Fossil Free Careers UEA

Professor David Maguire, UEA Vice Chancellor

Universities are currently propping up the very industries most responsible for the climate and ecological crisis unfolding around us: the oil, gas, and mining industries. By promoting careers in extractive companies, they are assisting these harmful, unsustainable industries to present themselves as an acceptable part of our present and future.

But we know that they cannot be part of a just and sustainable future for all. Fossil fuel companies are responsible for accelerating the climate crisis. They use their massive influence to prevent effective climate policy, and their entire business model is bound up in exploiting people, nature and the power differences caused by colonialism, capitalism and racism.

However, this also extends to the mining of minerals that are required for renewable energy systems, like cobalt and copper. Whether it is drilling for oil or mining for nickel, extractive operations depend on the exploitation of poor, marginalised, racialized populations who bear the brunt of the violence caused. Entire communities get displaced from their homes against their will, and have their land, water and air poisoned. Livelihoods are destroyed, and those who resist often experience violent repression.

To: Professor David Maguire, UEA Vice Chancellor
From: [Your Name]

Dear Professor David Maguire and UEA Careers Service,

We, the undersigned, are writing to you regarding the University of East Anglia (UEA) Careers Central ethical careers policy. Last month, Birkbeck, University of London was the first UK higher education institution to end fossil fuel industry recruitment on campus [1]. Birkbeck College’s new Ethical Careers Policy [2] explicitly bans the oil, gas, and mining industries from university careers platforms. We call on you, the UEA careers service, to go even further than Birkbeck, and ban the top fossil fuel financiers as well as the oil, gas, and mining industries from future careers events and platforms.

Both fossil fuel companies and major banks are acting in violation of the Paris agreement. At COP21 in Paris in 2015, understanding the catastrophic consequences of climate change, all 196 parties agreed [3] to pursue efforts to keep warming below 1.5 degrees. In 2021, the International Energy Agency stated [4] that to reach Net Zero emissions by 2050, and hence have a chance of keeping global average temperature increase below the 1.5 degrees, there could be “no investment in new fossil fuel supply projects”. Despite this, energy companies, enabled by bank loans [5], are investing billions [6] in fossil fuel exploration every year [7]. We call on the university to stop providing legitimacy to these companies by:

(1) Banning all oil, gas and mining industries from university events and platforms
(2) Banning banks from UEA events which are the top 20 worst offenders of the “Bankrolling on Climate Chaos” report [8]. This includes removing the online HSBC recruitment events currently advertised on the Careers Central site, and the Barclays recruitment events which have previously occurred on campus.
(3) Adopt a publicly available Ethical Careers Policy that explicitly excludes oil, gas and mining companies, and fossil banks from recruitment opportunities.

Allowing these companies to advertise on the Careers Central website and at in-person demonstrates UEA endorsement of these organisations. As an academic institution, the UEA is world famous for leading Climate Change and Environmental research, and in 2019 declared a ‘Climate and Biodiversity Emergency’. Providing a formal, university approved platform for the industries mentioned above enables the exploitation of the University of East Anglia’s good reputation for greenwashing. This is not only morally wrong in the short term but also likely to damage the university’s credibility in the long term.

We welcome the policies already in place through the UEA Careers Service Vacancy Advertising, particularly those around the requirement for living wage for all roles advertised on the Careers Central platform. However, we note that this, nor any other Careers Central policy, does not consider the companies’ environmental or ethical record. We bring to your attention this deficit and ask you to update these policies accordingly. We also note that this issue was brought to your attention in October 2020 by Extinction Rebellion UEA, Sustainability Society UEA and SU representatives. Despite this, no action appears to have been taken to align university actions with rhetoric.

We believe it is of paramount importance that you take a leading role in promoting careers for graduates that are ethical and as committed to climate action as you are. We hope you appreciate the importance of this facilitation, and we are ready to discuss any aspect of this matter with you.

