Decarbonizing Harvard’s Endowment:  Reviewing Harvard Management Company’s First Climate Report

With this in mind, the Corporation has directed the Harvard Management Company (HMC) to set itself on a path to decarbonize the overall endowment portfolio—a move in step with the final element of the resolution adopted by the Faculty in February. [...] The integration of all parts of the portfolio within Harvard’s net zero goals also helps to highlight the stark inadequacy of HMC’s current public reporting of investment holdings to the Securities and Exchange Commission. [...] Reformulated committees would have the power to review all investments within the portfolio; flag those that are potentially problematic in circumstances not limited to formal proxy balloting alone; and report in some manner to the public on the type of conflicts observed, and general patterns on the responsiveness of firms and funds to concerns raised. [...] However much the Harvard University Board of Overseers may have members interested in divestment and decarbonization (especially members voted onto the Board under the banner of “Harvard Forward”), the Overseers are not the fiduciaries of the University. [...] It needs also to be kept in mind that the Harvard Corporation, not the Overseers, and not the Harvard Management Company itself, makes decisions concerning the release of information and what is presented both to the University community and to the general public.