Fossil fuel industry donates hundreds of millions to university climate and energy research

I'm Dr. Anthony Lizewitz, and this is Climate Connections. Fossil fuel companies profit from the world's dependence on coal, oil, and gas. Some climate activists are concerned that some of these same companies fund university research about climate and energy. I don't think there should be a space in climate research in which the fossil fuel industry is involved. Bella Kumar is a student at George Washington University and an organizer with a campaign called Fossil Free Research. She's lead author on a recent report by the Think Tank Data for Progress. Her team looked at 27 universities and found that the fossil fuel industry donated her pledged more than $600 million to the schools over a 10-year period. Kumar says funders can influence which topics are studied, and in some cases they influence how results are framed. For example, downplaying the negative impacts of burning fossil fuels. So her group calls on universities to enact stronger conflict of interest policies, increase transparency about research funders, and ultimately decline fossil fuel funding. I think any time the fossil fuel industry is involved in creating the narrative around the climate is incredibly dangerous, and the best way to mitigate that is banning fossil fuel funding. Climate Connections is produced by the Yale Center for Environmental Communication. To hear more stories like this, visit climateconnections.org. ♪♪