Harvard professor lobbied SEC on behalf of oil firm that pays her lavishly, emails show

The Harvard environmental law professor at the centre of a conflict-of-interest row lobbied the regulator on behalf of the oil and gas company that pays her more than $350,000 a year, a new investigation can reveal.

But disclosure of the emails has triggered fresh calls for Freeman to cut ties with ConocoPhillips amid mounting anger at the corrupting influence of the fossil-fuel industry on US university campuses.

The revelations come days after the Guardian reported that Freeman won a prestigious grant to research corporate climate pledges, which led to colleagues and students raising questions about the reputational damage and conflict of interest posed by her fossil-fuel ties.

The emails show that she helped set up a meeting where ConocoPhillips executives could present their position in private before the regulator publicly requested input from investors and companies.

In a statement, Freeman said that she made the request on behalf of John Coates, a Harvard law and economics professor and then director of finance at the SEC, who asked her for contacts as he was aware of her role as director at ConocoPhillips. In an email, Coates supported her account.

The SEC put forward its proposed climate disclosure rules last year, which included requirements for companies to publish their direct and indirect emissions, and the risk posed to their business by the climate emergency. Oil and gas companies have reportedly stepped up lobbying efforts in an attempt to dilute the proposed rules, though most investors are in favour, an analysis by Harvard Law School found.

The emails also raise awkward questions for Harvard.

Harvard received $21m from the fossil-fuel industry between 2010 and 2020, according to Data for Progress, among the highest of American elite academic institutions.