On February 18, 2021, a coalition of Canadian university endowments and pension plans, including UTAM, announced that they were launching a new initiative, UNIE – THE UNIVERSITY NETWORK FOR INVESTOR ENGAGEMENT — to directly engage investee corporations on climate change risks. (see here).
UTAM immediately announced that it would be sending representatives to the next shareholder meeting of the Saudi National Oil Company (Aramco) in order to demand a complete stop to all oil production, effective immediately. Daren Smith, President of UTAM, said that while he and his associates were in Riyadh for the shareholders meeting, they would also express their opposition to the treatment of Loujain al-Hathloul, the Saudi woman who was jailed and tortured for driving while being female.
“I just hope they don’t take my points card away me while I’m there,” joked Smith, as he prepared to board a flight to the gulf state.
In related news, President Meric Gertler of the University of Toronto announced his support for the new shareholder engagement initiative and promised to send representatives of the university’s pension committee to the shareholders’ meetings at Exxonmobil and Royal Dutch Shell. “Institutional investors like U of T often delegate proxy voting to multiple investment managers with minimal oversight,” explained Gertler, “but we intend to use our voting rights in a more responsible and coherent manner.” “I am boundlessly confident,” Gertler continued, “that multinational fossil fuel corporations will have a change of heart about their climate-destroying activities once they hear what we have to say.” Noting that “climate warming is the greatest challenge facing humanity today,” Gertler nevertheless expressed optimism that U of T’s pioneering use of recyclable toilet paper in the bathrooms at Simcoe Hall will go a long way towards solving what he again called the “most greatest challenge facing humanity today.”
Noting that, “as someone or other recently said, ‘It is well established that climate change is causing significant environmental, economic and human harm nationally and internationally, with especially high impacts in the Canadian Arctic, coastal regions and on Indigenous peoples,’” Gertler nevertheless expressed optimism that U of T’s pioneering leadership in the areas of sustainability and climate crisis PR will go a long way. “Hey, we use recyclable toilet paper in the bathrooms at Simcoe Hall and we direct our investment managers to think about ESG principles. We’re all good.”
In 2020, investment managers used by the University of Toronto held positions in Conoco, Aramco, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Exxonmobil, Imperial Oil and many other companies involved in the extraction and production of fossil fuels. In at least one case, these investment managers actually increased their exposure to Fossil Fuel companies in the last quarter of 2020. President Gertler and President Daren Smith explained, however, that this is good news. “The more we are invested in fossil fuels,” the two Presidents said, echoing one another, “the more ass-kicking proxy voting power we can demonstrate at the shareholders meetings.” Watch out Royal Dutch Shell – UTAM is coming!