When academics and their institutions become “captured,” or strategically used by fossil fuel industries, academics’ professional interests become entangled with those of the industry. Our research shows universities are lending academic credibility to fossil fuel futures and guiding public discourse toward the industry’s preferred climate change “solutions.”
The fossil fuel industry’s capture of academia compromises the public trust and integrity of universities. When higher education institutions accept fossil fuel funding, they are also inadvertently supporting and endorsing ecological destruction and human suffering.
With worsening climate instability and deepening climate injustices, humanity is in need of independent higher education institutions that are publicly funded to advance knowledge that contributes to a more healthy, stable and equitable future.
