Figures released by Greenpeace show that the University of Cambridge has accepted £26 million in research funding and donations from mining and fossil fuel companies.

The data, obtained by the organisation in a series of Freedom of Information requests, shows that Cambridge received £15.5 million in donations and £10.2 million in research funding from energy companies over the last five years.

39 universities who responded to Greenpeace’s requests received £134 million, the organisation found. Cambridge’s figure is second only to the University of Manchester, which took £27.7 million.

The University of Oxford declared only £11.3m in received funding. However, the true total could be far higher, as the university included only estimates of donation income and provided no figure for its partnership with Shell under corporate confidentiality.

Environmental groups fear that accepting the funding is unethical and hampers efforts to combat climate change.

They are also concerned that the independence of the research produced from such funding could be in question.

“Such large funding can and will influence research agendas, steering [universities] towards fossil-fuel-related R&D rather than urgently needed alternatives,” said Dr Stuart Parkinson, Executive Director of pressure group Scientists for Global Responsibility. “This is very likely to undermine progress in tackling climate change.”

BP, one of the companies revealed in Greenpeace’s findings to have invested significant sums in Cambridge and other institutions, has a longstanding association with the university.

In 2000, the company donated £22m to establish the BP Institute for Multiphase Flow “to understand how gases and fluids move”.

A 2009 university press release into the centre states: “Multiphase flow is an area of great interest to BP as it underpins all parts of its business: from enhancing oil recovery to delivering it to customers, and from refining hydrocarbons to investing in a low-carbon future.”

BP, Shell and EDF also sponsor the universtiy Engineering Society. BP has an Executive Sponsor for Cambridge, David Eyton, currently BP Group’s Head of Research and Technology, first joining the company in 1982 after graduating from Cambridge with a degree in engineering.

Student divestment groups were dismayed at the news.

Angus Satow, Campaigns Officer at the Zero Carbon Society, which campaigns to make the university free from fossil fuels, said: “The fossil fuels industry has its tentacles wrapped around our university.

“With £25 million of dirty fossil fuel money pouring into Cambridge University’s coffers, how can it possibly foster an independent research environment? If our University is serious about its commitment to the future it needs to reclaim its independence and kick these polluters out.”

A spokesperson for the Zero Carbon Society also said: “There can be no role for fossil fuel companies in a sustainable future.”

“Last week the university issued a fundraising plea entitled ‘Dear World’, positioning itself as the driver of a better future. If it wants anyone to respect that, it needs to ditch the fossil fuel links and get dirty money out of Cambridge.”

Student-run ethical investment campaigns have been growing in size in recent years, with the CUSU Ethical Affairs team and Positive Investment Cambridge also pressuring the university to divest from fossil fuels.

A CUSU motion was passed on 11 November 2013 calling on the university to “explicitly commit to pursuing low-carbon assets and withdraw their investments from companies whose main business is the extraction or production of fossil fuels”.

In May 2015, the University Council voted to support an investigation into making the university’s endowment more “environmentally and socially responsible”.

Ellen Quigley, CUSU’s Socially Responsible Investment Officer and spokeswoman for Positive Investment Cambridge, hailed the “courageous step, unique among institutions wrestling with this issue”.

“The university has shown us great respect and is working with us to develop a clear-eyed, evidence-based and morally sound investment policy that will serve the needs of future generations and guide future decision-making,” she said.

The renewed calls for the university to divest from fossil fuel investments follow last week’s decision by Cambridge City Council to pass a motion resolving to end investment in fossil fuels and carbon-heavy buildings.

It makes the council one of only several in the country, including Bristol City Council, to make such a pledge.

The motion also calls on the County Council to similarly “consider an ethical investment policy and disinvestment from fossil fuels” and to consult local groups and businesses to “explore the potential for supporting the move to a fossil-free future”.