This week, activists in Cambridge took action against Churchill College, where this year’s Multi-Generational Leadership Program was taking place. The program, organised by the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, alongside Philip Marcovici- a wealth management expert with ties to the royal family -and Iraj Ispahani of the Ispahani dynasty, is exclusively for those with “multi-generational” wealth, and seeks to teach them to “evolve their legacy”, and all for the summary cost of just under £14,000 (not including accommodation). Activists specifically targeted Churchill’s large plaque, in defiance of its overt dedications to prime ministers Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, both of whom laid the groundwork for Britain’s enormous class divide, privatisation and expansionist capitalist-colonialism.
In taking action the activists wrote the following:
“We aren’t stupid, we know what this really means, it’s yet another scheme by CISL to foment the ultra-wealthy as leaders of the world, while we- the ordinary people whom the wealthy rely upon for their extraordinary wealth -face the consequences of the environmental destruction laid out by their greed and imperialism. As recent document leaks have shown the ultra-wealthy’s complicity in sex trafficking, and recent history has shown their participation in environmental destruction and genocide in Sudan, Lebanon and Palestine, we take umbrage with any notion that ‘Multi-generational Leadership’ can be anything but a disaster for our planet and its denizens. Cambridge is the most unequal city in the country, if we- its residents -want any resolution to that, we must demand one thing: BILLIONAIRES OUT!”
This action follows a May 17th rally outside Great St Mary’s in which spokespersons from a number of Cambridge groups called out the Multi-Generational Leadership Program and the university’s dealings with the ultra-wealthy, and a noise demo against Tyler Goodspeed of ExxonMobil’s visit to the university’s Bill Gates Sr. building.
On Sunday, we rallied to say no to CISL inviting the ultra-rich to our city for a “green” summer school. Folks from Cambridge Solidarity Fund, Stop the War, Cambridge Community Kitchen and Cambridge for Palestine spoke about the toxic influence of billionaires on our politics and planet. From Palantir’s Peter Thiel to ecofascist Charles Windsor, the ultra-rich have no part to play in building a better future. If you agree, email CISL to let them know!
I’m emailing to share my confusion and dismay about your recent projects. Last week, you presented at a “green” conference attended by extractive and polluting companies like Drax and Anglo American. This week, it seems you’re running a summer school for the super-rich. Like your toxic partnerships, these events show your true colours (anything but green). As part of the Cambridge community and someone who cares about environmental justice, I ask you to quit empowering toxic corporations and join the real environmental movement.
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We’ve noticed something interesting while looking at the speakers of this year’s Nature Action Dialogues. The number of ecocidal companies not just attending but speaking at the event, seems to be increasing.
Back in 2024 when the conference was first held, there were numerous ecocidal attendees, but the speakers were at least mostly climate related NGOs and the like 1.
In 2025, more speakers started to appear from companies directly linked to extractive practices, environmental degradations and human rights violations, such as Aviva, Nestle, Anglo American, and Teck2.
This year, in 2026, our investigation has found that, at a minimum, around 20% of the speakers represent companies with records of pollution, over-extraction, or violence against indigenous communities3.
Taking a look at speakers for this year, we constructed this table
Company
Industry
Number of speakers
Notable issues
RWE
Mining, Energy
2
Coal mining, Fossil fuel usage
Anglo American
Mining
2
Pollution, Indigenous rights violations
Lloyds
Banking
2
Fossil fuel financing
Lanzajet
Aviation
1
pushing Sustainable Aviation Fuel
Sibelco
Mining
1
Indigenous rights violations
Vattenfall
Energy
2
Fossil fuel use, Wood pellet biofuel use,
WWF
Conservation
2
Indigenous rights violations
WCS
Conservation
1
Indigenous rights violations
Teck
Mining
1
Pollution
Nestle
Food and Drink
1
Pollution, Indigenous rights violations, Child-slave labour, Overuse of water,
Rabobank
Banking
1
Fossil fuel financing, Financing of ecocidal companies
BCG
Consulting
1
Fossil fuel consulting, Arms consulting
Fortescue
Mining
1
Indigenous rights violations
Suzano
Paper
1
Indigenous rights violations, Pollution, Water and land overuse
Freeport-McMoRan
Mining
1
Indigenous rights violations, Pollution, Workers rights violations
So of a total of around one hundred speakers, twenty represent companies that are at best, pushing questionable climate change solutions, and at worst, are major polluters with horrific human rights records.
This looks bad, but its lacking the details that really drive home just how bad, and how little these speakers actually care about the proposed ideals of this event.
RWE continues to mine and burn Lignite, i.e. brown coal, one of the most polluting fossil fuels. They had to be forced by the German government to agree to phase out coal by 2030 in accordance with the Paris Agreement and actually tried to sue the Dutch government over their laws against coal. They are famous for their destruction of forests and villages to big up the coal beneath them. As part of their coal phase out they converted two of their coal plants to wood-pellet biofuel which experts state will not reduce but may actually increase emissions4.
Anglo American is a multinational mining giant with a horrific record of indigenous rights abuses in the territories they operate5.
Lloyds Bank is famously one of the largest funders of new oil and gas despite their policies against it. Their pledges are carefully worded to allow them to continue to profit of fossil fuels while appearing on the surface to be making progress towards sustainability6.
LanzaJet is a big pusher of Sustainable Aviation Fuel as a way to make flying “green”. While they might produce less emissions when they’re produced, we know they emit just as much when they’re used as fuel. Further, the sourcing of the ingredients for the various types of possible biofuel falling under SAF can be highly emitting, or environmentally damaging in themselves. Parading SAF as a way for airlines to continue expanding without increasing emission is dangerous and a clear case of greenwashing7.
Sibelco are another mining corporation, there sure are a lot of them speaking at this conference.
Vattenfall is a Swedish state energy company that has come under fire for its continued use of fossil fuels and its increasing use of biofuels. As with many biofuel projects these are far from green and continue to emit carbon into the air with some of the wood coming from old-growth forests that cannot be returned in our lifetime8.
WWF and the WCS are faces of wildlife conservation, and both have been involved in forced displacements of indigenous communities. The fortress conservation model used across the global south has resulted in mass displacements, and the enforcement of these new borders has lead to increased militarisation of park rangers, and the extra-judicial killings of those who simply want to return to their traditional way of life. But don’t worry, if you’re willing to pay enough, the WWF can take you on a safari in the land that used to belong to the Maasai9.
Teck is another multinational mining company who’s so heavily polluted the waters of Elk Valley British Columbia with Selenium that local Ktunaxa Nation people can no longer eat the fish from the rivers due to the bio-accumulation of the harmful element. In some places the selenium levels are hundreds of times higher than the safe level, and despite Teck’s cleaning operations the levels in areas across the region are in the 50-60µg/L range, 3000% of the 2µg/L alert level. Teck operated all the mines in the area from 2008 to 2024 till they sold them to Glencore, the problem still continues, but Teck won’t have to bother cleaning up; they just pass the responsibility down the chain10.
Nestle is well known for the amount of harm it causes. Its the subject of numerous boycotts, a major plastic polluter, it uses palm oil sourced from occupied West Papua in operations that decimate the environment, it uses cacao in its chocolate sourced from child-slave labour farms, and drains tens of millions of gallons of water a year from communities near its bottling plants11.
Rabobank is a funder of fossil fuel expansion, as well as ecocidal companies like Suzano12.
BCG are a consultancy firm that their “wealth of hands-on industry experience” to consult on how fossil fuel companies can maintain their profits amid regulation and the push to decarbonise13. In 2025, BCG were involved in a controversy with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation whose distribution points killed hundreds of people14.
Fortescue are another international mining company. They may appear to be ahead of the competition on decarbonisation, but they’re still terrible about indigenous rights. They have been in a legal battle with the Yindjibarndi people. They’ve made $80 billion in profits while destroying Yindjibarndi cultural sites and artifacts without paying them any compensation. In Wintawari Guruma lands they have cleared sacred sites without following their agreement with the Wintawari Guruma to allow them time to collect cultural relics and perform customary rituals15.
