Harvard lawyer under fire for oil industry ties

Jody Freeman, a renowned environmental lawyer at Harvard, is under fire for her ties to the fossil fuel industry.

Freeman, a White House adviser under Barack Obama, is founding director of Harvard University’s environmental and energy law program. As co-chair of Harvard’s presidential committee on sustainability, she helps shape the institution’s response to climate change.

She also sits on the board of directors for ConocoPhillips, a leading fossil fuel company whose massive Willow oil drilling project in Alaska was recently approved by the Biden administration. Her annual compensation for the position in cash fees and stock awards totals over $350,000, SEC filings say.

Freeman was awarded a research grant last month by Harvard’s new Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability to lead an investigation into corporations’ net-zero emissions targets. But some at the university say the role is inappropriate for someone on an oil company’s board.

The Harvard Faculty Divest steering committee, a climate-focused group of professors, sent a letter last month to Harvard’s president-elect and vice-provost for climate and sustainability, questioning the decision to put Freeman in charge of the project. The group said her position on the ConocoPhillips board could create a conflict of interest or the appearance of one, which could damage Harvard’s reputation.

The Salata Institute has pledged to eschew funding from, and deny partnerships with, companies that don’t aim to move the economy away from fossil fuels, and boasts a mission to “develop and promote durable, effective, and equitable solutions to the climate change challenges confronting humanity.” Harvard has pledged to go carbon neutral by 2028 and fossil fuel-free by 2050.

The university pledged to divest from fossil fuels in 2021 after years of pressure and is now facing demands to cut other ties with oil and gas companies.

As a board member, Freeman has a fiduciary responsibility to serve ConocoPhillips’ interests, the faculty letter says.

“That’s the concern: Whose interests are being represented?” said Dr. Regina LaRocque, a professor at Harvard Medical School, who signed the letter.

Freeman, who has served on ConocoPhillips’ board since 2012, said her role at the oil company does not represent a conflict with her climate responsibilities.

“There are many ways to make a difference, and activism is very important,” she said. “I have chosen to engage in several ways, including by being an independent director on the board of ConocoPhillips to help advance the transition to a low-carbon economy.”

Ryan Lance, ConocoPhillips chairman and CEO, said Freeman has “aggressively advocated for ConocoPhillips to take tangible steps to address climate change,” and that during her tenure, the company has worked to manage climate-related risks, cut its greenhouse gas intensity, and set climate targets.

A 2021 analysis by independent climate analysis group Carbon Tracker ranked ConocoPhillips’ climate plan toward the bottom of major fossil fuel companies.

Phoebe Barr, a Harvard undergraduate and organizer of Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard, a student-led activist group, said there’s no sign ConocoPhillips is moving in the right direction on climate.

“ConocoPhillips is still doing things like the Willow Project,” said Barr.

Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard recently sent a separate open letter calling on Freeman to resign from ConocoPhillips.

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