| Overall Rating | Platinum |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 86.87 |
| Liaison | Carrie Metzgar |
| Submission Date | Nov. 5, 2024 |
University of California, San Diego
PA-9: Committee on Investor Responsibility
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
Carrie
Metzgar Campus Sustainability Officer Utilities & Sustainability |
Does the institution have a formally established and active committee on investor responsibility (CIR) or equivalent body?:
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 of California’s Board of Regents (“the Regents”) makes all investment policy decisions regarding the UC endowment and delegates all other investing decisions to the Chief Investment Officer. The Chief Investment Officer reports directly to the Regents, thus adding a measure of oversight and accountability around sustainable investing beyond most separately constituted committees on investor responsibility.
The Chief Investment Officer presents an annual environmental sustainability, social responsibility, and governance (ESG) update to the Board of Regents and quarterly ESG updates to the Board’s Investments Committee. Webcasts, agendas, minutes and presentations from the Regents’ meetings are available at: https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/
The Board of Regents’ policy regarding sustainability in endowment investments states in relevant part:
“The Office of the Chief Investment Officer shall incorporate environmental sustainability, social responsibility, and governance (ESG) into the investment evaluation process as part of its overall risk assessment in its investments decision making. ESG factors are considered with the same weight as other material risk factors influencing investment decision making.
The Office of the Chief Investment Officer uses a proprietary sustainability framework to provide core universal principles that inform the decisions and assist in the process of investment evaluation. The Office of the Chief Investment Officer manages the [endowment] consistent with these sustainability principles. The Framework can be found on the Office of the Chief Investment Officer website in the sustainability section.”
The above policy is available at: https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/policies/6102.pdf
Does the CIR include academic staff representation?:
Does the CIR include non-academic staff representation?:
Does the CIR include student representation?:
Members of the CIR, including affiliations and role:
Members of the CIR are represented by students, academic staff, non-academic staff, and alumni:
Maria Anguiano, Regent
Elaine E. Batchlor, Regent
Carmen Chu, Regent
Michael Cohen, Regent
Gareth Elliott, Regent & Board Vice-Chair
Howard "Peter" Guber, Regent
Jose Hernandez, Regent
Nancy Lee, Regent
Richard Leib, Regent & Board Chair
Hadi Makarechian, Regent
Ana Matostantos, Regent
Lark Park, Regent
John A. Pérez, Regent
Janet Reilly, Regent
Mark Robinson, Regent & Chair of the Investments Committee
Gregory Sarris, Regent
Richard Sherman, Regent & Vice-Chair of the Investments Committee
Jonathan "Jay" Sures, Regent
Josiah Beharry, Student Regent
Gavin Newsom, Ex Officio Regent
Eleni Kounalakis, Ex Officio Regent
Robert Rivas, Ex Officio Regent
Tony Thurmond, Ex Officio Regent
Michael V. Drake, M.D., Ex Officio Regent
Geoffrey Pack, Ex Officio Alumni Regent
Alfonso Salazar, Ex Officio Alumni Regent
Steven Cheung, Faculty Representative
James Steintrager, Faculty Representative
Andenet Emiru, Staff Advisor
Climate Change: On numerous occasions over the past three years, the UC Regents (our CIR) have discussed and expressed support for integrating environmental and social factors into endowment investment decisions. First, with regard to fossil fuel investments, the Regents, and in particular of the Board Chair and Investment Committee Chair, worked closely with the Chief Investment Officer to reduce stranded asset risks to the endowment by selling off fossil fuel reserve owning companies in 2019-2020. As a result, UC’s endowment has de minimis amounts of holdings in fossil fuel reserve owning companies. In 2022, the CIR, after two years of input from UC San Diego’s “UC Green New Deal,” approved the Chief Investment Officer’s decision to remove companies that own fossil fuel reserves from the line-up of funds offered in the UC Retirement Savings Program (UCRSP). Starting on June 30, 2022, we sold existing holdings from the UCRSP core funds and will no longer invest in fossil fuel reserve owning companies.
In prior years, the CIR established the working group to develop our Sustainable Investing Framework, which led to UC’s sale of thermal coal and oil sands producing companies. The Framework commissioned by the Regents also led to UC Investments’ commitment to invest $1 billion in clean energy and other sustainable technologies.
Public Access and Comment: Our CIR's thrice-annual meetings are open to the public and allow public comment. In the past three years, members of the public including students, faculty, staff and alumni, have provided comments on a wide range of environmental and social issues pertaining to UC investments, including for example: climate change and fossil fuel divestment, human rights in Turkey and the private prison industry. In particular, students and faculty from "UC Green New Deal" have, on numerous occassions, engaged directly with the Chief Investment Officer and the Regents at these meetings.
Optional Fields
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The full investment policy can be found here: https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/policies/6102.pdf
All information for this credit was provided by the University of California Office of the Chief Investment Officer.
Members of the CIR listed as of July 2024.
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.