American Chemical Society

The report by Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR) examines the American Chemical Society's (ACS) alignment between its public sustainability policies and its financial practices. While the ACS expresses concern for climate change and provides educational toolkits, SGR highlights a lack of transparency regarding $1.22bn in securities and continuing financial links to the fossil fuel industry, specifically through the Petroleum Research Fund and sponsorship from ExxonMobil. SGR argues that these ties and the absence of carbon emission targets undermine the ACS's role as a scientific leader in the energy transition.

• The ACS holds significant financial assets but lacks transparency regarding their composition, with no public disclosure of the details of its $1.22bn in publicly traded and other securities.
• The ACS manages the Petroleum Research Fund (PRF), established in 1944 by seven major oil companies, and distributed $18.1m in grants from this fund in 2020 to support students pursuing petroleum engineering.
• Despite its sustainability policies, the ACS has no established commitments or targets for reducing its own carbon emissions in line with the Paris Climate Agreement.
• The ACS maintains a corporate partnership with ExxonMobil, which served as a sponsor for the ACS Awards in 2020, despite ExxonMobil's history of casting doubt on climate science.
• The ACS's publication, C&EN, frequently discusses climate change but often emphasizes the importance of carbon capture and storage (CCS), a technology SGR considers an unreliable basis for net zero targets.
• The ACS has publicly acknowledged the urgency of climate change, specifically citing the 'dire warnings' found in the Fourth National Climate Assessment in 2017.

APA

Scientists for Global Responsibility (n.d.). American Chemical Society. https://www.sgr.org.uk/sites/default/files/2022-01/American_Chemical_Society_Report.pdf

Chicago

Scientists for Global Responsibility. American Chemical Society. n.d. https://www.sgr.org.uk/sites/default/files/2022-01/American_Chemical_Society_Report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Scientists for Global Responsibility |title=American Chemical Society |url=https://www.sgr.org.uk/sites/default/files/2022-01/American_Chemical_Society_Report.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{scientistsforglobalresponsibilityndamerican, author = {{Scientists for Global Responsibility}}, title = {{American Chemical Society}}, institution = {Scientists for Global Responsibility}, url = {https://www.sgr.org.uk/sites/default/files/2022-01/American_Chemical_Society_Report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }