Fossil fuel companies' funding of climate-focused initiatives at universities is slowing the green transition, according to the largest peer-reviewed study to date of industry's influence on academia.
About the research published in the journal “WIREs Climate Change” Six researchers on Thursday scrutinized thousands of academic papers on industry research funding from the past two decades, finding that only a handful of papers focused on oil and gas companies, indicating an “alarming lack of attention” to the issue.
But even that limited research shows a pattern of industry influence that “put the academic integrity of higher education at risk,” the researchers wrote.
Over the past two decades, nonprofits, university organizers, and a handful of academics have sounded the alarm about oil companies' influence in academia. tobacco, Pharmaceuticals and food A producer who also funds scholarships.
So New ResearchThe researchers found that of nearly 14,000 peer-reviewed papers on conflict of interest bias and research funding across all industries from 2003 to 2023, only seven mentioned fossil fuels. When the authors broadened their search to include book chapters, they found only seven more.
But after reviewing the limited existing academic research, the authors identified hundreds of cases in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia where the oil and gas industry had funneled money into climate and energy research by sitting on advisory committees or boards, endowing academic positions, sponsoring scholarships, advising curricula or influencing universities.
“We find that universities are an established yet understudied tool in the fossil fuel industry's efforts to thwart climate change,” the authors write.
The analysis found that oil companies have for years lobbied universities to focus on climate action that would seal the future of fossil fuels, despite repeated warnings from experts that the world must stop burning coal, oil and gas to avoid the worst climate impacts.
“The science tells us that phasing out fossil fuels is what we should be focusing on most, yet there's been very little research done in universities about how to phase out fossil fuels,” said Jenny Stevens, professor of climate justice at Maynooth University in Ireland and co-author of the study. “This goes some way to explaining why society has been so ineffective and inadequate in responding to the climate crisis.”
University relationships between fossil fuel companies can lead to research bias and real or perceived conflicts of interest, the authors write.
“Our goal is to defend scientific integrity,” said Jeffrey Soupran, an associate professor at the University of Miami who studies fossil fuel industry messaging and co-authored the study. “We want to warn academics and university leaders that they may be pawns in a propaganda plot.”
For example, BP pumped between $2.1 million and $2.6 million into Princeton University's Carbon Mitigation Initiative between 2012 and 2017, which produced research on ways to decarbonize the economy.
“It is noteworthy that of the decarbonization scenarios outlined by the initiative, only one did not include a significant role for a combination of fossil fuels and negative emissions technologies,” Supran said.
The study focuses on an internal 2017 campaign strategy memo delivered to BP by its public relations firm, which suggested targeting Princeton as a “partner” that could attest to “BP's low-carbon commitment” despite the company's ongoing commitment to expanding fossil fuel production that contributes to global warming.
As another example, an influential 2011 study by the MIT Energy Initiative called gas a “bridge to a low-carbon future,” even though it is a fossil fuel that warms the planet. Several of the study’s authors had financial ties to and were funded by major oil and gas companies.
“This report helped position natural gas, fossil gas, as part of the climate change agenda,” Stevens said, “and seemed to reinforce the Obama administration's 'All of the Above' strategy,” he added, referring to the former president's pledge to support both fossil fuels and renewable energy.
As an earlier example, in 1997, when Exxon was appealing a $5 billion punitive damages award following a massive oil tanker spill in Alaska, it paid a Harvard Law School professor to write about “why punitive damage awards are inappropriate in today's civil justice system,” the study noted.
Reached for comment, a spokesman for the American Petroleum Institute, a US fossil fuel lobbying group, said: “The US oil and natural gas industry continues to work with experts and organisations committed to advancing solutions that address climate change, meet growing demand and ensure continued access to affordable, reliable American energy.” The Guardian also contacted BP, Exxon, Princeton, Harvard and MIT, but none were immediately available for comment.
There is Some evidence The study found that funding from oil and gas companies is associated with more positive views of fossil fuels, and the authors argue that ties to polluting energy companies may also influence internal university decision-making.
For example, universities that rely on fossil fuel funding may be less likely to pull endowments from that sector, Sprun said.
Despite the authors' efforts, the extent of fossil fuel funding on campuses remains unclear, as the majority of university research centers do not publicly disclose their donors. 2023 report from nonprofit Data for Progress They found that fossil fuel companies have donated at least $700 million to 27 US universities over the past decade, though the authors noted that this is almost certainly an underestimate.
Universities can sometimes resist calls for transparency. A few years ago, Emily Eaton, one of the co-authors of the new study, called on Canadian universities to reveal their fossil fuel funders. When the universities refused, she took them to court, and in 2021 a judge ruled that The judge ruled in her favor..
The report comes amid growing public scrutiny of university ties to the oil industry, including a report by Congressional Democrats in April, and amid growing efforts at universities across the country to call for academic institutions to “divest” from fossil fuel companies.
“This literature review confirms what students in our movement have known for years,” said Jake Rowe, executive director of the Campus Climate Network, which pressures universities to cut ties with the oil industry. “Big oil has infiltrated academia to gain undeserved credibility and undermine climate action.”
Mr Stevens said the government should provide more public funding to universities to avoid such conflicts in the future.
“Increased public funding would help them act in the public interest,” she said.
