ExxonMobil is expanding its research efforts with the stated goal of producing more—but cleaner—energy in the face of climate change.
The world’s biggest publicly traded oil company has been creating new partnerships with American and foreign universities in recent years totaling at least $75 million, and in May signed an unprecedented $100 million deal with the U.S. Energy Department, Axios reports. ExxonMobil also announced this morning that it has signed a five-year agreement to work with the Indian Institute of Technology to study biofuels, gas conversion and industrial sector emissions reduction.
To critics, this corporate funding casts doubt on the scientific independence of research, especially from oil and gas producers with bottom lines to protect in the face of policies targeting their products. To academics and executives involved, the partnerships are genuine and mutually beneficial as oil companies seek to adopt cleaner energy technologies and universities get deep pockets of money and expertise.
ExxonMobil’s agreement, announced in May, with the Energy Department’s national laboratory system, led by the Colorado-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory is unprecedented. At $100 million over 10 years, it’s the largest single non-federal investment in NREL’s 42-year-history.
Most of Exxon’s collaborations appear to be touting cleaner-energy technologies as opposed to, say, extracting oil and gas more efficiently. But none of the actual contracts specify that the research should go toward any one type of technology. Read the full story.