Suzano are a recent partner of Jesus College and a paper-pulp agrobusiness. They operate across massive tracts of Brazilian land originally acquired from the forced displacement of indigenous people. Indigenous groups and landless works have resisted for decades their excessive consumption of water, overuse of pesticides, intimidation and physical violence16.
Freeport-McMoRan, another mining giant who run a major gold mine in occupied West Papua, and copper mines in Peru. They acquired their rights to mine in West Papua by paying the military dictator Suharto, and ever since have been polluting the surrounding environment and committing violence against the local people. Their mines from Papua to Peru are known for their dangerous conditions, violations of workers rights and horrific environmental impact. They have been committing direct physical and environmental violence against people for over fifty years and continue to do so today17.
These are all companies that will be speaking on their sustainability credentials at NAD this year, giving each other a big pat on the back and posing for photos so they can continue to lie about their sustainability initiatives and “good work”. Don’t let them keep up the facade, we need to call out these companies for their actions, and ignore their words. They’ve lied for decades, they’re not about to start telling the truth now.
From 17th-21st of May, the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), in association with the University of Cambridge, is delivering its Multigenerational Leadership Programme. This programme, which is on its third year, hopes to “[Equip] the world’s most influential families to shape the 21st Century” — essentially providing ultra-wealthy dynasties with with the means to greenwash their inherited wealth, and tidy their public image in an environment increasingly critical of wealth hoarding and the shady dealings of the one-percent. And all this for the tidy sum of just £13,695 per person!
The course itself is advised by Iraj Ispahani of the Ispahani dynasty, and Philip Marcovici — a wealth management lawyer with a specialism in inherited wealth and whose previous clients include the Rothschilds — the sole bank of the British Royal Family.
ORCA denounces the bald-faced lie that “influential families” are necessary for shaping the future, that so much hoarded wealth in the hands of so few will ever be anything more than bloody money. The Multigenerational Leadership Programme serves only to allow billionaires to network, pat themselves on the back, and negotiate around a climate collapse that they — in their infinite excesses, decadence, and extractive business practices — are helping to orchestrate, and which they will never truly feel the brunt of. A city as divided as Cambridge, where those with the most money enjoy a 12 year life-expectancy increase over the very poorest, deserves better than a red carpet being laid out for those who are killing us.
Join us on May 17th at 2pm outside Great St Mary’s to protest CISL and the Multigenerational Leadership Programme, and KICK THE BILLIONAIRES OUT.
Let’s show them that the future is not shaped by them, it is shaped by us.
The United Arab Emirates are the main backers of the Rapid Support Forces.
The counter-revolutionary war in Sudan opposes two factions: the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Both of those have been long involved in the violence in Sudan, from the genocide in Darfur in 2003 to the crackdown on the Sudanese revolution in 2019.
Their war is now inflicting a devastating toll on the population: more than 150.000 deaths, and more than 12 millions displaced. The recent RSF exactions in El Fasher have been extremely brutal, with more than 2000 civilians dead in 48 hours.
He is head of sustainability at ADNOC and senior associate at CISL. He is also working for the UAE government.1
The Abu-Dhabi National Oil Corporation (ADNOC) is the biggest oil company in the UAE and the 12th biggest in the world, owned by the UAE government. You might know its CEO as the host of COP28.2
CISL recently told us they were not working with oil companies – this seems to have been untrue.
CISL sells executive education to emirati groups.
They also organise events in Dubai, and have strong links with financial institutions there.3 Their ambassador for the Middle East works for the World Trade Center in Dubai4.
CISL openly boast about their interventions for big real estate & tourism industry groups based in Dubai.5 Real estate and tourism is a huge part in the UAE strategy of diversification from oil&gas. These industries are part of its soft power: what helps it finance wars without facing repercussions.
What should change?
CISL must drop Ibrahim Al’Zubi and investigate their other associates for connections with the fossil fuel industry and genocide financing.
