Student climate activists staged a protest at the University Engineering and Tech Careers fair for hosting companies that participate in the arms and fossil fuel industries.

Members of the group Cambridge Climate Justice stood outside the entrance to the University Careers Centre earlier today (22/10), handing out satirical flyers which targeted specific companies at the fair, and talking to students entering the fair.

The protesters held signs with a variety of demands, such as “Nuclear weapons out,” “Listen to your students,” and “Cut ties now”. One protester was overheard saying: “There are some companies you want to avoid in there.”

Student protesters also accosted representatives of the companies within the fair, criticising their ties to fossil fuels.

One of the companies targeted, Wood PLC, works on developing fossil fuels. The flyer, which appeared to be an advert for the company, contained satirical remarks about their links to the fossil fuel industry: “We received a £430 million government-backed loan for the green transition. But don’t be fooled, we then expanded our oil and gas businesses by 17%, and reduced our renewable energy efforts by 35%.”

“Join us as we work with your favourite sustainable small businesses: Shell and BP!” the flyer continued.

AWE, a nuclear engineering company owned by the Ministry of Defense, is responsible for manufacturing nuclear warheads. The flyer sarcastically invited students to “develop your career, and nuclear weapons!” It said: “Every child dreams of a job making nuclear warheads: with AWE, that dream can come true!”.

A spokesperson for Cambridge Climate Justice said: “Students find it unacceptable that the University of Cambridge is choosing to platform climate wreckers who wilfully ignore scientific evidence, mock the intention of taxpayer-backed loans, and have pled guilty to corruption.”

“The Careers Service needs to exercise far greater care with the power of its brand and platform,” they continued.

The environmental campaign group ORCA also criticised the University Careers Service, saying that it is “complicit in violent industries” and “funnel[s] students into a pipeline of participating in destruction.”

They added: “These companies are complicit in the ongoing genocides in Gaza and Xinjiang as well as mineral related conflicts in Congo and Sudan destroying lives and communities as well as the environment. Promoting careers with these companies is assisting them to keep working to further this harm. Decolonisation and divestment need to happen in every space.”

This comes after the Cambridge University Students’ Union (SU) backed a campaign to call on firms to stop insuring fossil fuel companies. The SU joined representatives from over fifty UK higher education institutions supporting the Insure Tomorrow campaign.

Alongside calling on firms to stop insuring fossil fuel companies, the campaign aims to pressure universities into swapping insurance providers. The campaign also wants universities to stop promoting careers in insurance companies that work with fossil fuel companies.

The University of Cambridge, Wood PLC, and AWE were contacted for comment.