How the fossil fuel and arms corporations finance professional engineering and science organisations
Authors: Stuart Parkinson and Philip Wood
Published: October 2019
Pages: 52
Publisher: Scientists for Global Responsibility
This report reveals a previously unrecognised pattern of financial links between the fossil fuel and arms industries on the one hand, and some of the UK’s leading professional engineering and science organisations on the other. The links revealed include funding and branding of school education programmes, sponsorship of prestige conferences and dinners, investments, major donations, and corporate membership. The professional organisations that received the most significant funding from these controversial industries were the Royal Academy of Engineering, EngineeringUK and the Energy Institute.
It shows that some of the most influential professional engineering and science organisations prominently and, at times, preferentially promoted the fossil fuel and arms sectors. This is despite these industries having serious ethical shortcomings, such as failing to take the necessary scale of action to reduce carbon emissions or continuing to export weapons that fuel conflict and human rights abuses.
Appendices
1. Association of Science Education
2. BCS - The Chartered Institute for IT
3. British Psychological Society
4. Chartered Institute of Environmental Health
9. Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining
10. Institution of Mechanical Engineers
12. Institution of Civil Engineers
13. Institution of Engineering and Technology
14. Institution of Environmental Sciences
15. Institution of Structural Engineers
16. Royal Academy of Engineering
17. Royal Meteorological Society
21. List of fossil fuel and arms corporations
2021 updates on progress
The Geological Society
Response from Geological Society
Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (IOM3)
The IOM3 did not respond.
Institute of Physics
Report on Institute of Physics
Letter to Institute of Physics
Response from Institute of Physics
Royal Meteorological Society
Updated report on Royal Meteorological Society (August 2021)
Letter to Royal Meteorological Society
The Royal Meteorological Society responded to SGR in late August and we updated the report to acknowledge that the Royal Meteorological Society does not invest in fossil fuels.
Royal Society
Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng)
Updated report on Royal Academy of Engineering (March 2022)
Letter to Royal Academy of Engineering
Institution of Mechanical Engineering (IMechE)
Updated report on Institution of Mechanical Engineering (March 2022)
Letter to Institution of Mechanical Engineering
Energy Institute
Updated report on Energy Institute (March 2022)
Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)
Updated report on Institution of Engineering and Technology (March 2022)
