{"id":179222,"date":"2025-05-20T10:28:07","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T08:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=179222"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:49","slug":"committee-on-fossil-industry-collaboration-must-meet-moral-minimum-or-stop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2025\/05\/20\/committee-on-fossil-industry-collaboration-must-meet-moral-minimum-or-stop\/","title":{"rendered":"Committee on fossil industry: Collaboration must meet ‘moral minimum’ or stop"},"content":{"rendered":"

The university will implement rules to assess collaboration with companies in the fossil energy sector. This will determine whether partners meet a ‘moral minimum’, such as the goals of the Paris Agreement. Existing collaborations must be halted or revised.<\/p>\n

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The Committee of Experts on the Fossil Industry, chaired by strategic dean Arwin van Buuren, has explored in recent months the extent to which the university is willing to collaborate with the fossil industry. The conclusion is that collaboration remains possible, but under stricter conditions. A \u2018verification framework\u2019 has been developed to enable deans, researchers and student associations to evaluate whether a particular collaboration is still advisable. Academic freedom is central to this, as well as the gradual reduction of investments in fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

No active lobby against<\/h2>

Using the verification framework, researchers can assess whether partners from the fossil industry meet the \u2018moral minimum\u2019. This includes, for example, the objectives from the Paris Climate Agreement. Among other things, it states that the fossil industry must achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 and contribute to limiting global temperature rise to a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius. Additionally, a fossil partner of the university must not actively lobby against climate policy and regulation.<\/p>\n

For existing collaborations, the committee recommends that short-term partnerships be completed and long-term collaborations be reviewed. Parties associated with EUR, such as Erasmus Holding, RSM BV, Erasmus Enterprise and the Trust Fund, are also asked if they can uphold the same conditions.<\/p>\n

Climate emergency<\/h2>

At the beginning of 2024, the university declared a \u2018climate emergency<\/a>\u2018 and organised several sustainability dialogues<\/a> in response to student protests from OccupyEUR<\/a>. During these dialogues, it was agreed that a committee would review the partnerships with the fossil industry. The committee has been dissolved following the publication of its advice.<\/p>\n\n\t

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