A new study sheds some light on the dynamics of funding for campaigns to deny climate change in the US. Writing in the Washington Post, George Zornick says:
“...everyone who follows that debate knows, climate denialists are aggressive and particularly well-funded. A new study from Drexel University has broken down the financial structure of the climate-denial movement, and the findings are essential for plotting out a map to success on combating global warming. It’s the first peer-reviewed analysis of its kind.
The thrust of the study, done by Dr. Robert J. Brulle, is that climate-denial money has largely been driven underground to dark-money sources. About 75 percent of the money backing climate-denial efforts is untraceable, primarily via conservative foundations and shadowy tax-exempt groups that obscure their funding sources.”
The study shows that two of the biggest funders with obvious self interests, ExxonMobil and Koch Industries (owned by David and Charles Koch), have recently cut their traceable funding by an amount that mirrors the increase in untraceable funding. The chart below shows the funding map:
The moral of the story is the need for more sunlight - new efforts to force the funding numbers out into the open.
Thanks to Brad de Long's blog for highlighting the story. For more on the Koch brothers influence on the US political system watch the documentary Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream (2012) and read Jane Mayer's entertaining account of what happened at New York public television, where David Koch sits on the board, when it was first screened.