Oil and gas majors compete to recruit talent in shift to greener future

Oil and gas majors compete to recruit talent in shift to greener future

Five days before the start of the COP26 climate conference, the geography department at the University of Oxford forwarded an email to students inviting them to a career talk by energy company Royal Dutch Shell. The oil and gas major’s staff would provide answers to students’ questions and information on its plans to become a net zero emissions business, the message said.

There was nothing particularly unusual about the recruitment language, but within 10 hours the university had received a letter of complaint signed by 71 students.

By sharing the invitation, the geography department was endorsing Shell as a “great place to work” despite its continued investment in hydrocarbons and allegations surrounding its historic connections with associated abuses, the letter seen by the Financial Times said. The students demanded that fossil fuel companies be banned from such “advertising”. The geography department told the FT it had circulated the invitation at the request of a former student and that by forwarding information it was not necessarily endorsing its contents.

The oil and gas sector is not the only industry to have faced opposition on university campuses, and the letter’s signatories do not represent the views of the entire student body. Nevertheless, the incident highlights an enduring challenge