Universities Divesting From Fossil Fuels Have Made History, But The Fight Isn’t Over
Today marks a historic moment as the student movement announces that over half of universities in the UK have pledged to withdraw their financial investments from fossil fuel companies. Since 2012, students have campaigned for the marginalisation of companies such as Shell and BP, whose profits are attributable to the breakdown of the climate.
This campaign, supported by the National Union of Students, People & Planet, and Students Organising for Sustainability UK, reveals the significance of collective student action. The University of Glasgow became the first UK university to divest from fossil fuels in October 2014, and since then, major divestments have occurred after continued efforts from institutions including Warwick, Sheffield, King’s College London, Edinburgh, and Durham. The 50% marker was met by the University of York becoming the 77th UK university to divest.
While we celebrate this moment, we also reflect on the considerable time it has taken us to reach this point. We must question why globally important universities such as Oxford and Cambridge still refuse to move their finances away from fossil fuels.
Despite the growing number of declarations of climate emergency, 50% of UK universities remain invested in companies that profit from the climate crisis. This lack of action is unacceptable at a time when Australia is experiencing bushfires and climate deniers hold positions of power around the world.
The social licence of the fossil fuel industry is already considerably damaged. We will use this moment as a springboard to continue campaigning until the entire university sector has divested, and the fossil fuel industry is no longer able to operate.
It is essential to maintain the pressure on these companies. Indigenous and frontline communities are still fighting for their rights in response to the actions of these transnational corporations in their communities. While the First Nations continue to resist tar sands expansion in Canada, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People in the Niger Delta is still fighting against the business model employed by Shell, which we believe results in dispossession and destruction in the area. Our solidarity with affected communities is vital.
The support that the UK Government provides for fossil fuel imperialism underscores the importance of acting here. In Argentina, companies like BP benefit from bilateral trade agreements with the UK. Here, BP operates through its part-ownership of Pan American Energy, and is involved in exploiting Vaca Muerta, one of the world’s biggest shale oil and gas reserves. Multinational oil companies are violating the rights of the Mapuche indigenous people, who have not given their consent for the development to take place and whose ancestral home is being destroyed.
The Government continues to actively participate in exploitative business models of oil companies overseas. This is especially worrying at a time when the Paris Agreement recognised the need to stop building new fossil fuel infrastructure by 2017 to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees. As students and universities, we must maintain pressure to ensure civil society is entirely divested from fossil fuel companies.
Universities exist for the public good and must lead the way in demonstrating how the UK takes responsibility for its actions in the world. They should be at the forefront of linking the struggle for climate justice with other social justice concerns. Universities that have divested should use their commitment as a platform to engage in the fight against land dispossession by fossil fuel companies and struggles against racist, forced deportations, particularly as these issues are symptomatic of a system built on exploitation, dispossession, empire, imperialism and colonialism.
The fossil fuel industry and its partners in corporate crime will continue to increase their resistance against those fighting it. In this light, we must continue our efforts.
