Oil Heir Who Runs Mega-Zoo Named Sustainability Professor, Because Sure

Newcastle University has appointed Anant Ambani - heir to an Indian oil and gas fortune and proprietor of a controversial 1,400-hectare (3,500-acre) mega-zoo - as a professor of sustainability. The university cited his "work in conservation, biodiversity protection, animal welfare and environmental stewardship" and "significant contributions to advancing a more sustainable future." Conservationists, academics, and anyone with a functioning irony detector have responded with the expected incredulity.

Ambani, 31, is the son of Mukesh Ambani, India's richest person, whose fortune comes primarily from oil and gas. Mukesh owns the world's largest oil refinery and has close ties to the ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP). He has enthusiastically praised BJP policies, and firms linked to his Reliance conglomerate have recently made significant donations to the party. Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended Anant Ambani's lavish 2024 wedding in Mumbai, presumably not to discuss carbon offsets.

Anant Ambani, worth an estimated £90bn, leads on renewable energy on the Reliance Group's executive board - a role that presumably involves transitioning away from the family business model. He also set up Vantara, a private zoo near the family's oil refining facilities in Gujarat, which reportedly houses more than 150,000 animals, including 200 lions, 250 leopards, and 900 crocodiles. He hosted his opulent pre-wedding celebrations there, attended by celebrity guests and politicians, because nothing says "conservation" like a party next to a refinery.

Conservation groups have previously raised questions about how some of the animals were sourced, given many were endangered species. Vantara has never been found guilty of any wrongdoing, which is the legal equivalent of "nothing to see here." The university's announcement was met with derision from academic staff and Indian and international conservationists.

Ramachandra Guha, a leading Indian public intellectual and author of "Speaking With Nature: The Origins of Indian Environmentalism," called it "a rather mystifying choice." He noted he could name at least 50 - perhaps 100 - individuals far better qualified, including soil scientists, energy scientists, water conservation experts, community forest workers, ecologists, and pollution abatement experts who have made real contributions to sustainability. "I wonder on whose advice Newcastle University has acted, and whether it did due diligence," he said. "Its appointment of Mr Ambani is puzzling in the extreme, and is likely to adversely affect the university's institutional credibility and intellectual standing."

Bhuvan Mangalore, an Indian investigator into illegal wildlife trade completing a dissertation on Vantara at Anglia Ruskin University, asked: "Is this a joke?" Prof Matt Perry, chair of the University and College Union branch at Newcastle University, said staff objected to the appointment citing environmental concerns. Prof Lyla Mehta, head of the climate, environment and sustainability department at the University of Sussex's Institute of Development Studies, warned that "as public funding for universities falls, there is a real danger that billionaire and corporate money begins to shape academia." She added: "Universities are supposed to be places that question power and hold corporations to account, not give them academic legitimacy."

In April, Anant Ambani launched Vantara University, billed as the world's first global university dedicated to wildlife conservation and veterinary science. Lorne Stockman, research co-director at Oil Change International, said: "At a time when the climate crisis demands an urgent phaseout of oil and gas, we must demand our publicly funded institutions do better."

In 2025, an investigation by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung found that many animals delivered to Vantara arrived through countries with opaque wildlife trading networks such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the United Arab Emirates, raising concerns that endangered species may have been illegally trafficked. In August last year, an investigation by India's supreme court, lasting less than three weeks, cleared the zoo's operators of any wrongdoing. A subsequent fact-finding mission by Cites, the UN body that regulates endangered species trade, found that some permits used to bring animals to Vantara were probably forged. Its report said: "There is a need for caution to ensure that imports of large numbers of animals by these facilities are not inadvertently creating a demand for illegally sourced animals." Cites recommended restrictions on India's imports of endangered wild animals, but reversed its decision after objections from India, the US, and Japan, who argued there was not enough proof of illegal imports.

In August, the zoo launched a "reset" by appointing a former Cites head to oversee operations and said it would voluntarily pause all wildlife imports until June next year. Vantara declined to comment. The Ambani family and Vantara have previously denied allegations of wildlife trafficking, saying: "Our mission and focus continues to be the rescue, rehabilitation and care of animals." A Newcastle University spokesperson said: "The award of a professorship of practice recognises Mr Ambani's contributions to conservation, biodiversity protection, animal welfare and environmental stewardship through his work with Vantara, a wildlife rescue and conservation initiative, and as the executive lead for the Reliance Group's transition toward a green energy future." Because nothing says sustainability like an oil heir with a zoo full of possibly trafficked leopards.