How the Oil and Gas Industry Influences Higher Education

As the climate crisis worsens, global fossil fuel production is booming and oil and gas companies are reaping record profits.

While the powerful influence of the fossil fuel industry lobby on climate policy is increasingly recognized, our new research also shows how oil and gas companies are influencing universities.

We are researchers with combined expertise in just energy transitions and climate justice and the university (the title of Jennie Stephens’ forthcoming book). Together with international colleagues, we have undertaken the first comprehensive review of academic and civil society research on the fossil fuel industries’ ties to higher education in the US, UK, Canada and Australia.

Across all four countries, the research shows diverse ways in which oil and gas companies have invested in universities.

Wide range of tactics

Some of this research demonstrates how providing funding for research on fossil fuels and fossil fuel technologies steers university research toward fossil fuel-friendly approaches to addressing the climate crisis—and diverts attention from more transformative approaches.

In Canada, for example, one researcher found that 238 major fossil fuel companies and 21 industry associations were deeply embedded in 34 university and government institutes that were researching technologies aimed at making fossil fuel production “green.”

Another mechanism for fossil fuel influence is to encourage industry representatives to donate to universities and serve on university boards and boards of directors.

In the United States, for example, a former ExxonMobil executive who is now vice chair of the Board of Trustees at Northeastern University explained the context around reconnecting with the university as an alumnus, saying that his company, Exxon, offered its employees a generous matching gift program. In the context of the growing recognition of the power of big donors, our research shows that Big Oil has been encouraging philanthropy to universities for some time.

Industry-Friendly Resumes

Fossil fuel companies have also been involved in the design of university curricula that promote fossil fuel futures. In Australia, for example, dozens of fossil fuel industry representatives were involved in the development and teaching of the undergraduate program at the School of Oil and Gas Engineering at the University of Western Australia.

In the UK, an investigation has revealed that BP, Shell and Equinor advised universities on running engineering and earth science courses. Universities including Oxford, Edinburgh and University College London have admitted taking advice on degree courses from fossil fuel companies.

Providing funding for endowed professorships and fellowships, as well as supporting public lectures and conferences, are additional ways in which the fossil fuel industry partners with universities. In Canada, ConocoPhillips and Enbridge have funded professorships at the Universities of Alberta and Calgary, and in the US, Shell Oil donated $2 million to Colorado State University for an endowed chair.

In the UK, every year, students at the University of Oxford can apply for the Oxford BP Scholarships, which offer £3,000 (about C$1,600) to support their studies.

Oil and gas companies also have a presence on universities by naming buildings, hosting career recruitment events on campus, and training fossil fuel industry employees.

Read more: Renaming of universities and university buildings reflects changing attitudes and values

‘Climate obstruction’

We also review what is known about why oil and gas companies invest in universities.

Climate obstruction is the term used to describe intentional efforts to block climate action.

Research into how the fossil fuel industry has obstructed climate action and lied about climate science to deny climate change and delay climate policy has identified a sophisticated, long-term strategic effort across the industry.

A full picture of how the fossil fuel industry has leveraged higher education to block climate action and advance its interests is less understood.

A study found that university research funded by the fossil fuel industry is more favorable to natural gas and more negative to renewable energy than non-industry-funded research.

Just as funding from the pharmaceutical and tobacco industries has biased science in favor of industry, funding fossil fuels for university research has legitimized continued dependence on these fuels.

Because universities are supposed to conduct independent research, fossil fuel companies have leveraged higher education to increase their credibility, influence policy, and prolong the future of fossil fuels.

As just one example, a 2017 internal memo presented to BP by a public relations firm suggested that the company target Princeton University as a “partner” capable of “authenticating BP’s commitment to low carbon.”

The industry has leveraged universities to advocate for weakening regulations, cutting taxes and ensuring that fossil fuels are part of the mix in a low-carbon transition.

Promoting technological solutions

Our study also found that industry funding of universities has focused academic climate research on narrow technological solutions and non-transformative “false” solutions. This diverts attention, time and resources away from more systemic and structural social and economic changes that would phase out fossil fuels.

For example, industry has supported academic research into fossil fuel technologies such as carbon capture and storage and fracking. These technologies not only prolong dependence on fossil fuels, but have also contributed to increases in energy consumption and fossil fuel production.

Read more: ‘Transformative change’: Idea will be key in fight for climate and wildlife

Reveal and cut ties

Our study highlights the importance of universities disclosing their financial and contractual ties with fossil fuel companies.

Many universities have refused to disclose funding sources even when freedom of information requests have been made, citing the need to maintain confidentiality for reasons of information ownership and competition.

If universities are to prioritise the public good, cutting ties with fossil fuel companies and other extractive industries is important. More than 950 academics have called on UK and US universities to do so in an open letter.

The integrity of universities

When academics and their institutions become “captured” or strategically used by fossil fuel industries, academics’ professional interests become entangled with those of the industry. Our research shows that universities are lending academic credibility to fossil fuel futures and orienting public discourse toward industry-preferred climate change “solutions.”

The capture of academia by the fossil fuel industry undermines public trust and the integrity of universities. When higher education institutions accept fossil fuel funding, they are also inadvertently supporting and endorsing ecological destruction and human suffering.

As climate instability worsens and climate injustices deepen, humanity needs independent, publicly funded higher education institutions to advance knowledge that contributes to a healthier, more stable and equitable future.