Who are climate skeptics really rooting for?

At the Heartland Institute, we defend the carrying of weapons for all and we don’t really like communists. But above all, this powerful think tank does not believe in the scientific consensus on the warming of our planet. So with each publication of an IPCC report, the members of the Heartland Institute respond by publishing‘thick volumes whose conclusions are diametrically opposed to those of the scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Dfor about ten years, James Taylor, the head of the Heartland Institute, wants to spread his ideas in every classroom in the United States. This is what he explained to the team “Additional investigation” during an interview filmed in its premises located in Chicago. Young Americans are said to be victims of a “indoctrination”, according to James Taylor. “They are told that the climate crisis is a scientific fact in the same way as gravity. We need to get this out of their heads.”he asserts.

This is why the Heartland Institute has published an educational book entitled The climate at a glance. This little book covers around thirty themes and “presents real science” according to James Taylor, who is delighted with the success of his work, sent to “thousands of teachers across the United States”. It can be read that the fires would not be more devastating today than they were yesterday, or that polar bears have never been so numerous despite the melting of the ice. As many false or misleading statements as our colleagues at AFP Factual have verified in this article.

The voice of the fossil industry

But how does the Heartland Institute finance its lobbying or communication actions? This think tank has long received money from the fossil fuel industry. Between 1997 and 2006, for example, he received nearly $700,000 from the largest oil company in the world, Exxon. But today, its sponsors prefer to move forward masked…

A dive into the accounts of the Hearland Institute reveals two particularly generous donors: the Donors Trust and the Donors Capital Fund. Two private funds which have paid over the last ten years to the Heartland Institute, according to their tax declarations, no less than 17 million dollars. Who is behind these enigmatic names? James Taylor has refused to answer to questions of “Additional investigation” on the origin of this financing totally opaque.

So the journalists turned to a US senator who investigated the finances of climate skeptic lobbies, Sheldon Whitehouse. According to this elected democrat, “The Donors Trust and the Donors Capital Fund do only one thing: they take money from right-wing billionaires and the fossil fuel industry, and they distribute it to organizations like Heartland. This way, when the Heartland publishes the list of its donors, it says Donors Trust, instead of Exxon Mobil or other oil companies. This hides the real identity of the donor who finances the climate skeptic project. According to the senator, THE Heartland Institute would be SO indeed the voice of the fossil industry.

Excerpt from “The Climate War”, to see in “Additional investigation” on May 2, 2024.

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