Irresponsible Science?

The Royal Academy of Engineering maintains extensive financial ties with the arms and fossil fuel sectors, particularly in its school education programmes and high-prestige events, while lacking a specific internal environmental or ethical investment policy.

• The Royal Academy of Engineering lacks a specific internal environmental policy for its own activities and does not have a dedicated ethical investment policy, relying instead on the policies of its external investment managers.
• The academy's school education programmes are heavily funded by the fossil fuel and arms industries. Between 2016 and 2018, at least 72% of listed external funding for these programmes came from the fossil fuel industry and at least 13% from the arms industry.
• High-prestige events organised by the academy are predominantly sponsored by the arms and fossil fuel sectors, with nearly 60% of sponsoring organisations linked to the arms industry and nearly 20% to the fossil fuel industry.
• The academy's corporate partnership network includes significant representation from both sectors; as of mid-2019, 20% of its partners were from the fossil fuel sector and 15% were arms corporations.
• There is a perceived lack of ethical balance in the academy's educational resources, specifically regarding military technologies. For example, resources supported by BAE Systems on drones focused on civil and humanitarian uses while avoiding the ethical issues of military applications.
• Transparency regarding investments is limited, with the authors able to uncover information on only approximately 6% of the academy's total investments, which were valued at nearly £41 million in a recent report.

APA

Scientists for Global Responsibility (n.d.). Irresponsible Science? https://www.sgr.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-10/16-Royal_Academy_of_Engineering.pdf

Chicago

Scientists for Global Responsibility. Irresponsible Science? n.d. https://www.sgr.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-10/16-Royal_Academy_of_Engineering.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Scientists for Global Responsibility |title=Irresponsible Science? |url=https://www.sgr.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-10/16-Royal_Academy_of_Engineering.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{scientistsforglobalresponsibilityndirresponsible, author = {{Scientists for Global Responsibility}}, title = {{Irresponsible Science?}}, institution = {Scientists for Global Responsibility}, url = {https://www.sgr.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-10/16-Royal_Academy_of_Engineering.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }