Abstract
This timeline offers an account of the key dates in the fossil fuel divestment movement at the University of Toronto, from 2012 until 2021. The campaign began in June 2012 when a group of University of Toronto students and community members founded the grassroots group Toronto350.org, and later UofT350, the campus branch of the group. On December 15, 2015, the University President’s ad hoc committee on fossil fuel divestment recommended “targeted divestment” – a major win for the campaign. On March 30, 2016, the President rejected his ad hoc committee’s recommendation for divestment. Following the rejection, UofT350 fizzled out as a group and new campus groups emerged and picked up the divestment campaign: in particular, the student group LeapUofT and the student-faculty-staff coalition Divestment & Beyond. On October 27, 2021, the University President announced that the University of Toronto was committing to divest from investments in fossil fuel companies in its endowment fund beginning immediately. Efforts to divest the federated colleges and the University Pension Plan continue.
Author:
Amanda Harvey-Sánchez