Should universities break all ties with the fossil fuel industry? No, argues organic chemistry professor Adri Minnaard. But we should be making certain demands of Shell and others.
What a time to be a chemist. We have to try to enact both an energy and materials transition as quickly as possible in order to reach the goals set in the Paris Climate Agreement. We have to find a way to make better batteries to replace oil, gas, and coal, and we need hydrogen as an energy carrier.
But it’s not just about energy. Many of our products are made from petroleum, ranging from medication and plastic to clothing and bicycle tyres. It’s a great time to be chemist, then, since we’re uniquely qualified to take care of these transitions.
For academics, it’s important whether their universities are willing to work with fossil fuel companies to accomplish these transitions. Many of these corporations are chemical companies themselves, but let us not forget the agricultural industry.
According to their websites, these companies are working hard to become sustainable. In the meantime, however, they keep pumping up oil wherever they can, making thousands of different packaging materials, and exporting feed concentrates into the harbour of Rotterdam.
While certainly not unanimous, it’s become clear that a majority of academic chemists is in favour of collaborating with these companies on the energy and materials transitions. While we could decide to break all ties with the fossil fuel industry, would that even help?
Corporations need universities and vice versa
In order to reach the Paris goals, the economy needs to change. Corporations need universities for that, because the corporations don’t possess the necessary knowledge. Conversely, society can’t do without these corporations, either; after all, they’re the ones that have to develop the new batteries, produce hydrogen, and turn renewable resources into medication.
But how can we prevent corporations using universities for green projects as mere window dressing, all the while continuing their polluting practices? Both the chemical and other fields have some surprising answers to this question.
First of all, universities should demand that listed corporations draw up a concrete plan that’s been approved by shareholders to reach the Paris Climate goals. If they don’t, universities will the collaboration. In addition, a recent study assigned climate ratings to several oil companies, a little like how household appliances get an energy rating.
An ‘A’ rating is very good, an a ‘G’ rating particularly bad. If you use public data and don’t get too nit-picky, rating these corporations is actually pretty easy. You might have guessed it: most oil companies get a rating on par with a freezer from the 1960s. Universities would be wise to demand a minimum rating before they consent to working with these companies.
Many oil companies’ ratings are on par with a freezer from the 1960s
And another thing. In collaborations between universities and corporations, they usually agree on how to deal with intellectual property, for instance, which one of them is allowed to patent something.
It happens all too often that corporations will patent knowledge from sustainable chemistry projects but then don’t use these patents to change their production processes. That requires investments, and competitors aren’t allowed to make improvements using that same knowledge because of the patent.
Should the government come up with stricter rules for production, the corporation can always dust off the patent and change their processes. However, many of these patents contain a so-called clawback clause; under certain conditions, universities are allowed to reclaim the patent.
That is something universities should start doing: if a corporation hasn’t used a patent in the two years after it was obtained, the university will reclaim it to give it to another party who does know what to do with it.
The UG should be the first among equals to put this rule in place. This would allow the University of the North to help in the energy and materials transitions. What a time to be a chemist!
Adri Minnaard is a professor of organic chemistry at the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE)