The University of California system must stop taking millions from big oil | Opinion

Adam Cooper
·3 min read
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A new report from Data for Progress and Fossil Free Research identified UC Berkeley as the largest recipient of fossil fuel money among 27 peer academic institutions, including Harvard, MIT and George Washington University. According to the report, UC Berkeley alone accepted a total of $154,302,577 of research funds from 2010-2020 originating from the companies such as BP, Chevron, Shell, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and Koch Industries.

As the fossil fuel industry continues to make billions in profits, they benefit doubly by using the University of California system as their research and experimental development centers. These companies gain access to world class researchers and greenwash their planet-killing practices by partnering with trusted public institutions.

Opinion

The UC’s public repository of industrial funding reveals an additional $53 million of fossil fuel funding going to UC Berkeley, as well as $110 million to UC San Diego, $43 million to UC Davis, $17 million to UCLA and $12 million to UC Irvine. All UC schools receive funding from the fossil fuel industry, and these funds go to a variety of research areas.

Much of the research carried out by UC scientists is good research, and should be supported by government funding to eliminate any conflicts of interest. California realizes this, and pledged $100 million of their 2022 surplus for climate research to the UC. This is how research at a public university should be funded.

Research originating in profit-seeking fossil fuel companies, however, naturally favors continuing the use of fossil fuels through introduced bias in research direction and outcomes.

Energy research is a diverse field, and what we choose to research matters in the outcome of our energy supply. Fossil fuel funding pursues research projects like carbon capture and hydrogen derived from methane gas which prolongs the extraction and use of fossil fuels.

At UC Berkeley, researchers at the Energy & Biosciences Institute enjoy BP funding to explore industry-favored technologies like bio-fuels to continue the carbon economy. At UC Irvine, Sempra Energy investigates controversial new hydrogen/methane blending technologies to extend the use of its vast supply of methane gas.

At UC San Diego, the world-renowned Scripps Institution of Oceanography is heavily supported by funding from the controversial investor-owned utility companies Pacific Gas & Electric, SoCal Edison and San Diego Gas and Electric. As investor-owned utilities come under scrutiny for their environmental disasters and skyrocketing rate hikes, they benefit greatly by touting their relationship with a global leader in climate research.

Research shows that policy centers funded by fossil fuels, such as UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy, are more favorable to natural gas compared to non-fossil fuel-funded policy centers. This particular issue was brought into light recently when a utility-funded UC San Diego researcher was named as the central actor in a lawsuit against San Diego County for authoring their Regional Decarbonization Framework that heavily benefited utility company profits.

The bare minimum step to take for the UC system would be a transparent disclosure of industrial funding and a robust conflict of interest disclosure policy. Better yet, institutions should provide oversight into the acceptance of fossil fuel funding or ban it outright.

While the raw amount of funding may seem staggering, it’s only a small portion of university research budgets. Why should the University of California sell out its image as a climate leader for so little? How long will that image hold up as the public increasingly scrutinizes the fossil fuel industry and their favorite partners in higher education?

Adam Cooper is a Ph.D. Candidate in atmospheric chemistry at UC San Diego and a climate organizer with the UC Green New Deal Coalition.