SRC Environment Officer Report - Term 1 2025
SRC Environment Officer Emma Terry introduces her Collective and their ambitions for 2025. Co-written by Lachlan McGrath.
The Environment Collective has launched a campaign called Fossil Free UNSW demanding an end to all partnerships with fossil fuel and mining companies. UNSW has an excessive amount of ties with the fossil fuel industry, providing an endless amount of research, training and support for projects that enable fossil fuel extraction. These include partnerships with some of the world's biggest polluters including Woodside, Santos and Rio Tinto. The Environment Collective is fighting for our education, research and fees to go towards saving the planet, not destroying it. That's why we have launched an open letter for students to express their opposition to these ties. We have also called a speakout for 2pm Wednesday 9th April outside the Library to demand a fossil free UNSW.
Woodside has partnered with the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) at the UNSW Business School in the creation of the Navigator program, which has trained up more than 2,500 employees since 2021. Woodside is a climate criminal which releases more than 60 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. Yet the Navigator program enables Woodside to greenwash by giving their employees, in their words, an opportunity to 'focus on responsible, sustainable, and ethical leadership'.
Santos is listed as UNSW's collaborator in an 'Energy and Mineral Exploration' research project. It boasts about 'constraining the timing of major basin evolutionary processes', promises 'more accurate mapping of subsurface geology' and reductions in cost and labour intensity. This will help Santos projects like the Barossa Gas Project in the NT, which is projected to produce 380 million tonnes of greenhouse gas pollution over its lifetime and is set for operation later this year.
Rio Tinto partners with UNSW in the Renewable Injections-Sustainable Burdens (RISB) project and a water management project. Rio Tinto is the third largest mining company in the world, and has repeatedly trampled over the rights of First Nations peoples, including in 2020 when they blew up the sacred rock shelter at Juukan Gorge in WA.
Our university's motto 'Progress for All' is vague and vacuous. But it becomes a laughing stock when factoring in its partnerships with Woodside, Santos and Rio Tinto. Australian universities are giving critical support to the main culprits pouring more fuel on the fire. Instead, universities could be fully funding renewable research projects and other research that provides genuine solutions to the climate crisis. These companies serve the interests of a tiny minority of fossil-fuel CEOs and billionaires, not the majority of ordinary students.
It is now more important than ever to get involved with the fight for the environment. Alarming news headlines about the climate crisis are becoming more frequent. Global temperatures surpassing 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels in 2024, and extreme weather events – like the LA wildfires in the middle of winter – show that increasing annual greenhouse gas emissions leads to devastating ecological consequences.
Fossil Free UNSW has been organised through fortnightly collective meetings that began in Week 1 and are continuing throughout the rest of the term. These are open to all students. Our meetings have attracted a number of new attendees such as first year students, and members of different clubs and societies wanting to work together. We would like to thank those who have so far endorsed our open letter, such as AYCC UNSW, the Social Sciences Society, Women in Politics, and Students for Palestine UNSW. If you are a student who supports our campaign or club which would like to add your endorsement or get involved, please access and sign the open letter here and follow us on Instagram: @unswenvirocollective.
