Energy firms to provide $225MM for research on global climate- Stanford Project to seek cut in greenhouse gases

Stanford University is launching what could be the biggest private effort ever to develop technologies to combat global warming — in collaboration with companies whose lifeblood has been the very fossil fuels that contribute to climate change.

By Glennda Chui
Mercury News

The new Global Climate and Energy Project, which will be formally announced today, will spend $225 million over the next decade to find the best ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, using money from ExxonMobil, General Electric and other companies involved in energy development and use.

The project holds enormous potential for developing technologies that can be of real use to industry, scientists and environmentalists said. But they also cautioned that the project would need true independence, without constraints from its private funders. The largest contributor, ExxonMobil, has tried to undermine some global warming research in the past.

Stanford will direct the project, hold title to any resulting patents and control the release of research results, which officials said would be distributed to scientists and the public. About half the work will be done on campus, the rest at research institutions throughout the world.

The researchers will work with the sponsoring companies, which will provide “commercial insights and expertise” in addition to money, the university said.

Lynn Orr, a petroleum engineer who is stepping down as Stanford’s dean of earth sciences to direct the project, said it is unusual in its breadth.

“It’s a collaboration on what I think is one of the grand challenges of the century — supplying the energy it will take to provide good lives to a growing world population, and at the same time do it in a way that protects the planetary systems we depend on,” said Orr.

“We’re focusing on all the technologies we can think of, not a specific set,” he said. Among the technologies to be studied are hydrogen fuel and wind and solar power.

He said the university first approached Schlumberger, a global company involved in oil and gas exploration. It agreed to kick in $25 million.

General Electric has pledged $50 million, and E.ON, Europe’s largest privately owned provider of energy services, has indicated its intention to donate $50 million.

The biggest single donor is ExxonMobil, which has pledged up to $100 million over the next 10 years. Its participation could mark a turnaround for the oil giant, which has been among the leaders in the oil industry in opposing laws to combat global warming worldwide.

Before their merger, Exxon and Mobil were major contributors to the Global Climate Coalition, an organization that worked to discredit science that indicated global warming is occurring and is caused by human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels. The coalition is now defunct, and the existence and human causes of global warming are now widely accepted.

The company’s participation in the Stanford project got mixed reactions from people involved in environmental and global change issues.

“I absolutely believe that people can see the light, and I’m hopeful,” said Stephen Schneider, a Stanford biologist who has been involved in global change research. “They have a major impact on the world, and if they’ve finally decided to do something positive, I’m pleased.”

Others said that the gesture would be an empty one unless ExxonMobil and other corporate sponsors take steps to start reducing greenhouse emissions now.

“We welcome ExxonMobil’s exploration of renewable and other safe energy sources, but we’re concerned that the company is failing to set goals to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions,” said Peter Altman, national coordinator of Campaign ExxonMobil, a group of shareholders that has been pressuring the company to do that. “They’re asking us to gamble away another five or 10 years while they pursue business as usual,” he said.

Wil Burns, a senior affiliate with the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security in Oakland said, “I think it’s hard to argue against them giving this kind of money, especially if it turns out that Stanford is truly autonomous.”

“But I think it’s incumbent on Exxon to stop trying to undermine international initiatives like the Kyoto Protocol,” he said. “Otherwise it strikes me as being at cross purposes at least, and cynical at most.”

ExxonMobil officials could not be reached for comment.

Orr said the contributing companies will have a committee that reviews the project’s budgets and can “respond to proposals from us to release funding in broad areas.” But the firms will have no say in awarding individual grants, he said; that will be up to the project directors.

He said the companies and the university are putting the finishing touches on agreements. The first grants should be awarded early next year.
Contact Glennda Chui at [email protected] or (408) 920-5453

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