Oxford University has been identified as the sixth-largest recipient of funding from fossil fuel companies among all UK universities during the 2022-23 period, as reported by an investigation
conducted by DeSmog, a climate-focused news outlet. In total, 44 UK higher education institutions received £40 million from oil and gas firms over the past year, with Oxford's share amounting to £1.2 million.
Among the 32 contributing corporations, Shell, Malaysian state-owned Petronas, and BP were the top contributors, accounting for over 76% of the total funding provided by fossil fuel companies to these institutions. Notably, major players in the oil and gas industry, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Saudi Aramco, were also involved in such philanthropic endeavors.
Oxford University had previously made a commitment to divest its endowment from fossil fuels back in April 2020. However, it has continued to maintain partnerships with oil and gas firms, using the funding for research activities and scholarship programs. For instance, in 2022, the university established two scholarships aimed at African postgraduate students studying at Saïd Business School and St Antony's College, respectively, with funding provided by Eni, the Italian multinational oil company.
In response to these findings, a spokesperson for the University stated, "Our partnerships with industry allow the University to apply its knowledge to real challenges of pressing global concern, with funding often going directly into research into climate-related issues and renewables. Philanthropic funding has been used to widen access to education and to fund scholarships, academic posts, and capital costs, while the proportion of research funding going into fossil fuel exploration and extraction has declined significantly over the last decade, and the percentage going into renewables projects has increased."
It is worth noting that the average annual funding accepted by all UK universities from sources connected to fossil fuels appears to have risen in recent years. In December 2021, openDemocracy reported that over the four years since 2017, oil and gas companies had donated nearly £90 million to UK higher education institutions, which, when averaged, would amount to a lower figure than the funding received in 2022-23.
During the same four-year period, Oxford received an average of just under £2 million annually, signifying a notable reduction in reliance on funding from these sources.
These revelations about ongoing fossil fuel funding come amidst a backdrop of a funding crisis in UK higher education. The loss of approximately £800 million annually in EU financial support due to Brexit, coupled with a prolonged period of high inflation, has left universities facing increasingly precarious financial situations. Photo by Zhushenje, Wikimedia commons.