UNIVERSITIES like Cambridge enjoy a special status in society. They are celebrated as bastions of excellence, academic integrity and independent research. They claim to be deeply committed to young people and their futures.
Ten months into my term as undergraduate president of the Cambridge Students’ Union, I believe my university is betraying these ideals. While its leadership talks up climate action, the university also and partnerships with fossil fuel giants that must surely still be contributing to .
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It may have that it would divest its multibillion pound endowment fund from fossil fuel-linked holdings, but Cambridge . As of now, it still hosts a , recently , and a – both of which do work on fossil fuel extraction. There is also whose research currently includes oil extraction techniques, and academic prizes and even BP-branded lab coats and Shell workbooks for some science students.
As argued in an open letter this year, these ongoing public associations with globally revered scientific institutions act as a shield against efforts to expose fossil fuel giants’ seemingly wilful disregard for the , and , ultimately helping to delay political action against them.
The millions on offer might be very tempting, but the fact is that these firms stand against everything universities claim to hold dear. , a number of fossil fuel giants have spent more than 50 years trying to obscure and discredit university-produced climate science. And they continue to lobby against basic, science-led climate legislation.
It isn’t just Cambridge. accepted £89 million in donations from oil giants alone. Nor is it just a UK issue. Most recently, a new sustainability institute at Stanford University in California sparked a backlash after to work with and accept funds from fossil fuel firms. Globally, by accepting such arrangements, elite universities continue to greenwash the fossil fuel industry on a shocking scale.
Cambridge now says it only accepts fossil fuel cash for funding climate solutions research. This totally ignores its pre-existing research partnerships focused on expanding fossil fuel extraction.
Even if we swallow the line that multibillion pound universities with can’t find funding alternatives, they can no longer ignore the glaring conflicts of interest inherent in partnering with fossil fuel companies for research aimed at addressing a climate crisis that those firms are . It would be very difficult to consider climate-related research to be independent when bankrolled by organisations still investing overwhelmingly in long-term fossil fuel expansion. It is the climate equivalent of tobacco industry funding for public health research – long since .
Our universities have such a critical role to play in asserting the scientific realities of climate breakdown. We can’t allow their integrity and independence to continue to be compromised through association with those pouring oil on the flames.
If universities’ identities as moral leaders, defenders of the scientific method and guardians of young people’s futures are to mean more than just words in a glossy prospectus, they must urgently end their cosy relationships with the fossil fuel industry.
Zak Coleman is undergraduate president of Cambridge Students’ Union, UK
