Student climate activists are celebrating after Rohampton University has pledged to remove fossil fuels, mining and arms companies from its career and recruitment events.
The university published Ethical Career Policy We promise to exclude these industries from the space, including career fairs, networking events, and “digital and physical” advertising opportunities.
This decision came after a sustained conversation between the students involved and the sustainability and career teams. Roehampton is the 12th British university that bans recruitment relationships with the fossil fuel industry.
Violent
“We’re excited to be able to help people with climate justice,” said Josie Mizen, co-director of Climate Justice at People & Planet.
“The climate crisis is not a distant reality. It’s here now, the fossil fuel industry is driving it and profiting from it. Universities are increasingly aware that they need to stop adding fuel to fires by giving these companies a platform.
“We hope that other agencies follow the example of Roehampton and urgently cut their own relationship with these violent and destructive industries.”
Employability
“We’ve seen a lot of effort and we’ve seen a lot of work,” said Malta Della Rivera and Bev Jennison, student futures teams at Rohampton University.
“Our new ethical career policy continues to provide students with unbiased guidance by not promoting roles in industries such as fossil fuels, mining, arms and cigarettes.
“Inclusivity is also at the forefront of our work. Our recent Jobs Fair featured charities such as the Food Cycle. And our Dress for Success Initiative saw over 170 smart clothes donated by our staff, helping students from all socioeconomic backgrounds feel confident in their interviews.”
They added: “This policy represents a human-centric approach to employmentability and reflects broader efforts to embed sustainability across the university.”
Pipeline
Roehampton is the latest university to commit to reducing fossil fuel industry ties as part of a national fossil free career campaign coordinated by student-led charity People & Planet.
The campaign requires university career services to adopt an ethical career policy that excludes oil, gas and mining companies from recruitment relationships. “End of recruitment pipeline” To the extraction industry.
The Fossil-free career is approved by the National Union of Students (NUS) and the Union of University and University (UCU), as well as 28 Student and Trade Union branches on campuses in the UK.
The news comes as climate change impacts are increasingly being seen throughout the UK. This month, the UK experienced it Hottest start from record-breaking Mayand April saw it More than half of average rainfall It’s expected in the month.
This author
Brendan Montague is the editor of Ecologist.
