A New phase for our movement
We are thrilled to announce that this week, our organization is transitioning from Fossil Free Research to the Campus Climate Network, guided by a growing appetite to unite the campus climate movement across campaign focus and geography.
When Fossil Free Research launched in March of 2022 with an open letter from over 500 academics calling on universities to stop accepting funding from the fossil fuel industry, we were a loosely coordinated group of students from three universities. We shared a vision for a higher education free from the corrupting influence of the industry at the center of the climate crisis. We also shared aspirations for the future of the campus climate movement. Many of us cut our teeth running fossil fuel divestment campaigns and saw an emerging organizing gap on campuses, as decade-long divestment campaigns came to a close through both hard fought victories and the burnout of endless campaigning. It was time for a new uniting vision and space where students across the campus climate movement could come together.
Our first year as an organization saw exciting campus victories and a spike in cross-campus collaboration. Student organizers with Cambridge Climate Justice won their demand to rename the university’s BP institute and secured a historic faculty vote on fossil free research. We staged a coordinated action, published a student-researched report on fossil fuel money in higher education with Data for Progress, and saw the enactment of the world’s first fossil free research policies at Princeton (a policy with serious limitations, but historic nonetheless) and VU Amsterdam. The movement for fossil free research has turned into a sophisticated international campaign since its launch less than two years ago.
While our initial efforts focused on the fossil free research campaign, our network of student-run climate groups has since grown into a rich community of climate justice organizers from over 40 universities working on many different issues.
Fossil free research. Ending fossil fuel industry campus recruitment. Campaigning against banks funding Big Oil. Continuing divestment and reinvestment efforts. Fighting alongside campus workers for fair wages. Pushing wealthy universities to invest more in their communities. Pursuing ambitious decarbonization plans. The space we created for student organizers to come together has evolved from a single-issue effort to an increasingly multi-issue campaign infrastructure.
Under our new name and mission, we are better positioned to bring together and support the revitalized campus climate movement. The Campus Climate Network will be a place to forge relationships, learn from each other, and build the power we need to secure a livable and just future for all.