On Wednesday 13 April 2016 students, climate campaigners and several dinosaurs descended on Huddersfield University’s Central Services building calling upon the University to go Fossil Free and divest from any investments in oil, gas and coal companies.
The campaigners from Students for Sustainability and Huddersfield Friends of the Earth collected petition signatures and undertook photostunts with students calling for a ‘fossil free’ degree and calling upon the university to ‘not be a dinosaur’ and go fossil free. The campaigners also highlighted the connection between fossil fuel companies and extreme weather such as the flooding experienced in West Yorkshire last Boxing Day.
The campaigners believe that Huddersfield University has relatively small investments in fossil fuel companies and so it would be easy for the University to screen its portfolio for investments in oil, gas and coal and go Fossil Free.
Dorota Hajdukiewicz from Students for Sustainability said: “It’s our future and we want our university to take a stand and show leadership on climate change by pulling out of any investments in oil, gas and coal companies that are fuelling extreme weather and climate chaos.”
Chayley Collis from Huddersfield Friends of the Earth commented: “Up to 80% of known fossil fuel reserves need to stay in the ground to keep within globally-agreed safe climate limits. Despite this, the fossil fuel industry continues to search for ever more new reserves, pursuing a business plan that is clearly incompatible with a safe planet. Huddersfield University should take urgent steps to remove any financial links with companies that are threatening the stability of the planet and the future of its students.”
The campaign already has 400+ petition signatures. To support the petition, go to: https://campaigns.gofossilfree.org/petitions/divest-huddersfield-university-from-fossil-fuels
Collecting petition signatures for a Fossil Free Huddersfield University
Huddersfield Friends of the Earth 