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Laval University was the first and only university in February 2017 to announce it would be divesting of fossil fuels. The plan has since changed and a spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday that the university will track the carbon footprint of its investment portfolio and expand its focus to all greenhouse gas emissions.

“A total divestment from fossil fuel, using that metric, is not feasible,” the statement said. The university has not yet begun divesting and did not offer a target date.

The decision was made in response to a special action request made by student group, Fossil Free Guelph, which has been pushing the university since 2013 to immediately freeze fossil fuel assets in its endowment fund and then divest entirely over five years.

Spencer McGregor, a University of Guelph student and member of Fossil Free Guelph, was disappointed with the decision, criticizing the university for ignoring its students. McGregor said that 72 per cent supported divestment in an undergraduate referendum in 2016.

“By giving us this 10 per cent carbon reduction, they’re trying to spin it as a win,” McGregor said. “If the university had committed to divestment (in 2013), they would’ve been the first Canadian university to be done the process and that would’ve been real environmental leadership. What they’re doing is pretty minimal.”

I think (divesting) simplifies the problem. By divesting of fossil fuels, I don't think you're doing anything to solve the world's problems in terms of climate change. Jackie Forrest, Arc Energy Research Institute

According to documents obtained by Fossil Fuel Guelph, the university had more than than $37.62 million invested in 58 energy companies as of July 31, 2018. The university’s holdings, which are made up of several Canadian and international companies that operate in Poland, Hungary, China and the Netherlands, for example, make up 13.4 per cent of the total endowment fund, which is mostly used to pay scholarships.