Did you know that all UK universities have accounts with banks that fund fossil fuels expansion?
This is because currently, there is no bank that can both meet all of a university’s financial needs and does not fund fossil fuel expansion.
Cambridge University has a solution: They’re leading a coalition of 21 universities that have sent a formal request to financial institutions for proposals which meet two key criteria:
A financial provider that can:
- Meet all of a university's' financial service needs
- Does not provide financing for fossil fuel expansion
The SOS-UK Ethical Finance team has produced a template e-mail for use by students and staff at universities who have yet to join this coalition to send to their chief financial manager to request they join the initiative. You can find the template and a step-by-step guide on how to use it below, along with the list of universities and associated organisations that are part of the coalition.
Read more about the coalition and their request for proposals in the Financial Times and the University of Cambridge’s dedicated webpage.
Ask your university to join the coalition calling for a bank that doesn’t fund fossil fuel expansion: Step by step guide
- Check that your university is not one of the existing signatories below.
- Download the template here
- Use a search engine to find your university’s “Chief Financial Officer” - The name for this role may be different at your university - you’re looking for the senior-most financial manager at your university. Their information should be listed alongside other senior figures such as the university’s Principal/Vice Chancellor. If you have any issues with finding the relevant contact information, please email us at at hello@sos-uk.org with “Ethical finance team” in the subject.
- Edit the highlighted sections in the template
- Copy and paste the template into the body of an email for the chief financial officer, with the subject “Cambridge Coalition”
List of universities from the Cambridge University website, current as of 15 February:
Bath Spa University
Manchester Metropolitan University
Oxford Brookes University
University College London (UCL)
University of Bristol
University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge colleges:
- Christ's College, Cambridge
- Churchill College, Cambridge
- Clare College, Cambridge
- Clare Hall College, Cambridge
- Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
- Darwin College, Cambridge
- Downing College, Cambridge
- Emmanuel College, Cambridge
- Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge
- Girton College, Cambridge
- Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
- Hughes Hall, Cambridge
- Jesus College, Cambridge
- King's College, Cambridge
- London School of Economics Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge
- Magdalene College, Cambridge
- Newnham College, Cambridge
- Pembroke College, Cambridge
- Peterhouse, Cambridge
- Queens' College, Cambridge
- Robinson College, Cambridge
- Selwyn College, Cambridge
- Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
- St Catharine's College, Cambridge
- St Edmund’s College, Cambridge
- St John’s College, Cambridge
- The Isaac Newton Trust, Cambridge
- The Queen's College, Oxford Trinity College, Cambridge
- Wolfson College, Cambridge
University of Dundee
University of Edinburgh
University of Exeter
University of Gloucestershire
University of Leeds
University of Manchester
University of Oxford
University of Oxford colleges:
- Brasenose College, Oxford
- Corpus Christi College, Oxford
- Merton College, Oxford
- St Antony's College, Oxford
- St Edmund Hall, Oxford
- Worcester College, Oxford
University of Reading
University of Southampton
University of St Andrews
University of Sussex
University of the Arts London
University of Westminster
University of York
Signatories from associated organisations:
Cambridge University Press & Assessment
JISC
The Gates Cambridge Trust