Investigation examines fossil fuel industry influence at elite American universities

Fossil fuel companies pour money into prestigious American universities according to an investigation published by The BMJ.

Oil and gas companies have funded research to try to weaken messages on climate change, capture academia, and protect their interests, like tobacco companies did 50 years ago, according to investigative journalist Paul Thacker.

It is thought that today's report is the first systematic examination of fossil fuel funding influence on elite campuses.

According to Thacker, a paper published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology helped change American energy policy and kick off a boom.

Climate scientists at elite universities have normalized financial relationships with oil and gas companies, and many students are now calling for their universities to cut ties with the fossil fuel industry, according to a student at a top university.

At the turn of the century, a fresh crop of research centers to confront global warming started popping up at prestigious American universities.

Fossil fuel companies planted the seeds for the academic centers, just like tobacco companies did in the 1950s to counter research showing smoking was harmful.

Some documents show that energy companies had the same goals when they started throwing money at universities.

The first major program at an American university to tackle climate change was launched in 2000 after British Petroleum and Ford Motor Company donated 20 million dollars to the university.

Two years ago, there was an extension of the partnership with ExxonMobil.

ExxonMobil didn't say how much money it gave. The university has authorized a process to disassociate itself from fossil fuel companies that engage in climate misinformation, according to a spokesman for the school.

The movement against fossil fuel funding is gaining steam.

The fossil fuel industry's decades of deception on climate change was highlighted by students in a letter to the president of the university. Hundreds of students, alumni, faculty, and staff wrote an open letter earlier this year calling on the school to refuse fossil fuel funds.

The graduate student who signed the open letter previously worked on climate change policy for a U.S. senator and saw fossil fuel companies highlight their funding of universities when asking congressional staff to change climate bills.

Ben Franta claims that he was criticized by professors for raising problems and threatening their funding. Franta was going to join Oxford University's faculty to establish the Climate Litigation Lab.

Franta said that they can look at other industries that have funded research. To get the trust of scientists, to paint themselves as part of the solution to the wider public, and to keep an eye on what research gets done, are some of the reasons.

The dean of the Doerr School of Sustainability will partner with industry to tackle climate change, as well as the school's commitment to unbiased research, as a result of a short statement released by the school.

Carbon capture technology research is one example of the problem as it allows the idea that fossil fuel consumption can continue even if harmful greenhouse gases are sequestered.

Carbon capture is the latest ploy by the fossil fuel industry to delay action on climate change, according to an essay co-authored by a professor of economics at a university.

While carbon capture may work technically, it fails economically as the energy required to capture and transport the carbon to underground storage is too expensive.

A ExxonMobil spokesman told The BMJ that the company is focused on achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions with investments in carbon capture and storage.

Franta says that young people don't want to work in labs funded by oil companies because they want to solve climate change. He expects universities to resist efforts to remove fossil fuel funding. This is going to be an issue for a long time.

More information: Investigation: Stealing from the tobacco playbook, fossil fuel companies pour money into elite American universities, The BMJ (2022). DOI: 10.1136/bmj.o2095 Journal information: British Medical Journal (BMJ)