The 2022/23 People & Planet University League, which ranks 153 UK universities against sustainability and ethics criteria, shows the majority of the UK higher education sector has failed to reach its carbon reduction target. According to the most recent estates management record (EMR) from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), 59% of universities did not meet the sector-wide target of reducing carbon emissions directly controlled by the university by 43% between 2005/6 and 2020/21.

The Edinburgh branch of the University and College Union (UCU) has voted to back the Fossil Free Careers campaign, making it the first branch in the UK to endorse the campaign. Fossil Free Careers, a campaign coordinated by the charity People & Planet, demands an end to extractive industry recruitment on campus. It was endorsed by UCU National Congress earlier this year, and has already been backed by Edinburgh University Students’ Association.

Birkbeck, University of London has become the first university in the UK to end fossil fuel industry recruitment on campus, resulting in a first win for the student-led Fossil Free Careers campaign.

Today the University of Hull announces full divestment from fossil fuels, becoming the 98th UK university to make this commitment. This announcement comes as the University amends their ethical investment policy to explicitly exclude investments in all fossil fuels.