UC Berkeley Officially Signs $500 Million Partnership with Energy Giant BP

UC Berkeley signed off on its $500 million partnership with energy giant BP this morning in the largest deal the campus has ever entered with a corporation.

The deal was officially sealed today in Houston, Texas, with the signature of Robert Malone, president of BP America.

Wyatt R. Hume, UC executive vice provost and vice president for academic and health affairs, signed the deal on Monday. William Tucker, executive director of technology transfer and research administration for the UC Office of the President, signed the contract Friday, said campus spokesperson Robert Sanders.

Over the next 10 years, BP will give half a billion dollars to researchers at UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to conduct biofuel research with BP at the new Energy Biosciences Institute.

The research will focus on developing plants that can be used to create biofuels, methods of breaking down those plants to turn them into fuel and the global economic, social and cultural impacts of biofuel production, Sanders said.

The deal was first announced in February, but was delayed by contract negotiations for several months. It has since faced criticism from abroad and from UC Berkeley students, professors and community members who say the corporate presence could taint academic freedom on campus.

Sanders said the deal is significant for both UC Berkeley and the beginning of developing solutions to global warming.

“There is a long history of Berkeley researchers making great contributions to society and we hope this will be one of them,” Sanders said.

The specific project proposals and participating researchers have not yet been finalized, he added.

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