Therefore, it came as a shock to student activists when the School of Engineering advertised the company Equinor at a Newcastle University careers fair on November 2, 2022. This energy company is seeking to develop Rosebank: the biggest undeveloped oil field in the North Sea. At the careers fair, Equinor only advertised their renewable energy projects, failing to disclose their major involvement in fossil-fuel projects which are decimating communities and ecosystems globally. Encouraging students to work for a company which contributes significantly to the climate crisis stands completely at odds with our ethos as “leaders in social and environmental justice.”
In response to this, students and staff across the university are campaigning alongside People & Planet to call for the Careers Service and NUSU to implement a publicly available Ethical Careers Policy. This policy would explicitly seek to exclude oil, gas, and mining companies from recruitment opportunities on campus and online. Such a policy is certainly feasible, given that more than 20% of University careers services already exclude tobacco, adult/sex, and gambling industries from advertising recruitment opportunities to students.
This motion asks NUSU to create an Ethical Careers Policy, which would exclude fossil fuel companies from recruitment opportunities on SU premises and websites
We need to take responsibility for building a sustainable and ethical workforce. With support from the Students' Union and our community, we are hoping to get the momentum for this campaign going at Newcastle University. As such, we are putting forward a motion at the upcoming March Student Council. This motion asks NUSU to create an Ethical Careers Policy, which would exclude fossil fuel companies from recruitment opportunities on SU premises and websites. We are also asking sabbatical officers to pledge their support for our campaign to help it become implemented on a university-wide scale. So far, 12 UK Students' Unions, collectively representing 276,145 students, have committed to boycotting oil, gas, and mining recruitment events. Hopefully, Newcastle will join this list soon!
Please sign our petition and join more than 350 students and staff at Newcastle University who support this very important cause: https://peopleandplanet.org/petitions/fossil-free-careers/fossil-free-careers-newcastle.
If you are interested in offering support for this campaign, please contact Jemima Elliott (j.elliott8@newcastle.ac.uk), Lucy Lawrence (L.Lawrence1@newcastle.ac.uk), and Charlotte Smith (c.smith37@newcastle.ac.uk).
