“Don’t be worried about deadlines! The University of Cambridge isn’t.” Students joined hundreds of others worldwide, singing and dancing to expose the university kicking the can down the road when it comes to its fossil fuel ties.
Cambridge University students got creative on Friday 1st December to protest against the University continuing to accept funding from fossil fuel companies. The actions were organised by Cambridge Climate Justice, a student campaign group calling for the University to adopt a Fossil Free Research policy immediately. It came amid an international day of action telling Big Oil to back off.
As students and the community alike bustled through the city centre for their Christmas shopping, Cambridge Climate Justice members performed a flashmob in the Grand Arcade shopping centre, dancing to a parody of Abba’s hit single “Money, Money, Money”, exposing the University’s continued acceptance of money from BP and Shell, alongside its longstanding relationship with oilfield services provider SLB. Dozens of members of the public stopped to watch the fully choreographed routine, complete with a pre-recorded parody soundtrack.
The parodied version of Abba’s lyrics criticised the University’s policies, opening with “The planet’s burning every day, our futures are in disarray”. The chorus warned of “All the greenwash they do, when they take the oil money, for fossil-fuelled research”. The result was a public spectacle that painted a damning picture of the University’s actions while embodying the cheeky spirit of youth change-making.
Sam Hutton, a spokesperson for Cambridge Climate Justice, said: “ABBA made the point quite well: there’s something funny about the University continuing to accept polluters’ dirty money, limiting academic freedom, greenwashing Big Oil, and tarnishing the University’s reputation as a climate leader. We’re always going to call out this kind of behaviour, with music or without.”
Students then gathered outside the Old Schools, kicking dozens of upcycled used tin cans past the University’s administrative heart. In doing so, students exposed the University “kicking the can down the road” on climate action by failing to implement the recommendations of the recent Nigel Topping report. The report by the UN expert, published in July, said it’s “difficult to find the logic” behind continued acceptance of BP and Shell’s money (p. 29), and recommended replacing the “controversial funding” (p. 44). A large banner summed up the students’ indictment of the University: “Cambridge Kicking The Can Down The Road”.
These actions occur in the context of repeated calls for the University to replace its controversial oil funding, including in the Topping report. Cambridge Climate Justice has added to this pressure on the University by exposing a closed-door lobbying meeting with University leadership, occupying the since-renamed BP Institute and holding several rallies that were well-attended by students, academics and the community alike. The current COP28 climate conference, and its oil executive president, is forcing universities like Cambridge to reckon with their own conflicts of interest and the insidious impact of lobbying by the fossil fuel industry.
Will Bajwa, who helped expose “kick the cans down the road” said: “The latest delays to implementing the Topping Report form just part of a pattern of procrastination from Cambridge University. We’ve had a vote on a vote, open letters on a vote on a vote, a report published months after the deadline: it’s all been delay, delay, delay. The planet is burning and they’re kicking the can down the road.”
These actions show that students will not allow the University to water down its climate policies quietly, and they will continue to tell Big Oil to back off.