University of Toronto’s environment school cuts financial ties to fossil fuels

The University of Toronto’s environment school has announced it will financially dissociate from fossil fuel companies, in a landmark win for climate activists.

The institution has committed to stop taking funds from the sector for research, sponsorships, scholarships or infrastructure such as buildings. It will also halt collaborations with the industry on events and school initiatives and cease to host fossil fuel recruitment events, while working to “increase transparency about the our funding, donations, and partnerships”.

The decision makes University of Toronto’s School of the Environment the only academic institution in North America with a commitment to fossil fuel dissociation. Princeton University made such a commitment in 2022 but walked it back this month.

The school’s decision came after months of pressure from climate advocates on and off campus.

“Faculty, researchers, and students stood together at the University of Toronto to ensure that their School of the Environment will be a place for just climate research, not an avenue for corporate influence,” said Alicia Colomer, the managing director for Campus Climate Network, a student-led advocacy group focused on eliminating oil and gas funding in academia.

School officials have been deliberating the specifics of the commitment for “well over a year”, said Steve Easterbrook, director of the school of environment.

“We heard a range of different opinions on exactly where you draw the line,” he said.

The pledge will apply to all companies that extract fossil fuels and all lobbying organizations for coal, oil or gas. Funding from utility companies will be permitted.

In October 2021, the University of Toronto committed to divesting its investments from fossil fuels by 2030. Campus activists applauded the commitment was a good step but left something to be desired. In 2022, they launched a fossil fuel dissociation campaign at University of Toronto, and in February, the group Climate Justice UofT released a report finding that the university accepted over $64m from the industry for research between 2008 and 2018.

“The report shows why we needed this commitment,” said Erin Mackey, a recent graduate of University of Toronto’s environment school who worked on the report. “Putting these new safeguards in place will help ensure that the school is not beholden to polluting industries.”

A September peer-reviewed meta-analysis found that fossil fuel companies’ funding to universities is delaying the transition away from coal, oil and gas. The authors reviewed 14,000 peer-reviewed articles about conflicts of interest, bias and research funding across all industries from 2003 to 2023, and found that only seven mentioned fossil fuels, even though coal, oil and gas are the key drivers of the climate crisis.

Separate student-led research in September found that top US universities are raking in millions of dollars from fossil fuel interests, raising concerns about conflicts of interest.

Individuals or institutions accepting oil and gas funding may have the best intentions, said Mackey, but there is increasing evidence that funding from oil and gas companies is associated with a more positive view of fossil fuels.

“Ultimately, accepting that that money changes the nature of the relationship,” making it less likely that research will be critical of fossil fuels, she said.

Easterbrook said he has seen the negative impacts of fossil fuel funding “firsthand”.

“I’ve got many colleagues across the world whose work has been directly attacked and who’ve had their work undermined by the actions of fossil fuel companies, by the actions of politicians who are taking money from those fossil fuel companies,” he said.

Even if funding does not directly influence research outcomes, it can “affect what questions researchers are asking” and also create the appearance of a conflict of interest.

“Even the perception is a problem for researchers,” he said.

The institution’s commitment will not apply to the University of Toronto at large, a “limitation” that the school acknowledged. The school is discussing a broader, university-wide policy, but it’s “very hard to to know how fast that may play out or where we might land”, Easterbrook said.

The announcement comes amid mounting pressure on academic institutions to cut ties with from fossil fuel companies on campuses across the country. Public scrutiny of the fossil fuel sector’s relationship with universities is also on the rise, including in an April report from Democrats on Capitol Hill.

“We can’t have corporations on campus if we want our universities and colleges to contribute, unimpeded, to the many existential challenges we face today,” said Michael Classens, undergraduate associate director for the University of Toronto School of the Environment, said in a statement.