Goodbye Fossil Fuel or April Fool?

Student activists warn that celebrations of the Foundation’s newly announced policy targeting fossil fuel divestment across its portfolio may be premature. 

On April 1, the Victoria University of Wellington Foundation publicised a new policy prioritising the exclusion of companies who provide probable coal reserves and/or oil and natural gas reserves used for energy purposes. As the Foundation invests entirely via externally managed pooled funds, implementation will follow a “phased approach”, reliant on the availability of suitable funds, with no promised deadline. 

Colden Sapir, President of VUW Climate Action and Resistance, told Salient that the policy represents an improvement and a significant shift, but that “students deserve to hear a primary data aspect.” “We’re really happy to see progress as a result of student organising, but we don’t want to celebrate it for more than it is,” Sapir said. “As we’ve seen from history, they’re great at making policies and not following them.” 

The Foundation first pledged to divest from fossil fuels in 2014, almost 12 years ago. While this removed direct investments from coal, oil, and gas companies, the exclusion policy at the time was not specific enough to avoid continued exposure to  fossil fuels when the Foundation transitioned to third-party fund management. In 2025, former VUWSA President Marcail Parkinson, who held a seat on the Foundation’s board, confirmed that investment in fossil fuels persisted.

Hugh Acton, VUW Climate Action & Resistance (CAR) co-founder, said that the group’s three primary objectives during their divestment campaign were to disclose investments, divest, and implement a specific exclusion policy. The group is now waiting for confirmation that this will not be what “last time was an empty promise.” “They have pledged to divest, but they haven’t moved any of the money,” Acton said. 

CAR secretary Hannah Gifford agreed that “it’s a step in the right direction,” but “there’s no end to accountability.”

The group has been working since 2024 to bring changes to the Foundation’s investment policy into effect. Student organising—including campus rallies, banner drops, postering, and a recent petition with nearly 1,000 signatories—helped convince the Board of Trustees that policy revision was necessary.

VUWSA President Aidan Donoghue believes that pressure applied by the group was crucial in shifting perspective at the decision-making table, and that the outcome would not have been possible without their activism. “We were able to say: ‘Look, students desperately want this,’ and that was so important in getting this change across the line,” he said.

While the policy announcement is being taken as a win, CAR is not ready to end its campaign until the Foundation has actively divested. “Celebrating this is one of the ways that we can keep the foundation board accountable,” Sapir said. “We just want everyone to be aware that it has not been implemented yet, and is likely going to require vigilance on behalf of the student body … Hopefully in the next few months we will have a divested university.”

Acton, who has since graduated, sees the change as a testament to the influence of student activism. “So many students have contributed to this campaign,” he said. “If you organise and get together, student power is effective and can win. We want people to know that.”

It appears that sustained student vigilance will be key to holding the Foundation accountable for a timely and thorough implementation of this new policy.