An investigation found fossil fuel companies have backed climate research at major U.S. universities for more than three decades—funding entire centers, jobs, and campus operations. The support helped shape global climate models and policy approaches that, cri
For more than 30 years, fossil fuel companies have been underwriting climate research at prestigious U.S. universities—supporting not just individual projects, but the infrastructure around them.
An investigation by ProPublica and Drilled found that corporate funding has helped amplify the work of scientists promoting the idea that the climate crisis can be addressed without breaking the country’s dependence on oil. gas. and coal. The research produced in those universities. the investigation says. went on to influence global climate models and the policy and technology solutions adopted by governments around the world.
The concern at the center of the findings is how that chain of influence played out. The work, the investigation says, fostered a misperception that climate change could be solved without dramatically curtailing fossil fuels—an idea that critics argue delayed emissions cuts for decades.
The funding described is extensive. Corporate sponsors. the investigation says. paid for entire centers. covered the salaries of researchers. maintained offices on campus. and in some cases had veto power over projects. Companies involved, the report adds, say they are supporting innovation and that the science they fund is needed. Universities, for their part, say sponsorship—when paired with safeguards—can strengthen research programs while preserving academic independence.
Benjamin Franta, an associate professor of climate litigation at University of Oxford, argued that the scope of the support amounts to the “colonization of academia.”
The dispute is not only about funding dollars; it’s about what those dollars helped legitimize and what they may have sidelined. If climate models and policy tools were shaped under sponsorship designed to keep fossil fuels central. then the consequences aren’t confined to lab notebooks—they show up in the pace and direction of national and international action.
fossil fuel funding climate research universities ProPublica Drilled global climate models academic independence oil gas coal
So basically they bought the scientists? sounds about right.
I’m confused how “veto power” would even work at a university. Like don’t they have boards? Either way, funding influencing climate models feels like a conflict, not just “innovation.”
Wait, I thought fossil companies *proved* climate change is real? So now it’s “misperception” that we can solve it without stopping oil and gas… but aren’t models always based on assumptions anyway. Seems like the article is just saying everything got delayed, but like by who? Also “colonization of academia” is a wild phrase lol.
This is why I don’t trust any of it. If the same companies that make money off gas are paying for research centers for 30 years, of course they’ll push the narrative that you can keep using fossil fuels “without breaking dependence.” And then people act like the policy decisions were totally natural. I bet the universities knew and just called it partnerships.