Statement on fossil fuel divestment and climate action

CUPE 2278 membership approved the following motion in the General Membership Meeting on November 20, 2024:

BE IT RESOLVED THAT CUPE 2278 WILL

1. Sign onto the open letter addressed to the UBC Board of Governors (BoG), Vancouver Senate, and UBC Administration to call for:

1. Public recognition of the historical and contemporary links between fossil fuel industry funding and universities;

2. An annual review and disclosure of external funding agreements to give transparency of how much University research and other activities rely on financial and in-kind contributions from fossil fuel and mining industries; 

3. Revision of the fundraising policy to be in line with the climate emergency declaration and principles of climate justice, declining any future fossil fuel funding that meets a set criteria and allowing existing agreements to expire; and

4. A “Just Transition Fund” program to support climate research and researchers whose disciplines are currently linked to the fossil fuel industry (e.g. EOAS).

2. Distribute the open letter to CUPE2278 current members in the newsletter and on social media, including a statement of support for the campaign.

3. Lobby the Senate, BoG and administrators to support and carry out the calls to action.

4. Develop bargaining proposals to increase research funding transparency, to protect workers from complicity in accepting fossil fuel funding, and for a just transition framework to support workers in fields which are reliant on fossil fuel sector funding.

BECAUSE

1. The fossil fuel industry is biased toward pathways that maintain and strengthen fossil fuel dependency, much like the tobacco industry’s past influence on medical research. As a result, funding from the fossil fuel industry distorts research outcomes, agendas and thematic content and facilitates resource exploration, extraction and technology optimization and otherwise perpetuates fossil fuel dependency.

2. Fossil fuel influence over research, often in thematic fields of energy, climate, and sustainability, influences climate policymaking“by influencing the type of evidence that is available” and the kinds of climate solutions considered.

3. Fossil fuel funding restricts researchers’ academic freedom by linking academic careers to their dependency. Researchers have the right to exercise academic integrity by accessing resources through a Just Transition Fund to support their professional transition away from fossil fuel dependency.

4. Graduate students and other researchers often lack control and transparency over sources of research funding and have their research skills appropriated for fossil fuel industry needs at much cheaper rates/without their knowledge.

5. UBC’s social and fiscal ties with the fossil fuel industry grant the industry institutional credibility and legitimacy (‘social license’) that allows them to operate, endanger public health, misinform the public about scientific knowledge, and increase global emissions.

6. The Climate Emergency Task Force Report, which the Board of Governors endorsed in February 2021, calls on UBC to review fossil fuel funding of university activities, acknowledge the link between fossil fuel funding of academic research and climate denial, and adopt climate justice criteria to guide university fundraising policy.