Climate activists at UCL are celebrating a major shift in Union policy after two years of political ping-pong and repeated setbacks.
Campaigners at Fossil Free Careers are rejoicing in the Union’s decision to formally adopt a policy that would see it lobby UCL to stop promoting careers in the oil and gas industry.
The policy, first presented to the Union in February 2023, was previously rejected, stalled, or sent back on seven occasions. It passed the lower Zones twice and is now in its fourth iteration after two years of political ping-pong between the Union’s various political bodies.
Union Sustainability Officer Alan Salazar Guerra, who tabled the policy, said: “What we’re trying to do is influence students to go into careers that will do some good for people.
“If students want to work for companies that are destroying the environment and fueling the climate crisis, they can do so. But they will need to take some agency.”
He added it would be “negligent” for the Union and the University to actively promote fossil fuel companies given the scale and severity of the climate crisis.
Fossil Free Careers, a national student-led campaign backed by the UCL Climate Action Society, has called on the Union to publicly support its campaign, to lobby the University to stop promoting careers in fossil fuel companies, and to collaborate with the Careers Service to promote green job opportunities.
‘This is something we can actually do here today’
UCL Careers has previously rejected student demands to exclude fossil fuel companies from its events.
In a response to an earlier iteration of the policy, it said: “We do not impose a subjective viewpoint on which companies are allowed to attend our events, as long as they are offering genuine, lawful opportunities that would not bring UCL into disrepute.”
It said, as a member of the industry body AGCAS, it had a duty to remain “objective and impartial”, adding: “If we were to take all student subjective views into account, it would be impossible for us to draw the line on which companies to allow to engage with our services.”
However, in an impassioned and emotive address to the Education Zone last Thursday, the Sustainability Officer told voting members: “It’s easy to look at the news and say ‘things aren’t doing so well’, but this is something we can actually do here today.”
He pointed to the “crazy” level of privilege we have as UCL students in Britain, where the climate crisis may not be as visible as other parts of the world. He said where he came from in Mexico, his family faced persistent droughts and had restricted water access for weeks, which only resumed due to the flooding that followed.
“This is what we are facing, and I am part of this too. Just like me, there are thousands of students [whose] families are experiencing this,” the Officer said.
He pleaded with reps to look at the “wider picture” and consider who is the most affected group in this scenario: “Whether it is someone chasing an internship… or the people dying over the climate crisis.”
Political ping-pong put to rest
The policy – in various iterations – had been ping-ponged between the Union’s political structures for more than two years.
Campaigners first tabled the motion in the Welfare and Community Zone in February 2023 but was narrowly voted down by 53% of voting members.
When it finally made its way to Union Executive after it passed the Zone on the third attempt, campaigners were told they had to take the policy back to a different Zone as Union officers believed the policy was a matter for Education, not Welfare. It was voted down by Education Zone reps in January 2024.
A fourth iteration of the policy, submitted to the Education Zone by the Sustainability Officer at the beginning of this academic year, didn’t make the agenda for three consecutive meetings. This means that Salazar had waited almost five months since last October to present his motion.
Salazar last month pleaded with the Education Officer Shaban Chaudhary for “more engagement with the issue” after he revealed that Chaudhary had not responded to his queries about progressing the policy.
Elsewhere, the Education Officer has refused to say whether he accepted personal responsibility for his Zone’s failure to meet quorum or for stalling the functioning of Union democracy.
More than ten universities have now committed to ending oil, gas, and mining recruitment on their campuses, including Goldsmiths and UAL.
In the wake of Monday’s historic vote, the Sustainability Officer said: “For three years, our student community—especially the Climate Action Society—has tirelessly campaigned for the SU to pass a Fossil Free Careers motion, urging UCL to de-platform the harmful fossil fuel industry from our campus.
“Now that the SU has publicly endorsed the FFC campaign, I look forward to starting a dialogue with UCL Careers and UCL Management to ensure our students’ voices are heard and reflected in UCL career events.”
