement. | 11% |
|
Further, the groups specifically engaged by the movement tended to be university students or faculty and staff, though direct actions did target university leadership explicitly. A single activity could be targeting multiple groups.
| Group Engaged by Movement | % of Activities |
| University Students | 65% |
| University Faculty/Staff | 57% |
| University Leadership | 38% |
| General Public | 14% |
| University Alumni | 1% |
Finally, activities were categorized based on which pillars (assumptions) the movement was targeting as part of their work. A single activity could be targeting multiple pillars, as was often the case with direct action taken towards University Leadership.
| Pillar (Assumption) Targeted | % of Activities |
|---|---|
| Student, Faculty, Staff Opinion | 80% |
| University Reputation | 39% |
| Commitment to Sustainability | 38% |
| Public Opinion | 36% |
| Long-Term Financial Planning | 26% |
Timeline
The DivestUVic movement has taken place over ten years, with phases of increased and decreased activity. Below is an overview of the different phases and what characterized that period alongside contextual global events.
| Phase / Arc | Start and End Date | Key Events | Contextual Events |
| Initial Challenge & Rejection | Jun 2013 - Sep 2014 |
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| Support Building & Second Rejection |
Oct 2014 - Jun 2015 |
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| Refined Challenge |
Jul 2015 - Mar 2016 |
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| First Hibernation |
Apr 2016 - Oct 2016 |
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| Refined Challenge & Issue Movement | Nov 2016 - Mar 2018 |
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| Second Hibernation | Apr 2018 - Nov 2018 |
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| Resurgence & Renewed Pressure |
Dec 2018 - Jan 2020 |
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| Initial Success & Refined Focus |
Feb 2020 - Jan 2021 |
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| Significant Success & Deeper Involvement |
Feb 2021 - Nov 2021 |
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| Focus on Accountability | Dec 2021 - Mar 2022 |
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| Third Hibernation | Apr 2022 - Dec 2023 |
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| Accountability & Collaboration | Jan 2024 - Mar 2025 |
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| In Pursuit of Climate Justice | Apr 2025 - Feb 2026 |
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Was the Goal Achieved?
The movement’s stated demand was for the University of Victoria to cease all new investments in fossil fuels and for all current holdings to be divested of fossil fuels. This demand was made in February 2014 with initial success in January 2020 with the updated Responsible Investment Policy and a commitment to 45% divestment followed by major success in response to continued pressure for full divestment in February 2021. Full success was achieved, formally, in November 2021 after 7 years of ongoing efforts.
Success came about as a result of sustained pressure by student activists, an increasing number of peer institutions divesting, falling oil prices, shifting public and student opinion, and increasing reputational cost.
As of February 2026, the movement is now 12 years old and still actively involved in justice and solidarity work at the university. The movement’s goal, however, has expanded to become more intersectional in its climate and social justice demands. It now focuses on holding the university accountable to social, political, and environmental justice in UVic’s investments as of Feb 2026.
In the 2023/2024 UVic Foundation Investments Report (2023/24), there has been significant change in the nature and amounts invested in the reported categories with a clear shift away from fossil fuel investments., However, these investments have been moved into technology, industrial, and consumer discretionary industries such as Google, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft. It is perhaps with great foresight and wisdom that DivestUvic has decided to shift its attention to include the social, political, and environmental aspects of the University’s investments, particularly given the extremely high profile nature of several of these new investments and their potential intersection with sociopolitical accountability.
Lessons for Future Organizing
In reflecting on the tactics, messaging, and outcomes of this movement, four primary lessons emerge:
Be Informed
- Determine who is responsible for enacting change for investment policy; who is ultimately responsible for how investments are handled? Direct your policy demands to them and communicate who supporters need to contact to express their support for your cause.
- Research the contextual background for those who are responsible for how investments are made - identify conflicts of interest, active participation in boards, groups, or businesses with a vested interest counter to the request and highlight those in your awareness building.
- Determine what other institutions and organizations are leading the way on the issue and learn from them.
Be in Community
- Connect with similar initiatives in your region for events, newsletters, and recruitment.
- Connect with fellow students, particularly law, finance, communications, climate science, and humanities students for support building compelling arguments.
- Centre intersectionality and solidarity, support and network with local social justice and climate justice movements to help spread the word, garner support, and keep perspective/accountability.
Be Inconvenient
- Be clever, creative, and inconvenient to those you are protesting against; this gets news coverage and stirs up questions.
- Demanding accountability and maintaining involvement in the follow-through as success is achieved solidifies that success.
- Satire, irony, and humour are powerful and connective forces; lean into it.
It's a Marathon Not a Sprint
- Student movements are vulnerable to the ebb and flow of semester cycles, graduation, and obligation - maintain a regular club or organizational schedule to maintain membership and organizing capacity.
- Refining the movement’s focus in response to changing needs can help avoid loss of momentum.
- It takes time to achieve change, maintaining pressure doesn’t have to sit with one cohort alone - it is a collective effort over months or years.
Key Quotes
- “If it’s wrong to wreck the climate and peoples’ livelihoods, then it’s wrong to profit from that wreckage” - Kelsey Mech, DivestUVic
- “Between 2024 and 2030, an annual average of at least USD 6.3 trillion in global climate finance is needed to keep global warming within 1.5°C (CPI, 2025). Achieving this—and capturing the economic and environmental benefits that result from it—will require financial institutions (FIs) to play a key role as enablers, alongside other actors including governments and real-economy companies… Action from [Financial Institutions] is vital to the climate transition in the global economy, composed of interlocking sectors and national economies….Near-term backsliding will not change the ultimate need for transition.” - Le et al, Climate Policy Initiative
- “UVic lost $4 million on their Canadian fossil fuel investments between March 2018 and March 2019. Even before COVID-19, UVic’s fossil energy investments were delivering a -17% rate of return (RoR). In contrast, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s fossil free index had a +7.9% RoR that same year. The fossil energy sector was the worst performing segment of the stock market in 2018-19.” - Rowe et al
- “Both the Board of Governors and the Foundation Board have duties of loyalty and prudence when making investment decisions… Neither Board is prevented from adopting a divestment policy to reduce their exposure to material financial risks from climate change, provided that policy is financially prudent.” - Vancity, Ecojustice
Further Reading
- ↑ Howard, Emma. 2015. “A beginner's guide to fossil fuel divestment.” The Guardian, June 23, 2015. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/23/a-beginners-guide-to-fossil-fuel-divestment