Harvard big loser with Big Green investments

Daily Wire: 

The endowment supporting Harvard University lost $2.3 billion in the last fiscal year, the school’s investment arm revealed this week.

The stock market has experienced one of its worst years in modern history as inflation persists and the economy sinks into a recession. Harvard Management Company CEO N.P. Narvekar said in a letter to members of the Harvard community that the endowment’s plummet in value is largely due to current market conditions and “reinforces the necessity” of focusing on long-term investments.

Although the 1.8% negative return was the first loss since 2016, the endowment contributed $2.1 billion toward the university’s operating budget and stood at a value of $50.9 billion at the end of the last fiscal year. “We remain confident that the steps we have taken — and those still in process — to construct a portfolio that serves the University’s long-term interests will allow Harvard to maintain and increase its critical support of students, faculty, and research for generations to come,” Narvekar wrote.

The letter admitted, however, that efforts to achieve net zero emissions “weighed upon performance.” At the end of last year, Harvard President Lawrence Bacow announced that the university would allow remaining investments in the fossil fuel industry to expire while refusing to adopt new ones. The move came after aggressive campaigns from student activists.

“A number of institutional investors leaned into the conventional energy sector, through either equities or commodity futures, adding materially to their total return,” Narvekar continued, explaining that Harvard Management Company “did not participate in these returns given the university’s commitment to tackling the impacts of climate change, supporting sustainable solutions, and achieving our stated net zero goal.”

The letter nevertheless added that Harvard Management Company is “proud to be deeply engaged in the issue of sustainability” and has invested in “technology-driven climate transition investments.” The organization is also working to address “the lack of gender and racial diversity in the financial industry” among portfolio investments and its own team.
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Being a climate kook leads to being a big loser when it comes to investments.  Those responsible for these investment decisions could see their judgment challenged in the court room.