Despite the government’s own stated goals in the face of global warming of “reducing our use of fossil fuels, and replacing them with non-fossil sources”, huge sums of public money are being spent on research of direct use only to the massively profitable, and highly damaging, oil and gas industries.
Author of the report, Greg Muttitt of PLATFORM, said “Climate change is the biggest environmental threat facing mankind at present. It is shocking that while we urgently need to be reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, government and academic institutions are taking us in exactly the opposite direction.”
The report shows that:
§Universities contribute about 1000 research projects, worth £67 million, every year to the oil and gas industry.
§60 per cent of this is funded by public money.
§Oil companies have effectively captured higher education by infiltrating every level of academic decision making: both universities and government prioritise boosting corporate profits over solving major public problems such as climate change
Author of the report, Greg Muttitt of PLATFORM, said “Climate change is the biggest environmental threat facing mankind at present. It is shocking that while we urgently need to be reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, government and academic institutions are taking us in exactly the opposite direction.”
The report shows that:
§Universities contribute about 1000 research projects, worth £67 million, every year to the oil and gas industry.
§60 per cent of this is funded by public money.
§Oil companies have effectively captured higher education by infiltrating every level of academic decision making: both universities and government prioritise boosting corporate profits over solving major public problems such as climate change