Imperial appoints Chevron director as president

Imperial College is one of the world's top ten universities. Amongst its many departments and academic centres we find the Grantham Institute for Climate Change (GICC), a well-regarded academic centre. The GICC studies climate change and the necessary policy responses to it.

Today, Imperial announced the appointment of a distinguished academic, Alice P Gast, as the new President of Imperial from September next. Gast is a chemical engineer with experience as academic leader. More relevant to Cassandra Gast, as president of LeHigh University, signed the University’s Climate Commitment to "create institutional policies and procedures to manage the development and implementation of a university-wide plan that affirms our commitment to protect and improve the environment through our teaching, research, faculty, student and staff service, and administrative operations."

So we should all be pleased?

Not quite. Gast is also a Board member of Chevron!  Yes, that's the Chevron, the second largest oil company in the US.

Last January Chevron CEO, John Watson, was asked about greenhouse gas emissions. He said "... the countries with the best environmental practices are the wealthiest."  Now there's some truth in that if you look at air and water standards and habitat protection but as a comment on greenhouse gases it's barking mad. It's the rich countries whose emissions have driven and are driving climate change. It's the rich countries that have failed to meet their Kyoto commitments. (Except the US, of course, which has refused to make any!)

But the real problem with Chevron is not what is says but what it's doing. And what it's doing is spending ever more on finding and extracting fossil fuels - $33 Billion in  2013 - "from wherever it hides in the Earth's crust". So Chevron's policy is to increase climate change.

What can Prof Gast be doing in that company?  And what will the good people in the Grantham Centre make of their new President?

Chevron is in the midst of an enormous cycle of investment aimed at extracting oil and gas from wherever it hides in the earth's crust.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-12-chevron-ceo-energy-crucial.html#jCp

AP: How should society go about reducing greenhouse gas emissions?
WATSON: If you look around the world, the countries with the best environmental practices are the wealthiest. There's a reason for that. If you're worried about where your next meal is going to come from or shelter over your head, your focus is on those things


Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-12-chevron-ceo-energy-crucial.html#jCp

AP: How should society go about reducing greenhouse gas emissions?
WATSON: If you look around the world, the countries with the best environmental practices are the wealthiest. There's a reason for that. If you're worried about where your next meal is going to come from or shelter over your head, your focus is on those things


Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-12-chevron-ceo-energy-crucial.html#jCp

AP: How should society go about reducing greenhouse gas emissions?
WATSON: If you look around the world, the countries with the best environmental practices are the wealthiest. There's a reason for that. If you're worried about where your next meal is going to come from or shelter over your head, your focus is on those things


Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-12-chevron-ceo-energy-crucial.html#jCp