The activists who have been occupying part of the Technical University in Eindhoven since Tuesday morning do not intend to leave for the time being. On Thursday, the university issued a statement, but the content does not go far enough, according to the climate activists. On the contrary: “We absolutely do not feel taken seriously.”
Shortly after the occupation of the rooms at TU/e, the protesters of the University Rebellion action group announced that they had three demands. They want the university to break all ties with the fossil fuel industry, to be transparent about the money flowing in from the business community and to declare a climate emergency.
In the statement the university indeed expresses its great concern about the climate. “Global warming and climate change pose an unprecedented threat to our world. We are already seeing the first disastrous consequences happening.”
However, according to the activists, it is not enough. “The word ’emergency’ or ‘crisis’ is not mentioned anywhere,” says spokesman Bram. “They’re just circling it.”
Transparency
And according to him, the other demands will also not be met, even though the university indicates that it will include more details about industry revenues in future annual reports. “In one sentence it is about transparency about money they receive from the business community. But how they will share that information in the future, they don’t say anywhere. If you can’t be transparent about that already…”
TU/e says the following about the collaboration with the fossil industry: “The energy transition is the greatest societal challenge ever. We cannot afford to exclude parties that can help create sustainable solutions, including fossil fuel companies. Our collaboration with those partners has already almost completely shifted to renewable energy and the last fossil fuel projects are coming to an end soon.”
Promotion talk
A promotional talk, says University Rebellion. “In this way they try to distract us from the problem. It is about the energy transition, while the climate crisis is much bigger. And they ignore the entire ethical issue of whether you should want to work with the fossil industry.”
“Frustration is dominating at the moment”, Bram sighs. “We didn’t expect them to meet all our demands, but this is really disappointing. They don’t take us seriously. That’s why we’re staying in place at least tonight.”
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