Harvard University has announced plans to rid its world-leading $42 billion (?30 billion) endowment of any remaining investments in what it considers to be the fossil fuel industry, after a decade of student protests.

After long insisting the Ivy League institution was correct to be working with fossil fuel companies, Harvard¡¯s president, Lawrence Bacow, says he now realises otherwise.

In a?, Professor Bacow suggests that recent climate-related catastrophes have convinced him of the seriousness of the situation.

¡°The last several months have laid at our feet undeniable evidence of the world to come ¨C massive fires that consume entire towns, unprecedented flooding that inundates major urban areas, record heatwaves and drought that devastate food supplies and increase water scarcity,¡± the Harvard leader says.

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Harvard, regularly ranked as having the?world¡¯s largest university endowment, follows a list of major institutions that includes the and the University of Cambridge in .

The accomplishment took a decade of dedicated activism that included student sit-ins and arrests, faculty and alumni votes, and ¨C in a move that drew particular rebuke from Professor Bacow?¨C protesters storming the field during the 2019 football game between Harvard and Yale universities.

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Following that game, Professor Bacow?,?The Harvard Crimson, that he and the protesters ¡°just happen to have an honest difference of opinion over what the appropriate action is¡±.

His reversal now represents ¡°a major win for the climate justice movement ¨C and a major blow against the fossil fuel industry¡±, said Suhaas Bhat, a Harvard undergraduate and leader of .

¡°With this announcement,¡± he said, ¡°[Harvard] acknowledges that its arguments ¨C that fossil fuel stocks were necessary for profit, that the endowment shouldn¡¯t play a role in fighting climate change, that fossil fuel companies are actually part of the solution, and more ¨C?were wrong.¡±

Harvard, meanwhile, characterised its decision as part of an ongoing strategy to tackle the climate problem that already had reduced its fossil-fuel-related investments to less than 2 per cent of the overall endowment.

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¡°These legacy investments are in run-off mode and will end as these partnerships are liquidated,¡± Professor Bacow says in his announcement, without citing a definite timetable for finishing the withdrawal.

Harvard also has eliminated fossil fuels in its own campus operations, recently appointed its first-ever vice-provost for climate and sustainability, and has its endowment managers ¡°building a portfolio of investments in funds that support the transition to a green economy¡±, Professor Bacow says.

The university is acting at a moment of heavy public pressure for such divestment, yet at a time when public consumption of fossil fuels remains robust and investments in their producers is broadly profitable.

The 10 largest US public pension funds are still investing about $40 billion, or 9 per cent of their total holdings, in 20 high-carbon emitting companies, according to?.

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paul.basken@timeshighereducation.com