Trinity defends sponsorship of new chair of climate change

Trinity College Dublin (TCD) has defended the sponsorship of a new chair of climate change by multi-billion-euro cement and materials giant CRH which is headquartered in Ireland. Critics have warned of a possible conflict of interest as CRH is, almost by definition, a major polluter.

Irish Cement, which is part of the CRH group, was Ireland’s third largest industrial emitter of carbon dioxide last year, its two plants in Limerick and Drogheda between them producing more than 1.7 million tonnes of carbon, according to a local news report.

The chair at Trinity has been filled by Professor Karen Wiltshire, a distinguished Irish climate ecologist and expert in coastal research.

The Trinity alumna has returned for the role from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany, where she served as vice-director in combination with a professorship in shelf sea ecology at the University of Kiel.

The sponsorship deal is worth up to €1.7 million (US$1.87 million) over a 10-year period.

The donation from CRH, which operates in 28 countries, was agreed over two years ago, and the position of chair of climate science was advertised in September 2022.

‘Attempted absolvement’

Wiltshire’s appointment was only announced by the university recently when it said: “This pioneering position is funded by CRH as part of its continued investment in research and innovation, to accelerate the transition to a more sustainably built environment.”

There has been a lively debate online and in print about the sponsorship deal and its implications.

TCD Environmental Society said partnership with CRH and other polluters amounted to “attempted absolvement of their enormous contributions to the climate crisis. It assists in greenwashing of corporations and actively shields them from scrutiny”, it said.

The outgoing environment officer of TCD Students’ Union Nathan Hutchinson Edgar argued that the donation was damaging to the university’s credentials as an institution claiming to take the climate crisis seriously.

Impactful research

Responding to criticism, the university told the student newspaper Trinity News: “We work with industry because we want to make things better. Trinity warmly welcomes CRH’s support for the Chair in Climate Science. We also look forward to the impactful research that will emerge from this position.”

Trinity Provost Professor Linda Doyle stated that “it has never been more urgent for universities to pursue ground-breaking climate research”.

The sponsorship had been discussed in advance by the Gift Acceptance Committee at Trinity – a reputation watchdog comprising university managers, academics, trustees and external members, one of whom must have “an expertise in business ethics”.

Trinity policy states that: “The committee will not set unreasonably high standards for donors and will make decisions cognisant of the significant benefit the university accrues from philanthropy.”

Wiltshire has rejected outright the notion that her title, CRH Chair of Climate Science, will have any bearing on her work. “The government that paid my salary in the past never told me what to do, and the same applies with CRH,” she told the Sunday Independent when asked about possible greenwashing.