Andrew Denholm
Education Correspondent
A UNIVERSITY which pledged to withdraw investments from oil companies has
been accused of “vacuous posturing” by its own academics, sparking a row
with students.
Five professors said the decision by Glasgow University’s ruling Court was
“deplorable” because alternatives to fossil fuels were not currently
available in the quantities required to meet demand.
However, Glasgow University Climate Action Society has hit back saying the
academics are “missing the point”.
The row comes after Glasgow University became the first institution in
Europe to pledge to withdraw investments from oil companies on
environmental grounds after a year-long campaign from students and green
campaigners.
It means some £18 million of the university’s £130m endowment fund
currently invested in companies such as Shell, BP and Chevron will be
re-allocated over the next decade – as long as the financial impact was
“acceptable”.
In a joint letter in the wake of the decision the professors, who include
Professor Paul Younger, Rankine chair of engineering at the university,
said: “We write as senior academics…. who actively research the
decarbonisation of energy to deplore the decision of our university court
to divest from fossil fuels.
“The Court’s position is vacuous posturing, since alternatives to fossil
fuels are not yet available at scale for heat and transport, or for
electricity production on demand.
“Indeed, our university has just committed itself to a new gas-fired campus
heating system, not least because the only current renewable alternative
had a far poorer environmental profile.”
The professors said the skills and facilities of the hydrocarbons sector
were “indispensable” to the development of carbon capture and storage which
are seen as key to achieving emissions reduction targets.
The letter adds: “We trust that those academic colleagues who voted for
this gesture have had the moral consistency to turn off the heating in
their offices, entirely fossil-fuelled, and to switch off their computers
and room lights for the 34.5 per cent of the working day that fossil fuels
provide electricity in Scotland.”
Glasgow University Climate Action Society said it was clear that society
was currently run on fossil fuels, but that this needed to change in order
to mitigate effects of climate change.
A spokesman said: “The demand of the divestment campaign is not based on
the argument that institutions can stop using fossil fuels right this
second. Instead, our demand is based on the immorality of profiting from
the very companies which are driving climate change.
“Many institutions, like Glasgow University, have environmental policies
and are trying to reduce their own carbon emissions and this is
inconsistent with profiting from an industry which is continuing to emit
greenhouse gases without significant checks.
“Divestment is about attacking the financial and political power of fossil
fuel companies…. and without public pressure there will be no incentives
for change.”
A spokesman for Glasgow University said: “We fully appreciated the concerns
that some academics raised at that time, and therefore worked with
colleagues on a statement which… reaffirms our commitment to a wide range
of teaching and research activities in energy science and engineering,
including both fossil fuels and renewables.
“It was our intention to allay any concerns that staff or students might
have had about the important and world leading research that we carry out
in these fields.”
The other academics who signed the joint letter, which first appeared in
the Guardian, were Professor Colin McInnes, James Watt chair and professor
of engineering science, Professor Fin Stuart, Professor of isotope
geosciences, Professor Rob Ellam, director of Scottish Universities
Environmental Research Centre and Professor Adrian Boyce, professor of
applied geology.
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