In Fiscal Year 2022, the University of Illinois System reported over $120 million worth of corporate debt held in 52 companies (about 12% of the operating pool corporate bond ownership) that profit from the extraction, transportation, or combustion of coal, petroleum, or natural gas. In total, the University of Illinois System’s operating pool is responsible for financing 86,000+ metric tons of C02 emissions (calculated as total carbon emissions) as of FY 2022. Of these emissions, 66,000+ metric tons of C02 come from fossil fuel companies. The math is simple: by divesting the 12% of investments in fossil fuel companies, the University of Illinois System would cut its carbon footprint by 78%.

As per the EPA's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Calculator, the negative environmental impact of University of Illinois System's investments in fossil fuel companies is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from 14,754 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles driven for one year or 12,900 homes' electricity use for one year, and the positive environmental impact from institutional divestment is equivalent to the carbon emissions avoid by recycling 2,869,790  trash bags of waste or the carbon sequestered by 1,096,258 tree seedlings grown for 10 years.

We classify fossil fuel companies as public corporations that operate in the Oil & Gas (O&G) Exploration & Production, O&G Equipment & Services, O&G Integrated, O&G Midstream, O&G Refining & Marketing, Other Industrial Metals & Mining, and Diversified, Independent Power Producers, Regulated Electric, and Regulated Gas Utilities industries.