Yours Sincerely,

Sean Irving, NBS, PhD Student
Phedeas Stephanides, ENV.
Emma Raven, BIO.
Samantha Williams, International Development .
Marina Millan Blánquez, Bio , PhD student .
Michael Taylor, ENV, SRA.
Bayley Wooldridge
Paul Ward, Environmental Science, Student.
Sophie Ciurlik Rittenbaum, PPL, Student.
Lula Williams, , .
Pride Shumba, Pharmacy, Student .
Josh Waites, John Innes Centre, PhD Student .
Guthrie Allen, BIO, PhD student.
Nickhil Sharma, ENV, .
William Routh, ENV Alumni, .
Daniel Callaghan, DEV, Student.
Elliot Honeybun-Arnolda, ENV.
Anna De Laet, , .
Niamh Carpenter.
Duncan Maguire.
Emma Power-Avery, IIH, .
Peter Emmrich, Senior Research Associate.
Meg Watts, Norfolk Wildlife trust , Equality, diversity and inclusion officer.
Noah Tozer, Environmental Science, Undergraduate.
Kristen Hunt, AMA.
Phoebe King, .
Roux Beasley, Environmental Sciences and International Development, UG Student.
Busra Serin, DEV, Student.
Fran File, .
Franziska Hoerbst, , .
India Bulls, Business , Student.
Liliana Fischer, Biological Sciences, .
Lisa Baumgärtner, env, student.
David Watson, Norwich Business School, UEA.
Sam Moore,
Daniel Luedke.
Jethro Gauld, PhD Student.
Sarah Berk, ENV, PhD Student.
Narut Laonipon, ENV, Student.
Paul Hinds, ENV, PGR.
Agnes Stefanski, DEV, Exchange student.
Teresa Belton, EDU, .
Maisie Longhurst, Environmental science , Student.
Hinata Irie, DEV, Student.
Emma Harris, LDC, .
Hannah Hoechner, DEV.
Yaswanthdev govindu, Msc, Business management .
Charlie Russell, School of Environmental Science, PhD Student.
Alice Walker, BIO, Undergraduate
Foram Patel, BIO, Undergraduate
Elsa Aybak, PSY, Undergraduate
Aimee Brown, AMA, Undergraduate
Skye Cook, NBS, Undergraduate
Niamh Carpenter, ENV, Undergraduate
Annabelle Seal, ENV, Undergraduate
Eve Lloyd, AMA, Undergraduate
Bea Cox, AMA, Undergraduate
Tomasina Richardson, BIO, Undergraduate
Rocco Vettese, EDU, Undergraduate
Clara Kübler, ENV, PhD
Emma Gordon, PHA, Undergraduate
Jenna Rogers, PHA, Undergraduate
Lucy Harkin, PHA, Undergraduate
Juliet Martinez, SOC, Undergraduate
Jordi Benton, AMA, Undergraduate
Sarah Al-Nuaimi, PHA, Undergraduate
Lexie Camacho, PSY, Undergraduate
Katie Long, BIO, PhD
Abigail Connolly, BIO, Undergraduate
Bethany Howe, BIO, Undergraduate
Ella Worster, EDU, Undergraduate
Kiera Ludford, LDC, MA
Xu Xuan Wang, HIS, MA
Oscar Crampton, PPL, Undergraduate
Oliver Broderick, MED, Undergraduate
Tina Chiotelli, AMA, Undergraduate
Joanna Dove, DEV, Undergraduate
Beka Pollard, DEV, Undergraduate
Emma Darlington, DEV, Undergraduate
Hattie Ebbage, ENG, Undergraduate
Daisy Hilder, ENG, Undergraduate
Tiana Dolores, BIO, Undergraduate
Isabella Wickham, AMA, Undergraduate
Julie Albrechtsen, AMA, Undergraduate
Isabelle Dunk, LDC, Undergraduate
Rowan V, PPL , Undergraduate .
Amanda Fox, LCR , Undergraduate Student .
Carrie Cort, , .
Nathan Wyatt, Student Union, Welfare Officer.
Oscar Mohan, ENV, Undergraduate .
Charlotte Coupland, Dept. for Education and Lifelong Learning , PGCE student.
, Undergraduate Student .
Louise Parkin, ENV, Student .
Innes Henry , DEV.
Caitlin Hancock, ENV.
Amy Watson, Natural Sciences, Student.
Sam Pyle, Students’ Union, Non-Portfolio Officer Elect.
Fiona Musto-King, ENV, .
Eszter Marta, ENV, .
Nor Staines Shaw, School of Psychology, Undergraduate Student .
Charlie Hazlewood , .
Zoe Rickards, DEV, MSc Climate Change and Global Development.
Hester Boorman Ross, HSC.
Connor Sloper.
Trinity Meadez, Natsci, Undergraduate.
Andrea Robles, , .
Fin Mead, CMP, PGR.
, .
Siobhan Murray, PSY, MSc.
Muhammad Hassan Rauf, Norwich Business School , Student Of MSc In Finance and Management .
Adea Selmani, Medical School, Student.
Famke Thirlwell, Student .
, .
Trinity Meadez , 2nd year Undergraduate .
James Lindsay, Media and Communications, Student.
, .
Yes Creative Writing .
Charlie King , Global development .
Fabienne Bherer, ENV, .
hannah goddard, , .
Kyla Oakley, , .
Education , .
Dev, .
, .
Arleia Agustin, .
Gemma Baker, Environmental Science, Student.
, .
Georgina Heikoop, ENV, BSc Geology and a committee member of ENV SOC.
Amelia Daniels, MLC, .
NBS-Business Management .
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[1] https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2022/09/29/birkbeck-university-of-london-becomes-first-higher-education-institution-to-adopt-fossil-free-careers/

[2] https://www.bbk.ac.uk/student-services/careers-service/ethical-careers-policy

[3] https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-interpreting-paris-agreements-1-point-5-c-temperature-limit/

[4] https://www.iea.org/news/pathway-to-critical-and-formidable-goal-of-net-zero-emissions-by-2050-is-narrow-but-brings-huge-benefits

[5] https://portfolio.earth/

[6] https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/fossil-gas/ipcc-clarion-call-puts-spotlight-on-fossil-fuel-industrys-hypocrisy/

[7] https://www.ran.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/BOCC_2022_vSPREAD-1.pdf

[8] https://www.bankingonclimatechaos.org/wp-content/themes/bocc-2021/inc/bcc-data-2022/BOCC_2022_vSPREAD.pdf