University of Pennsylvania
PA-10: Sustainable Investment

The Penn Century Bond program was developed to accelerate building renovation programs. $197M worth of funds raised through bond sales are being applied toward projects in which energy conservation and deferred maintenance converge - typically deep-energy retrofits and lighting upgrades. Energy savings from the projects are used by the school to pay back the bond interest. The funding for the projects are internally structured, to enable the use of the funds multiple times throughout the 100 year term of the bond.

Net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from Penn's endowment by 2050

The Office of Investments aims to achieve the endowment’s net-zero goal primarily through the elimination of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the endowment’s underlying investments. This aim critically recognizes that for our world to achieve net-zero by 2050, the world-wide consumption of fossil fuels must decrease as the supply of clean energy increases and its cost decreases. We expect that progress toward the endowment’s net-zero goal will occur both through emissions reductions at the many hundreds of companies in which the endowment is invested, as well as through the redeployment of capital towards investments with low or improving carbon footprints. Any residual emissions across the endowment’s holdings would need to be offset, ideally through investments in enterprises that remove carbon from the atmosphere.

https://secretary.upenn.edu/trustees-governance/proxy-voting

The Office has engaged with managers on sustainability related topics, including writing letters outlining Penn’s position on climate change, asking for data and reporting on sustainability practices, and dedicating meetings with managers to discussing their approaches to sustainability and sharing Penn’s expectations. Moreover, Penn will lend its voice and support to Penn’s managers as they encourage their portfolio companies to develop sustainable decarbonization plans.

The University currently has a divestment policy in place related to a number of companies operating Sudan. The University also has a policy that managers hired since 2014 who hold securities in the University’s name do not invest in tobacco-related securities. The University implements such policies by notifying managers in writing of the policies and by incorporating policies into relevant investment guidelines for managers.

The University collaborates with a number of peer institutions to share ideas and practices related to investment sustainability. The University has participated in conferences and investor roundtables related to sustainability and ESG more broadly. Penn is involved with the Intentional Endowments Network.

https://secretary.upenn.edu/trustees-governance/divestment
https://secretary.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/SRAC-Statement-of-responsibility.pdf

The University of Pennsylvania is a major research institution, with over 3,000 degrees granted annually from twelve professional and academic schools at the Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctorate levels. Penn is committed to reducing emissions and energy use, as stated in the 2019 "Climate and Sustainability Action Plan 3.0". This submission documents Penn's efforts during the FY19/20 year and compares them to the FY09 baseline year which corresponds with the University's "Climate and Sustainability Action Plan. 3.0". The submission relies on information related to the main, academic, West Philadelphia campus, but to more fully document efforts across the Penn system, information related to the Morris Arboretum and New Bolton has also been referenced and noted as outside the boundary in descriptions. The information is used to enrich examples of University efforts and is not intended to be the primary justification for credits. The responses for each of the questions and sub-questions are drawn from University materials, both internal and public documents. Each section notes the website where the information can be found.