Paris Agreement Reality Check: None of Stanford’s fossil fuel funders are Paris-aligned

“Stanford is committed to the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases that cause global warming.”

“Individual companies alleged to be engaging in conduct that is abhorrent and ethically unjustified are subject to evaluation on a case-by-case basis under the [Statement on Investment Responsibility].”

Stanford Board of Trustees, June 12th, 2020

Estimated transition pathways of the worlds major oil companies

None of Stanford’s fossil fuel funders studied are Paris-aligned through 2030. Only one, Occidental, comes close.

Read the peer-reviewed paper in Science.

Chart of oil company ambition, integrity, and justice

To the best of our knowledge, all of Stanford’s fossil fuel funders are searching for new oil reserves.

Read the report on large, private companies and see below for the rest.

The following fossil fuel companies fund research that will be folded into the Doerr School.

These are in addition to those in the above report.

  • AERA

    “Aera is proud to call California home, with operations in Kern County—one of the largest oil-producing regions in the country. Aera also has active fields in Fresno, Monterey and Ventura counties, and permitting is underway in Northern Santa Barbara.

  • AkerBP

    “Aker BP’s vision is to be the leading exploration and production company within oil and gas.”

    “Equinor and Aker BP have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for transfer of the Krafla operatorship from Equinor to Aker BP, making Aker BP the operator of all discoveries in the NOAKA area – Krafla, Fulla and North of Alvheim.”

  • Aramco

    Over the next decade, we expect to continue making significant investments in our upstream operations. These strategic investments are designed to help reinforce our preeminent position in oil, maintain our maximum sustainable production capacity, and allow us to carry out an exploration and production program focused on finding and developing conventional and unconventional gas resources.

  • BHP Billiton

    “We produce oil and gas predominantly in our heartland basins of the US Gulf of Mexico, Australia, and Trinidad and Tobago. We also have appraisal and exploration programs in Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, the Western Gulf of Mexico and Eastern Canada.”

  • ConocoPhillips

    “We manage our operations through six operating segments defined by geographic area: Lower 48; Asia Pacific; Europe, Middle East and North Africa; Alaska; Canada; and Other International and Exploration. ConocoPhillips’ operating segments include a strong base of legacy production, multiple ongoing development programs that offer low cost of supply as well as low carbon intensity, and focused exploration opportunities.

  • Devon Energy

    “Devon Energy is a leading independent energy company engaged in finding and producing oil and natural gas.”

    “The company is currently targeting several Cretaceous oil objectives, including the Turner, Parkman, Teapot and Niobrara formations. Recent drilling success in these formations has expanded Devon's drilling inventory.

    “With a significant inventory of oil and liquids-rich drilling opportunities that have multi-zone development potential, Devon has a robust platform for future growth.

  • EcoPetrol

    “Ecopetrol America is responsible for the exploration and production of hydrocarbons in the US Gulf of Mexico contributing to the corporate goals set by the Ecopetrol Business Group in its 2030 Strategic Plan.”

    “Ecopetrol Permian is responsible for the exploration and production of hydrocarbons in the Permian basin contributing to the corporate goals set by the Ecopetrol Business Group in its 2030 Strategic Plan.”

  • JAPEX

    “For our E&P business, we first acquire interests in oil/natural gas fields. Such interests include all rights necessary for petroleum development, including mineral rights and exploration and development rights. In these fields, we probe geological structures and drill exploration wells at promising locations. Based on the data obtained from the exploration wells, we estimate the extent of oil/natural gas reservoirs and determine whether these reservoirs have commercial-scale reserves.”

  • JOGMEC

    “To ensure stable supplies of oil and natural gas, JOGMEC is contributing in a wide variety of areas including survey, research, development and production.”

    “JOGMEC is engaged in a wide range of activities to increase recoverable resources through advancement of state of the art technological development…”

  • JX Nippon Oil and Gas/ENEOS

    JX Nippon Oil and Gas Exploration (NOEX) is the sole upstream arm of ENEOS Group and is involved in the development and production of oil and natural gas. The following shows the basic flow of our development and production business.”

    Exploration includes searching underground for oil and gas deposits, and evaluation in the case of discovery.”

  • Matador Resources Company

    “Matador Resources Company is an independent energy company engaged in the exploration, development, production and acquisition of oil and natural gas resources in the United States, with an emphasis on oil and natural gas shale and other unconventional plays.”

  • Occidental Oil and Gas (Oxy)

    “Occidental primarily conducts its ongoing exploration and production activities in the United States, the Middle East and North Africa. Within the United States, Occidental has operations in Texas, New Mexico and Colorado, as well as offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. Internationally, Occidental primarily conducts operations in Oman, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Algeria.

    Refer to the Oil and Gas Acreage section in Supplemental Oil and Gas Information under Item 8 of this Form 10-K for further disclosure of Occidental’s holdings of developed and undeveloped oil and gas acreage.”

  • OMV

    OMV explores, develops, and produces
    oil and gas in its four core
    regions of Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the North Sea, and Asia-Pacific and produces gas in a JV in Russia 1. In 2021, daily production was 486 kboe/d (equal to 177.5 mn boe). While natural gas accounted for 59% of total production, oil and NGL flows made up 41%. At year-end 2021, proven reserves amounted to 1,295 mn boe.”

  • Ovintiv

    USA Operations includes the exploration for, development of, and production of oil, NGLs and natural gas and other related activities within the U.S. cost center.

    Canadian Operations includes the exploration for, development of, and production of oil, NGLs and natural gas and other related activities within the Canadian cost center.”

    “USA and Canadian Operations’ property, plant and equipment include internal costs directly related to exploration, development and construction activities of $49 million…”

  • Petrobras

    Oil and natural gas exploration and production are our core activities. We seek to increase our reserves and develop production to make sure we can meet the increased demand for energy.

    Most of our oil reserves are in offshore fields, which has led our drilling activities to reach ever-greater depths. Over the next five years, more than 10 new production systems are expected to come on stream, which will ensure a 5 percent growth in production by 2023. In 2019, we expect to reach total oil and gas production (Brazil and abroad) of 2.8 million boe (barrels of oil equivalent).”

  • PetroChina

    “PetroChina is at the forefront of domestic oil and gas exploration and development. We own a number of major oil and gas producing regions such as Daqing, Changqing, Xinjiang, Liaohe, Tarim and Sichuan. In 2020, we focused on risk exploration and promoted concentrated exploration, fine exploration and high efficiency evaluation in key basins and key areas. We achieved multiple strategic breakthroughs and important exploration results in Sichuan, Ordos, Junggar, Tarim and other basins, and discovered and implemented large-scale reserve areas such as Chang 7 shale oil in Qingcheng area of the Ordos Basin, and natural gas within platform of central Sichuan Basin.

  • Pioneer Natural Resources

    “ Pioneer is a large independent oil and gas exploration and production company, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with operations in the United States. For more information, visit www.pxd.com.”

    Exploration expenses, 2021: $3 million.”

    Exploration expenses, 2022: $5 million.’

  • YPF

    “The development of the Vaca Muerta shale formation has made us the leading Latin American company in unconventional hydrocarbon production.”

    “We are growing to supply electricity to Argentina. With an eye on the future, we are building new thermal power plants…”

    —Company Website

    “Argentina's YPF will start exploration in the Charagua area, in Bolivia, after signing an investment agreement with the Bolivian state-owned YPFB”

    Business Insider