California State University Chancellor Joseph Castro said Tuesday the 23-campus system, the largest public university in the country with 485,000 students, would examine its investment in companies associated with fossil fuels.

“Sustainability is part of everything that we do,” Castro said, during a board of trustees meeting. “CSU campuses are integrating climate and sustainability courses across all academic disciplines … and importantly, it is reflected in how we manage the CSU investments.”

Castro said the CSU’s investment advisory committee will “carefully analyze these important investments, assessing their risk factors and making a prudent, fiscally sound investment-based decision” on the direction the system should take in order to remain committed to sustainability. That committee will report on its decision in November.

If CSU decides to disinvest in companies associated with fossil fuels, it would be following other universities nationally that have done the same including Rutgers University, the University of Southern California, and the University of California system. UC divested fully from fossil fuels last year after the system sold more than $1 billion in fossil fuel assets from its pension, endowment and working capital pools last year, according to the Los Angeles Times.

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