Overview

In September 2022, the Board of Trustees voted to dissociate from 90 companies under a fossil fuel dissociation process that focused on the most-polluting segments of the industry and on concerns about corporate disinformation campaigns.

In May 2021, the Board of Trustees set in motion a process to guide Princeton University’s dissociation from fossil fuel companies that participate in climate disinformation campaigns or otherwise spread climate disinformation, and from companies in the thermal coal and tar sands segments of the fossil fuel industry unless they prove able to meet a rigorous standard for their greenhouse gas emissions. The decision was the result of a thoughtful process around the question of fossil fuel dissociation that included input from stakeholders across the campus community and culminated in a set of recommendations to the Board of Trustees from the Resources Committee of the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC).

The Faculty Panel on Dissociation Metrics, Principles, and Standards

To implement the dissociation decision made by the Board of Trustees in May 2021, the University sought impartial scholarly advice from a faculty panel with expertise in fields including environmental studies, ethics, economics, public policy and engineering. The charge to the faculty panel asked that it present its findings in a public written report. The faculty panel was also encouraged to update the broader community periodically while its work was in progress. The faculty panel presented its findings in a public written report in May 2022.

View more information on the Faculty Panel on Dissociation Metrics, Principles, and Standards.

The Administrative Committee

An administrative committee was also convened to propose to the Board of Trustees final dissociation criteria and a process for implementing them, informed by the work of the faculty panel.

View more information on the Administrative Committee.