The analysis found that oil companies have long influenced universities to focus on climate efforts that would enshrine a future for fossil fuels, despite experts' repeated warnings that the world must stop burning coal, oil and gas to avert the worst climate impacts.

"The science has been telling us that fossil fuel phase-out is the No 1 thing that we need to focus on, but within our universities, there's very little research on how to do fossil fuel phase-out," said Jennie Stephens, a climate justice professor at Maynooth University in Ireland and study co-author. "This provides some explanation for why society has been so ineffective and inadequate in our responses to the climate crisis."

Despite the authors’ efforts, the scope of fossil fuel funding on campus remains unclear because the vast majority of university research centers do not disclose their donors publicly. One 2023 report from the non-profit Data for Progress found that fossil fuel companies donated at least $700m to 27 US universities over the past decade, but the authors noted this was almost certainly an undercount.