The University at Buffalo Foundation quietly invested in an offshore fund that finances fracking and oil companies, even as the university declares itself a leader on combating climate change, leaked documents reveal.
The private foundation, whose assets top $1.1 billion, is technically separate from the public university and does not disclose information about specific investments – despite mounting pressure from a student-led campaign for divestment from fossil fuel companies.
But, in data made public Friday through the so-called “Paradise Papers,” a massive leak of documents from an offshore law firm, the foundation is named as a shareholder in a fund based in the Cayman Islands. The fund is run by a private equity company, EnCap Flatrock Midstream, whose “singular focus” is investing in the North American natural gas and oil industries.
The dozen or so companies the firm has invested in are scattered across the U.S., from Pennsylvania to North Dakota, working in the “midstream” sector of the industry focused on processing and transporting natural gas and oil.
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