CISL must cut all ties to genocidal states. It is not ethical to sustain the economies of Israel and the UAE as they profit from atrocities.
We continue to stand against CISL’s model of extractive, colonial “sustainability”. We know it is possible for academic institutions to lend their power to grassroots justice movements. Put people over profits, and imagine a world beyond the extractivist capitalism system.
On November 23rd 2025, a group of activists representing ORCA tagged the office of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), the University of Cambridge’s premier greenwashing operation.
Through its deliberate attempts to greenwash the colonial actions of its partners – a coalition of major multinational polluters, imperialists, and arms companies, including British Petroleum, Coca Cola, and Rolls-Royce, CISL operates as a PR firm to capitulate to and justify the violent colonialism of some of the most vicious and destructive corporations in the capitalist economy. This includes profiteers of the apartheid regime in occupied Palestine, the genocide in Sudan and the Congo, and the facilitators of land-grabs in the Middle East and North Africa, with many of those companies having strong relationships with Donald Trump, Israel’s Likud party, and the Saudi royal family.
ORCA sees CISL for what it is, an attempt by capitalists and colonialists to cushion the blow of their murderous and imperialist actions in the Global South and for the university itself to hide its culpability in genocide and environmental devastation. There can be no “sustainability” while capitulating to tyrants, genocidaires, and oil barons.
On October 6th, 2025, Trump approved construction of the infamous Ambler road in Alaska. This road project links to the highway network the Ambler mining district, allowing massive mining operations.
This project, opposed by a local group called Protect the Kobuk, would massively undermine the indigenous practices. According to the US Administration own reports, this would also threaten fish and caribou habitats, on which the indigenous rely to survive. This would also impact air and water quality, and risk poisoning aquifers.
The Ambler District would be exploited by a consortium made of Trilogy Metals and South32. Trilogy Metals is mainly exploiting mines in Alaska. South32 is a mining company head-quartered in Perth, Australia. It has massive operations in Australia, South Africa, Columbia and Chile. South32 is a member of CISL’s Corporate Leaders Group, a network of executives facilitated by CISL.
Environmental assessment
The project was rejected by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in June of 2024.
Their report on the decision lists the impact of the road on the 11 major and hundreds of minor rivers the road would cross all of which are important for the feeding, breeding, overwintering, and spawning of more than 20 species of fish including species critical to the subsistence of the local communities living on the land the road will cross.
It will also cross the migratory and ranging paths of a large caribou herd in the region which acts as a major food source for over 40 communities and is set to be heavily disrupted by the developments
It also cuts through several areas used by locals to gather fruit, vegetation, and to hunt moose and fowl. The development will affect the ability of the local people to harvest several key food sources.
The construction of the road, and runoff from both the vehicles traversing it and the new mines it allows to be created, are liable to result in water pollution downstream of the crossed rivers, as well as in the surrounding wetlands affecting local water supplies and increasing the concentrations of heavy metals like lead.
Unfortunately, Trump revoked this assessment in 2025.
Involvement of the US government
As detailed above, under the Biden administration, the project was closed because the environmental assessments had failed.
But Trump revived it, and revoked the previous environmental assessments. The White House and the US department of war invested significantly in Trilogy Metals (10 and 5% respectively), the former even announced a partnership with Trilogy Metals.
The US department of war announced a partnership with Ambler Metals for strategic minerals. The mines in Ambler District will prop up the US military industrial complex, which is killing people all around the world, including participating in the genocide in Gaza.
South32 and CISL
Where’s CISL in all this?
CISL loves industry, especially if they make billions and if they can sell companies some good greenwashing. For South32, it means participating in the industry forum Corporate Leaders Groups (CLG), that CISL facilitates.
Those CLGs are full of mining companies. Mining is great for greenwashing: you can extract products from indigenous people’s land and still claim that it’s for the energy transition. CISL can even back up your claims by saying that getting out of fossil fuels will need those minerals.
See also and sources
Our social media post about this (link to be put).
