Monday 23 December 2013

The campaign to fight action on climate change is backed by $1 billion a year in covert donations




Climate deniers may be a minority, but they’re organized — and they have a massive donor base backing them up.

The campaign to fight action on climate change is backed by $1 billion a year in covert donations
Photo Source: Hot Photo Pie/Shutterstock

That’s the conclusion reached by a report published Friday in the journal Climactic Change, which The Guardian calls the “first extensive study into the anatomy of the anti-climate effort.” It found that the campaign to discredit climate change runs upward of $1 billion a year, largely funded by conservative billionaires who work through secretive funding networks:

"They have displaced corporations as the prime supporters of 91 think tanks, advocacy groups and industry associations which have worked to block action on climate change. Such financial support has hardened conservative opposition to climate policy, ultimately dooming any chances of action from Congress to cut greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet, the study found.

…The vast majority of the 91 groups on [Drexel University sociologist Robert] Brulle’s list – 79% – were registered as charitable organisations and enjoyed considerable tax breaks. Those 91 groups included trade organisations, think tanks and campaign groups. The groups collectively received more than $7bn over the eight years of Brulle’s study – or about $900m a year from 2003 to 2010. Conservative think tanks and advocacy groups occupied the core of that effort."

You can  read the whole article by clicking here.

- submitted by Gareth

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