fossil fuels at Princeton
Fossil fuel companies aren’t just in Princeton’s investment portfolio. They have a played a substantial role in funding climate research on campus. Since 2000, ExxonMobil and BP together have given over $35 million to the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment and the Climate Mitigation Initiative (CMI) at Princeton University. This funding calls into question the integrity of any research produced by these entities.
In 2022, Princeton dissociated from Exxon and selected other fossil fuel companies but maintained its partnership with BP. It created a new, opaque Energy Research Fund. In 2024, Princeton gutted its dissociation policy, allowing Exxon, Total and other companies to fund research again. In the fall of 2025, Princeton quietly ended its relationship with BP which had funded CMI for 25 years. No press release was issued. ​​
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10/2025 Study: Oil companies are not ‘part of the solution’ Exxon Knews
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9/5/2024 University funding from fossil fuels slowing switch to green energy – report The Guardian
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Read the 2024 study Fossil fuel industry influence in higher education: A review and a research agenda Climate Change
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Read the 2024 report In the Service of Delay: Fossil Fuel Connections to Princeton University
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9/19/2024 Elite US universities rake in millions from big oil donations, research finds The Guardian
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Exxon's years' long presence on Princeton's campus was recently detailed in The Guardian:
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Read more about fossil fuel funding of climate research on university campuses and efforts to make research fossil free.
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June 2023 My journey out of fossil fuel-funded researchNature Geoscience
