Climate science attack machine took donations from Microsoft and GM

Much of Heartland Institute's work funded by one anonymous donor, but some corporations also gave cash, documents show 

guardian.co.uk,Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington and Dominic Rushe in New York, Wednesday 15 February 2012

Microsoft, which says it is committed to acting on climate change,
said the $59,908 donation was to provide free software licences to
non-profits. Photograph: Michael Yang/Rex Features 

A libertarian thinktank devoted to discrediting climate change received funds from corporations such as Microsoft and General Motors that are publicly committed to social responsibility, leaked documents reveal.

The inner workings of the Heartland Institute were laid bare on Tuesday night when an "insider" emailed confidential documents detailing its strategy and fundraising network to DeSmogBlog, which monitors industry efforts to discredit climate science.

Much of Heartland's work to discredit climate change is funded by a single anonymous donor, the papers reveal. However, a 2012 fundraising plan also indicated that Heartland has in the past received funds from a host of major corporations for other projects – including companies that publicly support action on climate change.

Along with tobacco giants Altria and Reynolds America, and drug firms GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Eli Lilley, major corporations have given over $1.1m in the past two years to the institute, and are planning to give another $705,000 this year.

Some of the companies included on Heartland's list of donors were surprising. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, has vigorously promoted clean energy in a number of speeches, and his charitable foundation works on helping farmers in the developing world, who will be badly affected by climate change.

But Microsoft donated $59,908 to Heartland to run a telecommunications newsletter in 2011. It is expected, however, to donate only $10,000 this year, the fundraising document shows.

Microsoft said the donation to Heartland was part of a global programme to provide free software licences to non-profits. "As part of that programme, the organisation requested free software licenses, and Microsoft provided them, just like we do for thousands of other eligible non-profits every year," Katie Stainer, a spokeswoman for Microsoft said in a statement.

"Microsoft's position on climate change remains unchanged. Microsoft believes climate change is a serious issue that demands immediate, worldwide attention and we are acting accordingly. We are pursuing strategies and taking actions that are consistent with a strong commitment to reducing our own impact as well as the impact of our products.

"In addition, Microsoft has adopted a broad policy statement on climate change that expresses support for government action to create market-based mechanisms to address climate change."

A spokeswoman for GSK said the $50,000 the company donated in the last two years was for a healthcare initiative. She could not comment on whether GSK would be working with Heartland in the future.

She said: "GSK absolutely does not endorse or support the Heartland Institute's views on the environment and climate change. We have in the past provided a small amount of funding to support the Institute's healthcare newsletter and a meeting."

General Motors Foundation, which is committed to social responsibility, has also made modest donations to Heartland, contributing $15,000 in 2010 and 2011, though for projects other than climate science.

There was no immediate response from the foundation, but GM itself defended its $30,000 donation. Greg Martin, GM's director of policy and Washington communications, said: "We support a variety or organisations that give careful and considerate thought to complex policy issues and Heartland is one of them."

He said GM's cash was not donated for a specific programme.

Diageo, the drinks company which owns Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker and Baileys, said its funding of Heartland was not under review. It gave $10,000 over the last two years, according to the leaked papers, and was projected to give another $10,000 this year.

A spokeswoman said the money had been given for a project on excise duty and the company did not agree with Heartland's views on climate change.

The leaked documents provide an intriguing view of the inner workings of an organisation that has been at the forefront of undermining climate change, and suggest Heartland is on the cusp of a fundraising blitz.

The plan proposes raising revenues by a staggering 170% this year, to $7.7m. Heartland proposes to do this in part by hiring a direct mail firm that has been prominent in Republican election campaigns. The firm Griswold & Griswold Inc promised to expand Heartland's donor list tenfold from 1,800 to 18,000 within the year.

But the cache raises an equal number of questions – such as the identity of an anonymous donor that has been a mainstay of Heartland. The unnamed donor, who contributed $4.6m in 2008, has since scaled back contributions. Even so, the donor's $979,000 contribution in 2011 accounted for 20% of Heartland's overall budget, the fundraising plan says

According to the fundraising document, Heartland hopes to bump that up to $1.25m in 2012.

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GLOBAL WARMING / CLIMATE CHANGE ISSUE (THRU CHANNELING)

7. Let us give you another prime example of duality, the controversial issue you call global warming. Those who believe this is a natural occurrence cite Earth’s ice ages as proof that humankind has no hand in today’s record temperatures, the melting of glaciers and the harsh climate anomalies. They believe that there is no need to change manufacturing operations or turn to alternative energy sources because doing so would be cost-prohibitive. Then there are those who believe that science proves climate change is manmade. They point to industrial pollution and the use of biofuels as the cause, and they maintain that unless action is taken to end those practices, the cost will be total destruction of the environment. With the two sides at loggerheads, no large scale efforts are underway to change business as usual.

8. The truth is, both sides have validity even though neither knows that Earth herself is in the process of restoring the moderate climate of Eden times, when her body was pristine and healthy. And pollution, a product of humanity, must stop because it is harming the planet and all of its life forms. Eventually the two sides of the global warming issue will realize that protecting and repairing the environment is essential, and formerly extreme views will be reconciled into effective methods to remedy the present critical state. Read more ..... (Q&A - November 2010 (Matthew Channeling))