University of Pennsylvania Targets Net-Zero by 2050
The $14.9 billion endowment becomes the latest institutional investor to target the goals of the Paris Agreement.
The University of Pennsylvania (Penn)’s $14.9 billion endowment is the latest institutional investor to set the goal of eliminating net greenhouse gas emissions from its investment portfolio by 2050.
The target supports the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement and the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of reducing the world’s net emissions caused by human activity to zero by 2050 in order to limit the global warming increase to 1.5° Celsius from pre-industrial levels.
Penn’s Office of Investments, which manages the university’s endowment and pension assets, said it will reach net-zero mainly by eliminating the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the endowment’s underlying investments.
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Penn’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions within the endowment The Office of Investments has established the goal of reducing the net greenhouse gas emissions from Penn’s endowment investments to zero by 2050.
Penn’s announcement Wednesday of its net-zero emissions goal for the endowment is the latest addition to the University’s multipronged efforts to combat climate change.
Penn Today talked to Chief Investment Officer Peter Ammon about Penn’s new goal and the challenges that will need to be overcome in order to achieve it.
What does Penn’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions within the endowment actually mean?
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