Princeton modifies implementation of fossil fuel dissociation process

The modification of the fossil-fuel dissociation process was explained in this Oct. 3 letter to the faculty from Provost Jennifer Rexford, Dean of the Faculty Gene Jarrett and Dean for Research Peter Schiffer:

Dear Colleagues,

As you are aware, Princeton dissociated from segments of the fossil fuel industry in 2022. This action was the result of a community-initiated, two-year process that engaged a range of campus stakeholders. Informed by learnings from the first two years of implementation, we have modified our approach to fossil fuel dissociation. Going forward, the University will permit the acceptance of research funds from companies that meet the dissociation criteria if and only if those funds will be used for research projects that aim to produce environmental benefits.

Fossil fuel dissociation was the University’s first dissociation action that directly affected Princeton’s research enterprise. We have found that our initial approach not only had broad implications for current and future research projects, it also had a disparate and unfair impact across our faculty. Specifically, the implementation of fossil fuel dissociation adversely and inequitably affected scholars whose research programs are addressing pressing environmental problems. They lost not only outside funding for research to combat the harms of climate change, but also access to collaborative partnerships focused on important work that is aligned with the University’s values. 

Moving forward, the University will permit the acceptance of research funds from companies that meet the dissociation criteria only under this limited set of circumstances:

1. The research funds may support only research projects aimed toward the amelioration of the environmental harms of carbon emissions.
2. Faculty supported by the research funds will retain the academic freedom to publish their results. This condition is consistent with the University’s broad approach to corporate sponsored research. 
3. This modification covers only sponsored research grants that support research projects; it does not apply to broad funding agreements or gifts, such as discretionary funding not specifically geared toward the costs of research projects and collaborations that meet the above criteria. Nor does the modification apply to any grants predicated on obtaining special recruiting privileges or similar kinds of preferential access that go beyond typical interactions associated with research collaborations.

When a project is proposed that involves accepting funds from a company that meets the dissociation criteria, the Dean for Research, in consultation with the University Research Board, will convene an ad hoc expert faculty committee to review the proposal. The committee’s recommendation will be shared with the Dean for Research, the Dean of the Faculty, and the Provost, who will jointly make a final determination. The goal is to integrate this review into our standard sponsored research funding review processes. Questions about the implementation of this process should be directed to the Office of the Dean for Research, [email protected].

The University will continue to evaluate fossil fuel companies annually by using the dissociation criteria established in 2022. Princeton will neither invest in nor engage in financial relationships with companies that meet the criteria except for the potential acceptance of research funds under the limited circumstances described above.

As of January 2024, Princeton has dissociated from 29 companies with which it had recent financial relationships. Going forward, the University will no longer publish the names of companies that meet the dissociation criteria and with which Princeton has had a relationship in the recent past.  Princeton will continue to publish the dissociation criteria and the data sources, the Global Oil & Gas Exit List and the Global Coal Exit List, remain available. The University’s annual sponsored research report lists all corporate entities that fund research grants at Princeton.

We believe these modifications to the University’s fossil fuel dissociation process are consistent with the longstanding guidelines that encourage the University to respond to dissociation and divestment proposals in ways that “offer at least some possibility of constructive impact” and are “consistent with the fundamental character of the University as an academic institution.”

Best regards,

Jen, Gene, and Peter

Princeton completes endowment divestment of oil and gas stocks; updates list of companies subject to fossil fuel dissociation

Princeton University Investment Company (PRINCO) has completed its divestment of endowment holdings in publicly traded fossil fuel companies. In a minority of cases, all involving indirectly held companies where an immediate sale was not possible, PRINCO has taken offsetting positions, known as “hedges,” that effectively neutralize the endowment’s ownership of those companies.

As part of the University’s annual evaluation of companies that are involved in the thermal coal or tar sands segments of the fossil fuel industry, the Board of Trustees of Princeton University voted last month to update the set of companies subject to dissociation. The number of companies subject to dissociation has expanded from 90 to 2,371, because of newly available data from commercial industry data providers.

The vast majority of these companies have no prior financial relationship with the University and would be highly unlikely candidates for any association. For clarity, therefore, we are only listing below the dissociated companies with which the University has a current or recent relationship that involved a financial component.

Eight companies have been removed from the dissociation list because they no longer meet the criteria: Bathurst Resources, Intra Energy Corp, Mercator Ltd, Mongolia Energy Corp Ltd, Oxbow Carbon LLC, Refex Industries Ltd, Thoroughbred Resources LP and TotalEnergies SE.

For more information on Princeton’s dissociation process, please see these FAQs and this background.

The earlier list of companies subject to dissociation has been removed. 

Princeton dissociates from segments of fossil fuel industry

The Board of Trustees of Princeton University voted earlier this month to dissociate from 90 companies pursuant to a fossil fuel dissociation decision made last year that focused on the most-polluting segments of the industry and on concerns about corporate disinformation campaigns.

As a step toward the Board’s related commitment to achieving a net-zero endowment portfolio over time, the Princeton University Investment Company (PRINCO) will also eliminate all holdings in publicly traded fossil fuel companies. PRINCO will also ensure that the endowment does not benefit from any future exposure to those companies.

The companies subject to dissociation (listed below) are all active in the thermal coal or tar sands segments of the fossil fuel industry, which are among the sector’s largest contributors to carbon emissions. The quantitative criteria used to determine the dissociation list were based on recommendations made by a panel of faculty experts in a report submitted in May.

Informed by that report, the Board determined that the bar for dissociation on the basis of disinformation is exceedingly high, especially in the absence of quantitative standards and in light of the University’s commitment to embracing the vigorous exchange of ideas. The Board may in the future identify companies that meet this exceedingly high bar.

“We’re grateful to the Princeton faculty members who dedicated their time and expertise to addressing an important and challenging set of questions,” said Board Chair Weezie Sams. “It is thanks to their work, and the engagement of many members of the University community, that we’re able to take these steps today.”

The board’s vote is the culmination of a community-initiated two-year process that included input from stakeholders across the campus community. The University will also establish a new fund to support energy research at Princeton, in part to offset research funding no longer available because of dissociation.

“Princeton will have the most significant impact on the climate crisis through the scholarship we generate and the people we educate,” said President Christopher L. Eisgruber. “The creation of this new fund is one of several ways that the University is helping to provide Princeton researchers with the resources they need to pursue this work.”

For more information on Princeton’s dissociation process, please see these FAQs and this background.

The earlier list of companies subject to dissociation has been removed.