Princeton reverses ban on funding fossil fuel company research

VaselineOctober 8, 2024

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Princeton reverses ban on funding fossil fuel company research

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Princeton University has reversed a policy that severely restricted fossil fuel companies’ funding of academic research after pressure from faculty members and concerns that the rules risked hindering work on environmental challenges.

Environmental activists criticized the move because Princeton has gone further than most of its peers in divesting oil, gas and coal groups from its endowment and “disentangling” its research from fossil fuel company funding.

In a letter to its academic staff, first published in the student newspaper, three senior university officials said the rules adopted by Princeton just two years ago “adversely and unfairly affected the scholars of whose research programs address pressing environmental issues”.

“They have lost not only external funding for research to combat the negative effects of climate change, but also access to collaborative partnerships focused on important work that is aligned with the university’s values,” the officials wrote.

Under its new approach, Princeton’s endowment will maintain its commitment to divest from fossil fuel companies, but faculty members will be free to accept funding from them for specific research projects “aimed at ameliorating the environmental damage of carbon emissions.” , as long as they retain the academic freedom to publish the results.

As of January, Princeton had severed funding ties with 29 companies since the rules were implemented in 2022. The list of fossil fuel groups it had identified for possible “divestment” has since grown from 90 to 2,371, though he had no connections. with most of them.

The university said it would no longer update a number of companies it would divest from, including BHP, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil, but would continue to disclose all external funders and how much they gave each year.

Its most recent report on research sponsorships shows contributions including nearly $3.4 million from BP, $848,000 from ExxonMobil and $120,000 from Shell in 2023.

An investigation by congressional Democrats released this year found several examples of oil companies partnering with universities to boost their business strategies, including a BP spreadsheet that assessed how Princeton’s research plans , Harvard and Tufts aligned with his priorities.

Stephen Pacala, who has led the Carbon Mitigation Initiative, a BP-Princeton partnership, for 25 years emphasized that its academic integrity has never been threatened.

“I’ve published maybe a thousand papers and never one on how to get more fossil fuels out of the ground. They were all about climate change and the energy transition,” he said.

Princeton’s decision comes as universities face growing calls from students and faculty to disclose and sever their research ties to fossil fuel companies. Colombia recently organized a committee to consider the future acceptance of fossil fuel financing.

In June, however, a Stanford University committee recommended against dissociating from industry, warning that it could have an “inhibitory effect” on academic freedom.

Alicia Colomer, managing director of the Campus Climate Network, formerly of Fossil Free Research, called Princeton’s change a setback for the divestment movement and warned that its new railings risk justifying “false industry-friendly solutions.”

“Students are really going to have to organize their campuses and raise the stakes for universities to take this step, because right now there’s not that big of a precedent to point to in the US,” she said.

Alexander Norbrook, a student at the Sunrise Princeton activist group, said: “It’s total hypocrisy. They recognize that companies violate the university’s core values and still take their money. That means selling securities for short-term financial gain.”

Princeton’s tax filings show the university directly owns Petrotiger, a private investment company that owns stakes in energy companies. Its commitment to divest from fossil fuel groups protects Petrotiger because it only covers public companies.