Harvard Climate Justice Coalition v. President & Fellows of Harvard College

The Massachusetts Superior Court dismissed the action. The court ruled that the individual students did not have standing to claim mismanagement of charitable assets based on their status as students because their rights as students were “widely shared” with thousands of other Harvard students and were not “specific” and “personal” enough to endow them with standing. The court also rejected the students’ argument that Harvard’s investment in fossil fuels interfered with personal rights because it diminished their education in fields such as environmental law and because Harvard’s funding of “climate change denial” chilled academic freedom and impeded the students’ association with “like-minded colleagues.” The court noted that these impacts were not “personal” to the plaintiffs since numerous other students would be affected. The court also found that the allegations were too speculative and conclusory. The court also dismissed the claim of “intentional investment in abnormally dangerous activities.” The court said that it was not its place either to recognize this proposed new tort action or to extend existing law on standing to permit the plaintiffs to litigate on behalf of “Future Generations,” as they sought to do. The court also said that an “overarching” problem with the action was the absence of limitations on the subject matter and scope of this type of lawsuit. The court noted that while the student plaintiffs “fervently believe” that climate change poses the most serious threat to the world, other students would just as fervently believe that some other cause posed a serious threat.

Harvard Climate Justice Coalition and individual Harvard students filed a lawsuit against the President & Fellows of Harvard College (Harvard Corporation) and Harvard Management Company, Inc., which oversees investment of Harvard Corporation’s endowment. Plaintiffs sought to compel the university to divest from fossil fuel companies. The complaint alleged counts of mismanagement of charitable funds and intentional investment in abnormally dangerous activities. In particular, plaintiffs alleged that the university’s investment in fossil fuel companies was a breach of its fiduciary and charitable duties as a public charity and nonprofit corporation because such investment contributed to climate change and other harms to “the public’s prospects for a secure and healthy future.” The complaint also alleged that climate change would cause damage to the university’s physical campus. Harvard Climate Justice Coalition brought the lawsuit on its own behalf and as next friend to “Plaintiffs Future Generations, individuals not yet born or too young to assert their rights but whose future health, safety, and welfare depends on current efforts to slow the pace of climate change.”