Campaigners Say Careers Service ‘Fundamentally Disagrees’ with Fossil Fuel, Arms Company Ban as Talks Stall
Cambridge Climate Justice (CCJ) members say talks with the University Careers Service appear to have stalled. Since 2021, CCJ has engaged in discussions with the Careers Service, urging the adoption of an “Ethical Careers Policy” that would remove “oil, gas, mining and arms companies from careers fairs.” On 5 November, students, staff, and community members gathered outside Great St Mary’s Church to reiterate these demands. Both the Careers Service and CCJ confirm that discussions have continued following the rally, though CCJ members told TCS it remains unclear whether any policy change is forthcoming.
November 5 Rally / CCJ
CCJ highlights the ongoing presence of fossil fuel, mining, and arms companies at careers fairs and on the Careers Service’s online portal. They point to firms such as “Caterpillar, a mining and construction company that sells bulldozers to the IDF; Frazer-Nash, a consultancy for arms and fossil fuel firms; and AWE, a nuclear weapons manufacturer.”
The Careers Service promotes a broad range of employment opportunities to students. Its online listings indicate that this includes companies working in the fossil fuel, arms, and mining sectors.
On the Careers Service page on Handshake, Caterpillar appears under the “University of Cambridge Collections” - a section described as offering “jobs, events and more curated by your career centre.” The company has faced international scrutiny; earlier this year, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund divested from the company, stating that “Caterpillar’s products are being used in ways that constitute violations of international humanitarian law.”
Engineering & Tech Fair Features Firms With Ties to Defence and Fossil Fuels
At the University of Cambridge Engineering & Tech Fair 2025, held on 21–22 October, several companies with links to arms, fossil fuels, and mining were present and advertised to students:
On 21 October, Newton - a management consultancy working across several sectors, including defence, attended the fair. According to Consultancy.uk, Newton was a “main sponsor” of the Defence & Security Equipment International UK arms fair held in September 2025.
Dick Applegate - a Senior Advisor at Newton since 2017 - is reported by The Canary to concurrently serve as the Director of Strategy and New Business at Elbit Systems. According to the Middle East Monitor, Elbit supplies the Israeli Military with 85 per cent of its drones and land based military equipment.
On 22 October, the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) - the UK’s sole nuclear warhead provider - was in attendance.
Frazer-Nash also exhibited: the firm works in renewables and clean energy, while also taking contracts from the fossil fuels sector, including oil and gas asset management. The Campaign Against Arms Trade also reports that in May 2023, Frazer-Nash was approved for a £100,000 military export licence to provide the Israeli Military with software for modelling, simulating, and evaluating weapon systems.
Stroud International, a consultancy specialising in manufacturing and capital projects, was present. The company works across oil and gas, mining, and defence.
Northslope Technologies Ltd also attended the fair. The company describes itself as a “leading global Palantir partner”, creating custom products using Palantir's Foundry and AIP platforms. In promotional materials on ADS - the aerospace, defence, and security trade association - the company states: “Founded in collaboration with Palantir as a new type of engineering company, over 50% of our Forward Deployed Engineers are Palantir alumni, and our UK-based teams have delivered in the most challenging UK Defence & Security context.”
According to a report by +972 Magazine, Palantir allegedly provides the Israeli Military with AI systems. The report claims the military uses these algorithms to sift through vast volumes of surveillance data - phone, text, and digital - to generate extensive kill lists.
Careers Service Maintains Impartiality as Talks Continue
CCJ argues that “by actively promoting careers in fossil fuels, arms and mining, Cambridge University and its Careers Service are reinforcing the power of these industries and contributing to environmental and humanitarian crises. These companies cannot be part of a just and sustainable future, as their business models are built on exploiting people, nature, and the power differences resulting from colonialism, capitalism and racism.”
The Careers Service maintains that its role is one of “impartiality” regarding employers. Its website states that this impartiality is “core to our work and is written into our membership body’s professional standards and code of ethics,” adding:
“Users of the Service are free to make their own choices about who they do or don’t wish to engage with, and our position is that it is not for the Careers Service to act as censor nor to make value judgements about specific employers and/or labour market areas. Our aim is to ensure that our users are able to make good decisions based on their own unique circumstances, aspirations and values.”
CCJ disputes this definition of impartiality, saying: “Impartiality is when a student approaches the Careers Service for advice and they are supported no matter what. There is nothing impartial about the Careers Service choosing to platform the recruitment of unethical companies.”
TCS reached out to the Careers Service for comment on the demands to exclude oil, gas, mining, and arms companies from university careers fairs. The Careers Service said:
“The Careers Service met with representatives from CCJ straight after the rally to hear their demands and both parties have agreed to ongoing discussions to explore how we can work together on areas of agreement and understand our differences more fully. We hope that students, researchers, and alumni interested in roles that will help to avert the climate crisis will engage in our Green Careers events, which will take place in early 2026. In the meantime they can visit our Green Careers playlist on YouTube.”
CCJ told TCS that these conversations are ongoing but unresolved:
“We are having ongoing discussions with the Head of the Careers Service to discuss how our demands for an Ethical Careers Policy can be implemented. We are disappointed that the Careers Service currently doesn’t view this policy as necessary, and in fact seems to fundamentally disagree with the idea of it. This is obviously frustrating, but we will continue to campaign for Fossil Free Careers and refuse to compromise on our demands.”