Extra rules for cooperation with WUR

Lately, more and more questions are being asked by (parts of) society about our cooperation with the fossil industry in view of the role companies within this industry play regarding climate change. There is a more broad and strong appeal via protests, occupation, fierce actions to (knowledge) institutions to stop cooperating with the fossil industry.

Dialogue

In recent months, in response to this, various dialogue sessions have taken place at Wageningen University & Research to explore whether and how cooperation with the fossil industry should take place. Currently, each collaboration project is assessed to see whether it contributes to Wageningen University & Research's mission. The Executive Board of WUR feels the need, desire and urgency to make transparent and stricter choices with regard to cooperation with partners that have a negative impact on climate change. At the same time, the Executive Board sees the dilemmas associated with these choices. The choices need to fit within the broader perspective on collaborations, starting from the perspective of our mission and strategic aim to contribute with knowledge and expertise to necessary global transitions through Finding Answers Together.

Additional criteria

Based on all the input from the dialogues sessions and interviews, the Executive Board has decided to sharpen the collaboration principles by adding decision criteria that assess the contribution of the cooperation partner – and not only the project – to the necessary major global transitions as described in our Strategic Plan.

Sjoukje Heimovaara, President of the Executive Board, explains the process: "The world is facing major challenges around climate, biodiversity and sustainable food production and consumption. One of the main challenges we face is to slow down and stop climate change. Businesses (not just the fossil industry) can accelerate the transition needed to achieve this, but can also slow down or even counteract it, and thus the business world plays a crucial role. The dialogue sessions we held regarding this topic provided food for thought. There is no simple, one-dimensional answer to the question how WUR should deal with this, though it is clear that there is urgency to move forward. The Executive Board has decided that WUR needs to sharpen its cooperation principles to consider the contribution of the cooperation partner as to the necessary major global transitions. We need to make this tangible and workable, adhering to our role as a scientific institution."

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Advisory group

Therefore, in the coming months, a special advisory group will take this decision forward. The group consists of people from different parts of the organization (subject matter experts and students) and is led by Professor Carolien Kroeze, chair of the Environmental Systems Analysis group at WUR.

This autumn, the advisory group will deliver an assessment framework that WUR can use to decide on cooperation with future partners. That framework will first focus on climate change and the role of fossil industry. After this, the EB will look at how this assessment framework might be applied to other transitions and other cooperation partners.

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