Got a question about the Fossil Free Careers campaign?
We've probably heard it before. So whether it's a tricky question someone asked you at a protest, or a question you have yourself, we thought we'd answer it for you. Below, you can find some Frequently Asked Questions, and our responses to them.
We are asking university careers services to put in place an Ethical Careers Policy that excludes oil, gas, and mining companies from recruitment activities. This would mean that the fossil fuel industry would no longer be invited to careers and recruitment fairs or events, and wouldn’t be given a platform by the university to advertise to students. It would not affect the impartial advice that students can seek from careers advisors.
As part of this policy we are demanding that universities decline to renew any current relationships with oil, gas or mining companies after the contractually obligated period ends. We also demand that they refuse all new relationships with oil, gas or mining companies.
Yes, this is possible at every UK university! Over 10 UK universities have already committed to excluding the fossil fuel and/or mining industries, and this number will keep going up! You can find the full up-to-date list of universities that have made the commitment here.
Around 25% of UK universities additionally exclude other industries from their careers and recruitment services, such as the tobacco industry, the arms industry, or the gambling industry. If so many universities can put in place a policy that excludes one or more industries on ethical grounds, then we can make them do it for the fossil fuel industry too.
Our campaign demands do not impact on the impartial one-to-one careers advice that students receive from their Careers Service. It is about which companies our universities choose to actively platform and advertise to students. So if a student is interested in hearing about working for a fossil fuel company, they will still be able to talk about that with a careers advisor. It just means that the university won’t be promoting this industry to students.
Fossil Free Careers is a student-led campaign calling for change, and it has widespread support across the student population. It has been endorsed by the National Union of Students, and over 20 Student Unions have passed motions in support of the campaign.
Research shows that fossil fuel jobs are becoming increasingly unpopular. Between 2013 and 2017, the number of UK graduates going into oil and gas jobs fell by over 60%. Young people hold oil and gas industries responsible for the climate crisis, and globally the sector is seen as the most unappealing to work in because of its negative image. It’s clear that students don’t see a future in the fossil fuel industry.
Our generation needs a liveable planet and a liveable future - and students know this. Universities should ensure that they are not sending a handful of graduates into industries that will destroy what makes life possible on this planet, to the detriment of their peers and the rest of the world.
Lastly, Fossil Free Careers safeguards the impartiality of one-to-one advice to students. So if a student does have questions about working in the fossil fuel industry, they will still be able to access advice about it from careers advisors. But universities will no longer be complicit in promoting and advertising this industry to students.
It is not the place of this campaign to demand specific replacements. We have one specific demand: that universities end all recruitment relationships with the very worst industries that are responsible for pushing us further into the climate emergency. This is a necessary step for universities that are serious about sustainability and climate action to take. What comes next will be decided by careers professionals and students at the university - but with an Ethical Careers Policy in place, they will have a responsibility to ensure that the jobs they promote follow ethical and sustainability guidelines.
Yes! Recruitment is already a massive problem for the fossil fuel industry. Fossil fuel companies need a stream of graduate workers in order to continue and expand their operations, but young people are turning away from jobs in the industry as they see it as incompatible with their values.
This means that it is a place where these companies are already vulnerable, so we can have a big impact. Fossil fuel companies rely on their cosy relationships with UK universities to keep their businesses alive and greenwash their image. If we can close off those recruitment pipelines, then we can really weaken the power of the industry.
Moreover - the campaigning doesn’t stop here! Winning this campaign opens up other avenues to pressure universities to systematically cut ties with the fossil fuel industry, and tarnishes the industry’s reputation across the whole of society. A powerful student movement fighting for Fossil Free Careers is a vital part of a much wider movement for climate justice and an end to fossil fuel influence.
No. The companies we are talking about here are investing tiny amounts in renewable technologies whilst actually expanding oil and gas production. Worldwide, overall energy consumption is increasing - and with it, so is the extraction of fossil fuels.
Even the most conservative modelling shows that there can be no new coal, oil, or gas projects for us to have an even chance of keeping global average temperature rises below 1.5 C. But none of the oil giants have pledged to stop exploring for new projects - in fact, many are expanding their oil and gas production. Research from Uplift shows that 92% of fossil fuel companies operating in the North Sea plan to invest nothing in renewables between now and 2030.
Even fossil fuel companies that have renewables departments use these mostly for greenwashing purposes: to bolster their image and make themselves look good, whilst continuing to extract fossil fuels at an ever-increasing rate. BP is a really clear example of this: despite making lofty claims about being an important part of the energy transition, they have consistently watered down their already weak Net Zero policy in favour of continued fossil fuel extraction.
