Of Australia’s 37 public universities, 26 take money from fossil fuel companies, according to new research by The Australia Institute. Fossil fuelled research centres include The University of Queensland’s Centre for Natural Gas, The Monash Energy Institute, and the University of South Australia’s Future Industries Institute. Such close links between universities and fossil fuel companies undermine the independence of universities and risk greenwashing the activities of companies profiting from climate change.

These cosy relationships are the reason that some student groups, including Stop Woodside Monash, are calling for universities to divest from fossil fuels. The tobacco industry provides a good precedent for the move. In 1994, 30% of universities accepted research funding from the tobacco industry, much of which was used to fund studies about the impacts of smoking. But by 2002 most of Australia’s universities has adopted policies that banned the acceptance of money from the tobacco industry, which put an end to this obvious conflict of interest. When will universities do the same with the fossil fuel industry?