Students of Swansea University Students Union have voted to support the Fossil Free Careers Campaign.
Students of Swansea University Students Union have voted to support the Fossil Free Careers Campaign. The operations of the oil, gas and mining industries cause immense environmental harm, by accelerating the climate and ecological crisis, polluting the water and permanently destroying landscapes. In passing this motion, the Students Union is committing to lobbying Swansea University careers department to refuse all new relationships with oil, gas or mining companies, decline to renew any current relationships and to adopt a publicly available Ethical Careers Policy that explicitly excludes oil, gas and mining companies from recruitment opportunities.
In addition, the Students Union commits to never allow oil, gas, or mining companies access to SU organised events, or to lend the SU name, logo or endorsement to events which include these companies and to refuse the presence of oil, gas and mining companies in any SU-controlled physical or digital space.
Swansea University has also made a public ethical and sustainability commitment, this includes a commitment to fully removing its investments in fossil fuel companies. Ending this university’s complicity in career pipelines into the oil, gas, and mining industry is an effective method of showing solidarity with communities affected by these companies’ operations.
Swansea University Students’ Union Welsh Affairs Officer, Tom Kemp, who seconded the motion, said: “This campaign has been a work in progress for me since starting my post and the passing of this motion marks a significant milestone in that timeline. Through this motion, students of Swansea University has made their voices loud and clear; they no longer wish to work in environmentally damaging sectors. Whilst Swansea University and the Students’ Union are champions of sustainability and have already come leaps and bounds over recent years, we now need to continue this work and continue to lead the way.”
Graduates are increasingly turning away from the oil and gas sector. A 2017 study showed the number of graduates taking jobs in the industry had dropped by 60% in four years. Young people see oil and gas as the most unappealing sector to work in. They associate it with responsibility for the climate crisis and believe there is no future for jobs in the industry. By passing this motion, Swansea University Students’ Union moves its policy in line with prevailing attitudes among the student population.