ABOLISH ECOVERSITY

Words by Tom Wood These are the words of the esteemed Oxford University climate scientist Professor Tim Palmer.

The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report confirms that we are facing a climate catastrophe. On current estimates, if nothing changes, we face temperature rises above 1.5 degrees Celsius. It is urgent, therefore, that swift action is taken to reduce carbon emissions.

Despite this damning evidence, our university has decided that it makes sense to maintain strong ties with fossil fuels companies. One of these companies is Santos, a major oil and gas producer. Shamefully, the University’s website defends Santos as ‘a leading supplier of natural gas, a fuel for the future providing cleaner energy to improve the lives of people in Australia and Asia.’ This is literally just parroting the talking points of the fossil fuels lobby. But what morewould be expect from the same university that hosts the Santos School of Petroleum Engineering?

The university also has direct and indirect financial investments in fossil fuels. There are direct investments in the university’s endowment fund. However, most of its investments are with external fund managers. What matters is that these external fund managers do invest in fossil fuels. This means that the university is still financing dirty industries without our approval.

Despite these deep ties with the fossil fuels, the university still has the nerve to celebrate Ecoversity, the university’s sustainability engagement program. Ecoversity’s website explains that its ‘activities, campaigns and events are geared towards developing a campus culture that values and applies sustainable practices’. In fairness, the university has made some achievements. For

instance, they have installed more than 4,800 solar panels since 2017. However, the motive underlying this decision is completely cynical. The Campus Sustainability Plan reasons that ‘investing in low carbon technologies for campus buildings will help Schools and Faculties reduce operational expenses long-term.’ This reveals that the university is not seriously committed to decarbonisation. They are simply looking to save money. But what else should we expect in 2022? We are in the era of the corporate university, where profits always triumph the public good.

This ascendant neoliberal ideology clearly impacts the mission of Ecoversity. Ecoversity’s vision for the university is to be ‘a place where sustainability is embedded in the actions of staff and students who value natural resources; waste less; adopt new technologies and practices; and make sustainable choices on campus.’ For example, Ecoversity’s recent Living Smart workshop showcased the impotence of the organisation’s deluded, individualist approach to sustainability. The purpose of the workshop was to ‘learn about the simple but effective ways to incorporate sustainability in your daily life.’ However, all that these events do is shift scrutiny from governments and powerful corporations onto ordinary people. In doing so, they promote a neoliberal understanding of the climate crisis, one that is favourable to politicians and capitalists.

Ecoversity’s individualist mentality is not just wrong, it is cruel and unfair. This is because it ignores the centrality of class in Australia and other capitalist countries. Time-poor and economically disempowered individuals are made to feel guilty for every little environmental digression they make. Meanwhile, the capitalists who actually have the power to make impactful changes are allowed to continue getting richer from plundering our planet.

The most concerning revelation about Ecoversity, however, is something totally unexpected. As bizarre at it sounds, the Sustainability Strategy Steering Committee, a sub-group of Ecoversity tasked with designing the university’s sustainability strategy, actually includes members that have deep ties to the fossil fuels industry. The Committee is chaired by Professor Michael Goodsite, the Director of the Institute of Mineral & Energy Resources and the former head of the Australian School of Petroleum. Another committee member is Ashok Khurana, who at Curtin University established the School of Petroleum Engineering. The Ecoversity website even boasts Khurana’s ‘extensive experience in the worldwide petroleum exploration and production industry, with career highlights being the development of oil and gas production facilities in the Gippsland Basin, (SE Australia), UK North Sea, Malaysia and many other countries in SE Asia.’ Ecoversity clearly accepts that fossil fuels have a future in Australia, which in practice is akin to climate denialism. Even worse, they allow the industry’s

It is obvious that Ecoversity poses no threat at all to the fossil fuels industry. If Ecoversity is so effective, why does the university still invest in fossil fuels companies and let them set up shop on campus? In this sense, it would be wrong to characterise Ecoversity as a toothless tiger. This is because their role is much more sinister. They actively greenwash the university by distracting from its deep ties to the fossil fuels industry.

Ecoversity is ultimately a PR agency that serves university management.

It should be abolished.