The Glasgow University Divestment Campaign : Go Fossil Free

1798372_599990013413412_123506486_n.
Image via Glasgow University Climate Action Society
.

University of Glasgow: DIVEST from the Fossil Fuel Industry - The Campaign

.

The Glasgow University Divestment campaign has been making huge waves around Gilmorehil and further afield. The campaign, lead by the Glasgow University Climate Action Society, became the first of its kind to hit 1000 signatures on its online petition. Representatives from the campaign spoke to us about the cause and why you should all support it:

.

Imagine corporations committing an action which creates millions of refugees, causes severe droughts, kills thousands in natural disasters, pollutes the air, turns the oceans acidic and kills off plant and animal life - and all with the government’s blessing. If your university helped fund this, would you still feel proud of it?


Unfortunately, there’s no need to imagine. This is real. Climate change is here, and the University of Glasgow annually invests around £19million in the fossil fuel companies who cause it. We’re calling on them to stop.


Glasgow University Climate Action (GUCA) began a divestment campaign last September, under the global 350.org climate change problem-solving movement. We took inspiration from previous successful divestment campaigns e.g. against South African businesses during 1980’s apartheid.

We recognise that divestment is symbolic. Plainly, our £19million shared out between big-hitters like Shell and Exxon is just a drop in the ocean. But it’s a start. Over 1/3 of the 160 universities in Britain have now begun fossil-free divestment campaigns. Collectively, our universities have approx. £6bn invested in this industry. When we come together and all act against the social acceptability of funding this, against dirty energy research partnerships, and against these companies’ assumptions of universities as their de-facto recruitment agencies, we make an impact.

If it’s wrong to wreck the planet, it’s wrong to profit from the wreckage.

.

1898041_599989196746827_723926233_n
Fossil Free Friday at Glasgow University, image via Glasgow University Climate Action Society

.

Ironically, the financial case for divestment is surprisingly strong, according to economic ‘carbon bubble’ theory (1). At the 2010 Cancun Agreement, governments agreed the global carbon budget for emissions couldn’t be more than 886 billion tonnes of CO2. But there’s 4+ times that in the world’s fossil fuel reserves! Essentially, 80% of these cannot be burnt. What value are useless lumps of coal then? Nothing. So why not switch assets to renewable energy instead, avoiding these long-term problems?

But don’t fossil fuel companies invest in renewables too? it’s asked. No. Generally not. I wish they did! BP, for example, pledged to invest £1million in renewable energies, back in 2000. Which it did for a few years, before surreptitiously deciding this wasn’t worth pursuing. It now invests essentially nothing in green energy (2). You see why a ‘change them from the inside’ strategy is a big NOPE.

So, how far has our campaign got?

Last week, we received truly excellent news. The university court’s established an advisory committee to consider the divestment case by April 2014. Our Student Representative Council is on board with our campaign. Staff and student support has been astonishingly good and our petition actually set a new popularity record, quickly racking up 1000+ signatures.

.

We invite you to show your support:


- Sign our petition at http://campaigns.gofossilfree.org/petitions/glasgow-uni-divest-from-the-fossil-fuel-industry .

- Join us for an event! Turnout’s been frankly brilliant all year (why are we so popular? Is it our infectious energy, our important cause, or just our tendency to paper the library toilets with ‘Go Fossil Free!’ stickers?) but we love new faces! Our next event will be more scientific and expert-y than our Valentine’s Day sung protest. It’s a panel discussion on the 24th February (see our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gucasociety )

- If you’re at university elsewhere and your establishment hasn’t got a divestment campaign, you might consider starting one. If our Glasgow University one succeeds, we may well be the first in the UK to divest. Unless you’re a campaigning badass and you beat us. C’mon - we’ll race you.

.

(1) http://carbontracker.live.kiln.it/Unburnable-Carbon-2-Web-Version.pdf


(2) http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/big-oils-big-lies-about-alternative-energy-20130625

.

Words: Jane MetCalfe