In December 2022, along with many other students, I signed a petition from the University Rebellion UvA which demanded that the UvA cut their ties with Shell. For years, the fossil fuel company had been involved in the UvA, be it research or talks in the Room for Discussion. Already in 2018, Shell’s involvement was met with criticism and the bullshit bingo during one of their talks highlighted the greenwashing lies employed by a company that only invests 5% in renewable energy and keeps failing to meet their climate strategy. Thus, for years, students have been pointing out the necessity to cut ties with Shell and the entire fossil fuel industry which is complicit in environmental and human-rights violations.
In February 2023, following the protests, petitions and occupations, the UvA announced a moratorium on research with Shell or any other fossil fuel company, meaning the temporary prohibition of further research until the students’ and staff’s interests had been heard. These ‘dialogues on collaboration’ took place in March, May, and June and then finally – on July 13th – the UvA announced that they will ‘no longer collaborate with companies in the fossil fuel industry unless a number of strict conditions are met’. In their statement, the UvA not only laid open the financial contribution of the fossil fuel industry (.3% of the total research budget) but also pledged themselves to uphold the Paris Climate Accords by focusing on sustainability – on campus and in research.
I was positively surprised by UvA’s decision as such actions have been known from the more liberal VU, but not the UvA. With this decision, the UvA, along with other Dutch, English and U.S. universities is finally taking a stance against the fossil fuel industry. While there are still several universities collaborating with fossil fuel companies, hopefully those universities will soon take a stance as their compliance legitimises a system built on environmental and human harm. For now, when it comes to the UvA, we can only hope that they continue to be transparent about potential projects from fossil fuel companies and we will all act surprised when none meet the ‘strict conditions’. Bye bye, Shell, hopefully till never.
Picture from https://actie.fossielvrij.nl/petitions/uva-cut-ties-with-shell
In December 2022, along with many other students, I signed a petition from the University Rebellion UvA which demanded that the UvA cut their ties with Shell. For years, the fossil fuel company had been involved in the UvA, be it research or talks in the Room for Discussion. Already in 2018, Shell’s involvement was met with criticism and the bullshit bingo during one of their talks highlighted the greenwashing lies employed by a company that only invests 5% in renewable energy and keeps failing to meet their climate strategy. Thus, for years, students have been pointing out the necessity to cut ties with Shell and the entire fossil fuel industry which is complicit in environmental and human-rights violations.
In February 2023, following the protests, petitions and occupations, the UvA announced a moratorium on research with Shell or any other fossil fuel company, meaning the temporary prohibition of further research until the students’ and staff’s interests had been heard. These ‘dialogues on collaboration’ took place in March, May, and June and then finally – on July 13th – the UvA announced that they will ‘no longer collaborate with companies in the fossil fuel industry unless a number of strict conditions are met’. In their statement, the UvA not only laid open the financial contribution of the fossil fuel industry (.3% of the total research budget) but also pledged themselves to uphold the Paris Climate Accords by focusing on sustainability – on campus and in research.
I was positively surprised by UvA’s decision as such actions have been known from the more liberal VU, but not the UvA. With this decision, the UvA, along with other Dutch, English and U.S. universities is finally taking a stance against the fossil fuel industry. While there are still several universities collaborating with fossil fuel companies, hopefully those universities will soon take a stance as their compliance legitimises a system built on environmental and human harm. For now, when it comes to the UvA, we can only hope that they continue to be transparent about potential projects from fossil fuel companies and we will all act surprised when none meet the ‘strict conditions’. Bye bye, Shell, hopefully till never.
