Cambridge Zero Carbon Society has announced their support for the occupation of the front quad of St John’s College, Oxford by environmental groups including the Oxford Climate Justice Campaign.

The students involved in the direct action, which began on Wednesday, are demanding St John’s complete divestment from the fossil fuel industry.

Cambridge Zero Carbon commented on the occupation, saying that they stand “in solidarity with Oxford Climate Justice Campaign and all the students currently occupying St John’s College.”

“Oxbridge are shamefully lagging behind in their refusal to acknowledge their complicity [in Climate change] and instead take meaningful action. We call upon both Oxford and Cambridge, along with their colleges, to Divest Now!”

Zero Carbon’s endorsement of the occupation follows direct action by the group, which blockaded the BP institute twice in 2019, and their release of a report in October 2019, detailing the University’s ties with the fossil fuel industry.

Zero Carbon highlighted the hypocrisy of St John’s for “advertising for a research assistant to aid investigation into the college’s colonial past, yet [continuing] to invest in the fossil fuel companies whose practices have proven to be to the disproportionate detriment of people and communities in the global south.”

The occupation is planned to last for several days and was accompanied yesterday by a protest outside the College’s entrance. Participants will sleep in tents in the quad and have brought with them banners and placards bearing slogans such as “wake up fossil fools” and “direct action for divestment”.

The college has responded to the occupation by “phoning the police and cutting off protesters’ access to hot water and some rooms”, according to a student at the University.

St John’s, the wealthiest Oxford college, is known to have at least £8.1 million of disclosed investments in fossil fuel companies, as well as undisclosed investments from its £551 million endowment.

Oxford Climate Justice Campaign says it hopes “this action will bring some much-needed urgency to the divestment issue at Oxford,” and illuminate the injustice “that our wealthiest education institutions continue to profit from the exploitation of the most marginalised - those who are being affected most by the climate crisis.”

The occupation of St John’s comes just two days after Balliol College, Oxford committed to divestment and banned all future donations from fossil fuel companies.

Divestment has become a mobilising epicentre for student protest and over 50% of UK universities have now pledged they will no longer invest in fossil fuels. Six Cambridge colleges have withdrawn direct investments from the fossil fuel industry and more have partially divested. The most recent Cambridge college committing to divestment was Jesus, in September 2019.

A spokesperson for St John’s College, Oxford remarked on the occupation that the College’s “main portfolio adviser assesses all companies with regard to their ethical, social and governance stance and updates its advice to the College on a regular basis.”