Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 69.58
Liaison Derek Nichols
Submission Date Dec. 14, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University at Buffalo
PA-8: Committee on Investor Responsibility

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Ryan McPherson
Chief Sustainability Officer
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have a formally established and active committee on investor responsibility (CIR) that makes recommendations to fund decision-makers on socially and environmentally responsible investment opportunities across asset classes?:
Yes

The charter or mission statement of the CIR or other body which reflects social and environmental concerns or a brief description of how the CIR is tasked to address social and environmental concerns:

The University at Buffalo Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility makes recommendations to the independent legal entity of the University at Buffalo Foundation’s Investment Committee and other relevant bodies on matters of social, governmental and environmental importance, while always recognizing the importance of maximizing investment return for University purposes. The Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility is charged with making professional recommendations based on best practices across the higher education sector that align with core University values—not those of individual committee members. In addition, the Committee on Investor Responsibility will work to employ a triple bottom line approach—a framework with three parts: social, environmental and governance—in their analysis and recommendations.


Does the CIR include staff representation?:
Yes

Does the CIR include faculty representation?:
Yes

Does the CIR include student representation?:
Yes

Members of the CIR, including affiliations and role (e.g. student, faculty, staff, alumni):

Martha Bohm, Assistant Professor, Architecture and Planning

Colleen Culleton, Associate Professor, Romance Lanugages and Literatures

Trina Hamilton, Associate Professor, Geography

Ryan McPherson, Chief Sustainability Officer

Errol Meidinger, Director the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy

Derek Nichols, Sustainability Engagement Coordinator

Aidan Powell, UB Student

Ed Schneider, Executive Director, UB Foundation

Debabrata Talukdar, Professor, School of Management

Cristian-Ioan Tiu, Associate Professor, School of Management


Examples of CIR actions during the previous three years:

The University at Buffalo Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility works to advance the following objectives:
Create a proactive strategy that aligns investment options with institutional values, maximizes long term sustainable revenue and reduces risk to society

1. Create a proactive strategy that aligns investment options with institutional values, maximizes long term sustainable revenue and reduces risk to society
2. Leverage university student engagement and faculty expertise in the field of corporate responsibility
3. Increase transparency where appropriate in response to larger external megatrends
4. Properly utilizes UBF investments as an operational pedagogical teaching tool for students

In addition to advancing these objectives the UB Advisory Committee on Responsible Investing has also formally requested action from the University at Buffalo Foundation including but not limited to:

1) Publicly disclose (on its website and or by other means) that it does not directly invest in fossil fuel companies & explain, for context, the general make-up of UBF’s investments (e.g. no individual stock picking)

2) Pledge that the Foundation will not make any future direct investment in fossil fuel companies, partnerships and or joint ventures

3) Conduct a sustainability analysis on the traditional portion of the UBF endowment/portfolio through Mercer’s sustainability filter and disclose those findings to the UB Advisory Committee on Responsible Investing

4) Continue working with the UB Advisory Committee on Responsible Investing to advance best practice responsible investing under the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment, Rating System (STARS), which includes but is not limited to:
-Positive sustainability investment which includes direct investment in sustainable industries, sustainability investment funds, socially responsible mutual funds with positive screens, etc.
-Investor engagement including negative screens, shareholder resolutions, proxy voting, etc.
-Increasing investment transparency


The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.