The scientific evidence is clear: we need a rapid and just transition away from coal, oil and gas. Yet fossil fuel companies are ignoring this scientific research - much of which is even produced in UK universities - in favour of continued profit-making and extraction. It’s clear we can’t trust them to do the right thing.
No amount of well-meaning graduates going into these jobs would have the power to make meaningful change happen in the time necessary. These are companies which are built on extractivism and which are totally dedicated to continuing to burn fossil fuels so that their shareholders can make exorbitant profits. Moral arguments do not stand a chance in the face of such massive financial interests - therefore only material pressure will make those industries change.
Take Shell, a typical example which can be found at university careers fairs across the UK. Between 2010 and 2018, Shell dedicated just 1% of its long-term investments to sources of low-carbon energy. Despite the urgent need to transition away from fossil fuels, Shell is planning to continue exploring, approving new extraction projects, and even increase oil and gas production by 2030. In 2023 alone, they approved six major new oil and gas projects.
In recent years, companies like Shell and BP have been seen to water down their already weak commitments to Net Zero in favour of continued profiteering from fossil fuel extraction, and none of the biggest oil and gas companies have developed policies to keep them in line with the Paris Agreement that seeks to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.
It’s clear that these companies will relentlessly pursue profit at any cost: whether that’s the destruction of communities, the exploitation of workers, or the degradation of our natural world. We don’t have time to wait around for individual graduates to try and slowly change them from the inside. But luckily, we have much more powerful tools to use when we act collectively. We can campaign, together, for universities to end the recruitment pipeline into the fossil fuel industry. We can make the change happen ourselves.
Putting on a green careers fair, or advertising more green jobs, is a great additional step to take after an Ethical Careers Policy is in place. But it is not a replacement. The first, most important thing that all careers services must do is end all relationships with the fossil fuel industry, and put that into policy. Until they have done that, no other environmental initiative can have any legitimacy.
If your Careers Service tries to say they will just put on more green careers fairs, or advertise more sustainable jobs, always remember this mantra: Green careers must always be an ‘as well as,’ not an ‘instead of.’
In other words, the campaign will be happy to celebrate the addition of green jobs, and promote them to the student body etc., once the careers service has committed to exclude the industries outlined in the campaign’s demands. We should make the exclusions a precondition of our continued engagement with the careers service’s ‘green’ initiatives. Running green careers fairs or platforming ‘sustainable’ employers are all nice additions, but exclusions are the base of any meaningful engagement with sustainability by careers services.
Not at all. Careers Services already make active choices about which companies and industries they select for careers fairs, and which they hold relationships with. Lots already exclude particular industries - such as the tobacco industry or arms industry - on ethical grounds.
No company has an automatic right to be one of the privileged few that gets given a platform to advertise to students. Free speech has nothing to do with it.
AGCAS (the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services) is the sector-body for uni careers services. AGCAS membership is totally compatible with a Fossil Free Careers commitment - your university can implement Fossil Free Careers if it’s an AGCAS member.
At least 10 universities who are AGCAS members have also made a Fossil Free Careers commitment and excluded fossil fuel companies from recruitment relationships.
It has also been confirmed by AGCAS that implementing an Ethical Careers Policy excluding particular sectors would not violate their impartiality rules. In an official position statement, AGCAS wrote that: "Not actively pursuing opportunities for their students and graduates in certain sectors or with certain employers would be a matter for individual institutional policies."
Over 35 AGCAS members already have industry-wide exclusions in their careers service. This includes exclusions for industries such as fossil fuels, tobacco, arms or gambling. This clearly demonstrates there is no problem with excluding industries from recruitment opportunities as an AGCAS member.
We urgently need to transition away from an energy system that runs on fossil fuels to one that runs on renewable energy. But the mining industry is trying to use this real need to try and justify a massive expansion in their socially and environmentally damaging mining projects.
They want us to continue with business-as-usual, but just to swap out coal and oil for lithium, nickel and cobalt (the materials needed for solar panels, electric car batteries etc). This would cause further devastation to marginalised communities on the frontline of the climate and ecological crisis. Mines and mining companies - whether they extract coal or transition minerals - are responsible for polluting air, soil and water; devastating natural resources; and displacing communities, often through violence. We cannot let this happen. We must reject the racist notion that some groups of people are disposable, and fight for a world where everyone can live and breathe freely. Replacing the energy source of a violent imperialist economic system is not going to change the nature of that system and the injustices that it relies upon to survive - the whole system needs to change.