One of B.C.'s top universities has signed the Paris Pledge for Action, which was created for nonstate entities to support the COP21 climate agreement.

The pledge urges immediate action to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions rather than waiting until the accord takes effect in 2020.

“This pledge is further evidence of SFU’s commitment to promoting a safe and stable climate,” SFU President Andrew Petter said in a news release. “Consistent with our new energy utilization policy, SFU will continue to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions by making the goal of being powered entirely by renewable energy an institutional priority.”

It's the first time a B.C. university has declared its intention to go to 100 percent renewable energy.

In Paris earlier this month, countries agreed to limit the average global temperature rise to no more than 2 °C about the average before the Industrial Revolution. The countries also expressed the goal of keeping the average global temperature rise only 1.5 °C above pre-industrial times.

SFU has been under fire this year from climate-change activists to dump its shares in fossil-fuel companies.

In the news release, SFU's associate vice president, Alison Blair, pointed out that SFU has signed the Global Investor Statement on Climate Change. In addition, the university has signed onto the UN principles of responsible investment and created a responsible investment committee of the board.

SFU has also "committed $20 million of its endowment fund to socially responsible investments", according to the news release.

SFU's most recent custodial statement of endowment investments lists Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus Energy, Enbridge, Husky Energy, Suncor Energy, Teck Resources, and TransCanada Corp., which are all in the business of producing or transporting fossil fuels.