University of Cambridge to refuse funding from fossil fuel companies

The University of Cambridge will halt funding from fossil fuel companies, after a campaign from its students and academics.

The decision to halt funding until a review is carried out follows recommendations in a report commissioned by the university last year.

It was formally adopted in a meeting on Friday.

The move was first reported by the Financial Times, which said the university had accepted £19.7 million from oil giants BP and Shell between 2016 and 2023 in philanthropic and research funding.

It is understood to be the first time that a British university has ended research funding partnerships with the fossil fuel industry.

The report, written by former UN climate change envoy Nigel Topping, was commissioned after a group of academics submitted a formal proposal to the university’s senate calling on it to “cease collaboration of all forms” fossil fuel companies.

The university has a target to reach net zero in greenhouse gas emissions by 2038, and previously announced it would divest from all direct and indirect investments in fossil fuels by 2030.

In the report, Mr Topping said “due diligence finds that no fossil fuel companies are aligned with the university’s level of ambition”.

Technical collaboration

But he did not recommend that the university stop non-funded “technical collaboration” with fossil fuel companies.

The report also noted that fossil fuel companies made up only around 0.4 per cent of the university’s research and philanthropic funding.

Jason Scott-Warren, a Cambridge professor of early modern literature who had backed the ban, told the FT: “Accepting funding from fossil fuel companies validates the industry at a time when it is threatening the future viability of life on earth, including by developing new oil and gas infrastructure.”

A Shell spokesman said: “Shell UK has a long-standing and valued relationship with the University of Cambridge and since 2021 all of our work together has been entirely focused on the energy transition. Our work with academic partners aims to accelerate the energy transition by bringing together the brightest minds, with the right resources behind them, as well as the commercial ability to scale-up and implement new solutions fast enough to make a difference.

“Shell has a target to become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050, delivering more value with less emissions through a strategy which balances providing energy security today with investing in the low-carbon energy solutions of the future.”