Description
Princeton University became the first university to partially cut ties with the fossil fuel industry in September 2022. The Board of Trustees of Princeton University voted to dissociate from 90 companies pursuant to a fossil fuel dissociation decision made in 2021 that focused on the most-polluting segments of the industry and on concerns about corporate disinformation campaigns. Note that Princeton did not agree to divest funding from programs like the Carbon Mitigation Initiative, which has been funded by BP for more than 20 years, leading to Princeton to become “increasingly synergistic” with the oil company—“as of course we had planned.”
The companies subject to dissociation (listed below) are all active in the thermal coal or tar sands segments of the fossil fuel industry, which are among the sector’s largest contributors to carbon emissions. The quantitative criteria used to determine the dissociation list were based on recommendations made by a panel of faculty experts in a report submitted in May.
It should be noted, though, that it is not clear if Princeton also divested from these companies, besides dissociating. Also, this dissociation only applied to publically traded fossil companies and not to private equity. Non-financial ties with oil & gas companies remain, for example with ExxonMobil. At the same time, the net zero target for their endowments was retracted, and a new energy fund was started in which multiple fossil companies are involved.
Companies subject to dissociation
* Indicates the University has existing or recent relationships that involve a financial component with this company.
- Adaro Energy Indonesia Tbk PT*
- AES Corp.
- Agritrade Resources Ltd.
- ALLETE, Inc.
- Alliant Energy Corp.
- Anyuan Coal Industry Group Co. Ltd.
- Arch Resources Inc.
- Banpu PCL
- Bathurst Resources Ltd.
- Beijing Energy Holding Co. Ltd.
- Beijing Haohua Energy Resources Co. Ltd.
- BlackGold Natural Resources Ltd.
- Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.*
- Cenovus Energy, Inc.
- China Coal Energy Co. Ltd.
- China Energy Investment Corp.
- China National Coal Group Corp.
- China Pingmei Shenma Group
- China Qinfa Group Ltd.
- China Shenhua Energy Co. Ltd.
- CLP Holdings Ltd.
- Coal India Ltd.
- CONSOL Energy, Inc.
- DMCI Holdings, Inc.
- Dominion Energy, Inc.
- Enea SA
- Exxaro Resources Ltd.
- Exxon Mobil Corp.*
- Geo Energy Resources Ltd.
- Glencore PLC
- Golden Energy & Resources Ltd.
- Guanghui Energy Co. Ltd.*
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp. Ltd.
- Hallador Energy Co.
- Henan Dayou Energy Co. Ltd.
- Henan Energy and Chemical Industry Group Co. Ltd.
- Huayang New Material Technology Group Co. Ltd.
- Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd.
- Ikwezi Mining Ltd.
- Imperial Oil Ltd.
- Inner Mongolia Yitai Coal Co. Ltd.
- Intra Energy Corp. Ltd.
- Jinneng Holding Shanxi Coal Industry Co. Ltd.
- Jizhong Energy Group Co. Ltd.
- Jizhong Energy Resources Co. Ltd.
- Kinetic Development Group Ltd.
- Kuzbasskaya Toplivnaya Co. JSC
- Lubelski Wegiel Bogdanka SA
- Mechel PJSC (Mechel PAO)
- Mercator Ltd.
- Mitsui Matsushima Holdings Co. Ltd.
- Mongolia Energy Corp. Ltd.
- NACCO Industries Inc.
- New Hope Corp. Ltd.
- NRG Energy, Inc.*
- Nui Beo Coal JSC
- Oxbow Carbon LLC*
- Peabody Energy Corp.
- Pingdingshan Tianan Coal Mining Co. Ltd.
- PT Sinar Mas
- Refex Industries Ltd.
- Reliance Infrastructure Ltd.
- Reliance Power Ltd.
- Semirara Mining & Power Corp.
- Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Industry Group Co. Ltd.
- Shaanxi Coal Industry Co. Ltd.
- Shandong Energy Group Co. Ltd.
- Shanghai Datun Energy Resources Co. Ltd.
- Shanxi Coal Import & Export Group Co. Ltd.
- Shanxi Coal International Energy Group Co. Ltd.
- Shanxi Coking Coal Group Co. Ltd.
- Shanxi HuaYang Group New Energy Co. Ltd.
- Shanxi Lanhua Sci-Tech Venture Co. Ltd.
- Shanxi Lu’an Environmental Energy Development Co. Ltd.
- Shanxi Lu’an Mining Industry (Group) Co. Ltd.
- Shumba Energy Ltd.
- SouthGobi Resources Ltd.
- Suncor Energy, Inc.*
- Sundiro Holding Co. Ltd.
- Syncrude Canada Ltd.*
- Tata Power Co. Ltd.
- TBS Energi Utama Tbk PT
- TerraCom Ltd.
- Thoroughbred Resources LP*
- TotalEnergies SE*
- Tri-State Generation and Transmission, Inc.
- Vietnam Nat. Coal Mineral Holding Ind. Corp.
- Westmore Mining Holdings, LLC
- Whitehaven Coal Ltd.
- Xcel Energy, Inc.