Extinction Rebellion Youth activists (XR) targeted the Cambridge Arctic Shelf Project’s (CASP) premises on the University’s West Cambridge site last Saturday (09/05).

The building was daubed with slogans which read “leave the oil in the ground” and “you’re not geologists, you’re just oily”.

This action launched XR's new initiative to expose fossil fuel links in Cambridge and follows recent activism from the group to demand no bailouts are given to “polluting industries” as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a press release, XR described CASP as a research group “housed on university land” and “listed as a library of the university” which “aims to find new opportunities for oil extraction”. This was said to include areas identified as of high environmental risk from oil exploration such as the Arctic.

The CASP website states that the group is a “not-for-profit charitable trust carrying out analysis-based geological research in sedimentary basins”, with funding coming “partly from investment income and partly from industry subscriptions.”

The action comes seven months after Varsity reported that the University had removed all mentions of CASP from its websites following a report published by the Zero Carbon pressure group which detailed that CASP was funded entirely by subscriptions from the oil and gas industry.

XR Youth Cambridge has said that all activists adhered to governmental safety precautions as required during the Covid-19 pandemic.

One of the participant activists is quoted as saying “let’s be plain - CASP is dedicated to finding more opportunities for fossil fuel extraction. Inexplicably, their accounts show they intend to continue for decades to come. It’s very clear that we should be stopping oil production immediately.”

“We don’t have decades,” they continued.

Publicly registered as a charity, the Zero Carbon report states that CASP is funded through industry subscriptions. It describes that in CASP’s financial reports ending 31st January 2018, 12 companies support its research and “a total of £1,456,602 was raised through subscriptions”.

These companies were said to include Anadarko, BP, Chevron, DNO, ENI, ExxonMobil, GGO, JOGMEC, Nexen, Shell, and Statoil.

Responding to the Zero Carbon report last year, the University stated that “CASP is not part of the University but is an independent charity registered with the Charity Commission, and none of its staff are university employees.”

XR Cambridge also targeted the Cambridge BP institute in April to mark the 10th anniversary of the Deep Water Horizon oil spill.

CASP have been approached for comment.