Your say / Climate
‘Ethical branding while accepting dirty money is greenwashing and hypocrisy’
Last Friday, I graduated with a Distinction in my MSc in Society, Politics and Climate Change from the University of Bristol. You’d be forgiven for thinking that there is nothing newsworthy there and you’d be right.
But what made the day a little unusual was that when it was time for me to be called to the stage, I walked on and unfurled a banner protesting the institution’s acceptance of money from fossil fuel companies.
Local media organisations (including this one) reported on the stunt and Carla Denyer MP later tweeted her support for the action.
is needed now More than ever
The reason I protested at my own graduation is because I believe that an institution that prides itself on its green and sustainable credentials should not be accepting million of pounds in funding from some of the companies responsible for the greatest environmental harms.
To their credit, the University has divested from fossil fuels and it was the first UK university to declare a climate emergency – you may know this already because they are only too happy to shout about it – but the fact that they still accept money from the likes of BP, Shell, Total, and others is rarely mentioned.
This ethical branding alongside the acceptance of dirty money is a form of greenwashing. It’s hypocrisy and I couldn’t end my time at the University without calling them out on it.
It’s widely known and accepted that the human-caused climate crisis is the greatest challenge we need to overcome today. Despite all the international summits, despite increasingly urgent warnings from scientists, and despite government pledges, the world has been getting hotter year after year as collectively we pump more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels.
It’s recently been confirmed that 2024 was the warmest year on record and broke through the target of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures, that was seen by many as a dangerous threshold and an important ceiling in which to limit the damage done to the planet.
Just weeks ago, we saw how climate change-fuelled wildfires decimated parts of LA. Before that we were horrified when Valencia was deluged with a year’s worth of rain in just eight hours causing widespread flooding and more than 200 deaths. And before that, a summer heatwave broke record temperatures across Europe resulting in widespread misery, water shortages, infrastructure damage and loss of life.
Paddy and fellow students also protested under the #FossilFreeCareers banner outside the building where graduations were taking palce
The devastating impacts of the climate crisis can be seen closer to home too. In 2024, England and Wales experienced the warmest February and May on record, whilst the south of England had the wettest February since 1836.
Last year, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency issued 870 flood warnings or alerts – its second highest ever. And the National Farmers Union, hardly a bastion of hippy tree-huggers, are now warning that food security is going to be impacted unless drastic government intervention is made as food production and livestock are threatened by the chaotic climate.
Globally tens, if not hundreds of thousands, of people are dying every year because of the devastation caused by the climate crisis.
Meanwhile, we continue to pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and environmental activists are being labelled as ‘terrorists’, and arrested and imprisoned at record rates – with the UK being one of the worst states in the world for this.
I don’t anticipate getting myself arrested and imprisoned any time soon (my employers wouldn’t be happy for a start, and neither would my mum), but I have always been a campaigner and activist on human rights, environmental and social justice issues.
I have opposed the far-right, protested the trebling of tuition fees, demonstrated in support of Palestine, called for humanitarian intervention and stood in solidarity with Syrians, supported refugees and asylum seekers, campaigned for better services for the homeless and, most recently, demanded bolder and more urgent action on the climate crisis.
Coincidentally it was the courage to be bold that was a feature of the closing speech at my graduation ceremony on Friday.
In the Great Hall of the Wills Memorial Building, after we had applauded ourselves, our family, and the staff who helped make our achievement’s possible, we were told to “be kind to ourselves and our environment” and we were instructed: “Be bold. Be Bristolian”.
I hope the University heeds its own advice and takes the bold step of breaking ties with the industries currently destroying our planet and killing its species, putting an end to the practice of accepting funding from fossil fuel companies.
This is an opinion piece by Paddy Vipond, a student of the University of Bristol who recently graduated with an MSc in Society, Politics and Climate Change. He protested the university’s ongoing relationship with fossil fuel companies at his graduation ceremony.
Main image: Paddy Vipond
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