Author: zcadmin

Over the last week we’ve seen a huge victory for our campaign – Regent House passed a Grace committing the University to divest from fossil fuel companies. This is great news, and we hoped it would mean a complete success for our campaign.

Unfortunately, the University Council have decided that this Grace is only ‘advisory’, despite there being no indication of this in either the Grace itself or the University’s Statutes & Ordinances. In fact, the opposite is the case – the Statutes clearly intend that Regent House is the supreme decision making body of the University.

The Grace was signed by 140 Fellows of the University, including former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. Here’s what it said;

“That the Regent House, as the governing body of the University, resolves that none of the University’s Endowment Funds should be invested directly or indirectly in companies whose business is wholly or substantially concerned with the extraction of fossil fuels, and requires the Council to publish a Report to the University within twelve months setting out how this is to be achieved”.

We think this is pretty clear. Council’s response; offering yet another working group investigating the pros and cons of divestment, is simply not good enough.

Students and academics are united on this issue; the University must stop investing in climate change. Council are sorely mistaken if they think they can bury this issue in reports and opaque working groups.

You can find out more about Regent House here;

www.governance.cam.ac.uk/governance/Documents/RRH-Booklet2016.pdf

www.governance.cam.ac.uk/governance/key-bodies/RH-Senate/Pages/default.aspx

The Graduate Union has joined calls for the University of Cambridge to stop investing in fossil fuels. The motion, which called for “the GU to support a policy of divestment of the University’s investments”, was passed by a margin of 9 – 2 at a GU Council meeting on Monday. This brings the GU into line with CUSU [the undergraduate student union], who passed a similar motion last year by a margin of 33 – 1.

Several students attended in order to make arguments in favour of divestment. However, as no students or MCR representatives wished to make a a speech in opposition, the motion moved quickly to a vote. Chris Galpin, who proposed the motion, was pleased by the result; “It’s great that the GU has chosen to back divestment by such a significant margin. The divestment campaign has achieved a completely unprecedented level of student engagement over the past year, and we hope that the University will work with students to ensure its investments reflect the same values as its teaching.”

The Divestment Campaign at Cambridge has gained momentum over the last year, finding widespread support amongst both students and academics at a recent meeting of the University’s governing body, Regent House. Last year, Cambridge Zero Carbon launched a petition which received the signatures of over 2,300 university affiliates, and organised a march through Cambridge which was attended by approximately 300 people, making it one of the largest student campaigns at the University in recent years.

It is widely expected that academics will call for a vote on divestment in the near future. This new declaration of support from the Graduate Union will only increase pressure on the University to strengthen its policies on ethical investment.

The wording of the motion passed was as follows;

Resolved:

1. That the GU support a policy of divestment of the University’s investments, both direct and indirect, from companies whose business is wholly or substantially concerned with the extraction of fossil fuels.

2. That the GU support attempts by members of the University to bring a policy of divestment from fossil fuels to a vote at Regent House.

Students from Zero Carbon Cambridge made the case for divestment from fossil fuels at a recent Discussion held by the the University’s governing body, Regent House. They were joined by supportive academics, resulting in an overwhelming show of support for divestment.

This Discussion is expected to lead on to a Regent House vote (“Grace”) next term. Zero Carbon is currently helping to collect signatures for this Grace – If you are a member of the Regent House and would like to find out more, please get in contact with us.

A full transcript of the discussion can be found in the 30th November edition of the Reporter.

Cambridge Zero Carbon Society, CUSU BME Campaign and CUSU Women Campaign organised this action in solidarity with the StopRampal-SaveSundarbans movement in Bangladesh, which is fighting to protect the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world, and all the communities and wildlife dependent on it, from destruction by the fossil fuel industry and autocratic government. We expressed our support through a cycle rally, a form of protest that has gained popularity in the StopRampal movement in Bangladesh, and wearing tiger face-paint, in tribute to the Royal Bengal Tanger, a species the Rampal project places in grave danger. This protest is part of a broader push to get Cambridge University to remove its considerable investments from the fossil fuel industry.

You can find more detail about the StopRampal-SaveSundarbans movement, along with more photos from the protest, on our facebook page.

Photo-credit: Charlotte Ottoway, Faria Tabassum, Juneyna Frances Kabir, Raiyan Binte Rafiq, Elise Nyborg

Check out this article in The Independent for extended coverage of the University of Cambridge’s decision on fossil fuel divestment.

Though Zero Carbon welcomes the University’s blacklisting of coal and tar sands companies, this decision has not gone far enough. The University’s rejection of divestment from oil and gas companies contradict it’s own mission statement, citing “concern for sustainability and the relationship with the environment.”

It is increasingly clear that fossil fuel companies are not part of a liveable future and that shareholder engagement has not, and will not succeed.

The fight will continue next year. #DivestCambridge

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Please click here for our press release responding to the report of the Working Group on Investment Responsibility at Cambridge University.

“Last Monday the University Council approved the working group report recommending a greater incorporation of environmental and social considerations into investment decisions while steering clear of a divestment decision.

This is too little, too slow. It is progress, but nowhere near enough. Whilst we welcome the University’s rejection of thermal coal and tar sands from its investment portfolio, and its increased focus on the existential threat of climate change, it has, ultimately, failed to respect the voices of students, failed to recognise the totality of the climate crisis in which we find ourselves, and failed to live up to its own values. Fortunately, this does not end here. We will take the issue of fossil fuel divestment to Regent House, the ultimate arbiter of University decisions, made up mostly of academics. We are confident that academics will weigh up the evidence, see that it is overwhelmingly in favour of divestment on all counts, and vote for divestment. Zero Carbon will continue our fight for a just, sustainable future next year.”

Check out this article written by our campaigns officer Alice Guillaume in the latest edition of BlueSci (Cambridge University science magazine).

“Break Free 2016 is part of the international divestment movement, aiming to accelerate the transition towards renewable energy and demonstrate to those in power that we must, as the name suggests, break free from fossil fuels.

The divestment movement is also here in Cambridge, led by the Cambridge Zero Carbon Society. On 30^th April, over 200 individuals, an alliance of students and town groups, gathered on Parker’s Piece for Zero Carbon’s march for the University to divest…”

On April 30th over 250 students, academics, staff and members of the local community marched through the streets of Cambridge, calling on the University to fully divest from the fossil fuel industry. Speakers included Alice Guillaume (Zero Carbon Campaigns Officer), Revd Jeremy Caddick (Dean and Chaplain of Emmanuel College), Oscar Gillespie (local Green Councillor) and Daniel Zeichner (Cambridge Labour MP). Additionally, our petition with over 2100 signatures was handed to the Senate House. Over the past year, the pressure has mounted, and it will continue to do so until our University stops investing in devastation.

This was a huge moment for our campaign – a big thank you to everyone who attended!

For more info, check out these articles in Varsity and the Cambridge News.

(Also, if you haven’t already, you can sign our petition here.)

Our Open Letter from academics, student groups, alumni and others affiliated with the University of Cambridge has received over 100 signatures – and can be accessed here.

If you are an academic, student group, alumni, staff member or affiliated with the University of Cambridge and would like to add your name to our open letter, please get in touch! Email: ec555@cam.ac.uk