{"id":327747,"date":"2024-05-11T08:15:53","date_gmt":"2024-05-11T06:15:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=327747"},"modified":"2024-05-11T08:15:55","modified_gmt":"2024-05-11T06:15:55","slug":"britains-royal-society-defies-the-green-blob","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=327747","title":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s Royal Society Defies the Green\u00a0Blob"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Science Matters <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Ron Clutz<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

News comes from Financial Times that the prestigious scientific Royal Society is honoring it\u2019s motto:  \u201cTake Nobody\u2019s Word For It\u201d (translation of Latin phrase above.) Of course, a great many UK academics were outraged at the refusal to take for granted their claim that \u201cClimate Science is Settled.\u201d The article by Kenza Bryan is Royal Society and academics clash over influence of oil and gas industry. <\/strong><\/a> Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three-centuries-old institution rebuffs call to
declare fossil fuel companies culpable for global warming<\/mark><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A clash between Britain\u2019s 363-year-old Royal Society and more than 2,000 UK academics<\/strong> has escalated over the national academy of scientists\u2019 refusal to attribute the role of oil and gas companies in climate change.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The academics had expressed their concerns about the influence of fossil fuel companies on scientific research<\/strong> in a letter last year to the Royal Society, founded in 1660 as a fellowship that included the likes of Isaac Newton.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Royal Society has now rebuffed their request to issue an \u201cunambiguous statement about the culpability of the fossil fuel industry in driving the climate crisis\u201d.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Treasurer Jonathan Keating wrote\u00a0in reply<\/strong>\u00a0last week that it would \u201cnot be appropriate\u201d to do so, as\u00a0there was a need for \u201cmultiple actors\u201d to engage with the complexity of the climate crisis.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The academics\u2019 concerns about the influence of oil and gas companies extend to separate allegations that ties to BP were not disclosed<\/strong> by a Cambridge professor in a Royal Society policy briefing document produced by a working group that he chaired in 2022.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Andy Woods held the title of head of the BP Institute,<\/strong> a research arm that it funds, which was renamed the Institute for Energy and Environmental Flows by Cambridge last year. He also has the formal title of BP professor, a position endowed by the oil and gas company. These affiliations were not included in the reference in the document.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Royal Society briefing document called for an \u201cenormous and continued investment\u201d into geological carbon capture and storage<\/strong>, a technology promoted by the fossil fuel industry as a way to keep expanding while storing the emissions.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A CO\u2082 storage adviser to BP and a director for CO\u2082 storage at the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate also contributed to the report. Woods\u2019s expertise in geophysical fluid flows and the BP affiliation are listed elsewhere by the Royal Society in its fellowship directory. BP and Woods did not respond to a request for comment. The Royal Society said the document gave \u201cclear affiliations\u201d for contributors and that it publishes a wide range of research.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tensions reflect the discord in academia about funding or
participation in research by oil and gas companies, as well as
rising activism on campuses among the student body and staff.<\/mark><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Royal Society\u2019s decision not to call out the industry was described as \u201cmoral cowardice\u201d by James Dyke<\/strong>, earth system science professor at Exeter university.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another signatory to the original letter, Bill McGuire, professor of geophysical and climate hazards at University College London, said it was\u00a0\u201cmind-boggling\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0that a respected scientific organisation would not attribute the role of fossil fuel groups in climate change.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Student campaigners at Oxford university have also targeted the author of a set of green principles used by the university to help guide decisions on whether to invest in or receive grants from oil and gas companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under freedom of information provisions, the student campaigners identified Myles Allen, the university\u2019s head of atmospheric, oceanic and planetary physics, as having had 18 meetings where a representative was present from one of the major oil and gas groups, including either BP, Shell, Exxon or Equinor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Those meetings in 2021 and 2022 included five occasions organised by Shell, three of which focused on the oil and gas group\u2019s strategy and climate scenarios, according to the freedom of information response.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allen, who was head of the Oxford Net Zero research initiative<\/strong> until earlier this year, told the Financial Times he had used the meetings<\/strong> to highlight the need for fossil fuel companies to pay for carbon capture and storage technologies.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a solution to the reduction of future carbon dioxide emissions that he has long advocated.\u00a0\u201cWe all have a duty to help the fossil fuel industry not make the problem worse but to fix it,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Oxford said its \u201cpartnerships and collaborations with industry\u201d allow for research on pressing global issues,<\/strong> including climate-related ones.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The campaigners\u00a0called on Oxford<\/strong>\u00a0to conduct an independent assessment\u00a0about its approach to fossil fuel sector donations and investment<\/strong>. Cambridge university in March temporarily stopped accepting grants and donations from the sector in response to similar concerns.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three-centuries-old institution rebuffs call to
\ndeclare fossil fuel companies culpable for global warming<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":327759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691828560,691818056,691818886,691822197,691818154],"class_list":{"0":"post-327747","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-britains-royal-society-2","9":"tag-climate-change","10":"tag-fossil-fuel","11":"tag-green-blob-2","12":"tag-net-zero","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/OIG1.Wlzq6ZOyLXWUN9.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1ngf","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":347766,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=347766","url_meta":{"origin":327747,"position":0},"title":"The Energy Crisis Commission is Just Another Green Blob Front","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"20\/10\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Another day, another green report. 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