The Oxford Climate Justice Campaign (OCJC) has relaunched with a banner-drop demonstration in Radcliffe Square, marking National Climate Action Day. It has also joined the Fossil Free Careers Campaign, which aims to reduce the ties of Oxford Careers Services with fossil fuel companies.
OCJC’s aim is to campaign for the University’s divestment from fossil fuels through reevaluation and amendments to the Oxford Martin Principles. The Oxford Martin Principles were established to “provide a framework for engagement between climate-conscious investors and companies across the global economy”. They were designed by Oxford University and Oxford Martin School, a research and policy unit in the Social Sciences division, to analyse the contribution of investments to carbon dioxide emissions.
OCJC have also joined the Fossil Free Careers Campaign, led by the national student group People & Planet. This is a national effort to pressure University Careers Services into cutting their partnerships with fossil fuel companies and providing “opportunities that sustain and support the environment”, according to OCJC’s statement. The group has been in contact with the Oxford Careers Service, who have agreed to sit down with them to discuss sustainability. OCJC expects this to take place within the next week.
An OCJC representative told Cherwell: “A lot of people are going directly into really damaging industries, and we think it’s the responsibility of Oxford, If they’re telling us for three years that we’re the best and the brightest, to send us towards the things that are doing good for our world.”
Regarding the University’s Careers Service, a University spokesperson told Cherwell that their mission is “to help students make the best-informed decision about their career”. They added: “We were the first UK university careers service to ask employers for their green credentials and several thousand employers have completed that information.”
OCJC also announced their partnership with a sister society at University of Cambridge. Together, the societies will reinstate the Climate League of Oxford and Cambridge Campaign (CLOC), which will also include a project ranking the Cambridge and Oxford college’s sustainability policies.
The OCJC representative told Cherwell: “A lot of the reason why students don’t demonstrate as much as they used to for the climate is because it feels so huge and so out of control. If we can show people that there’s actually this very focused campaign, that’s college-based and so within their own community, then it might be more appealing to get people involved.”
On divestment from fossil fuels University spokesperson told Cherwell: “The University is banned from investing directly in fossil fuels extraction companies and is compliant with this. The University holds no investments in fossil fuel extracting companies. It has 0.2% indirect exposure through fund investments.”
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