Koch Industries’ efforts to fund climate denial front groups and think tanks received some scrutiny last week in the form of a surprising press release. The Economist has the details:
FOR a moment, they almost had us fooled. It looked very much like a press release from Koch Industries, announcing that the big American conglomerate would stop funding various lobby groups that question the scientific consensus on global warming or oppose laws to curb emissions. Earlier this year Greenpeace issued a report detailing Kochs aid to such groups, calling it a financial kingpin of climate-science denial. The New Yorker followed up with a profile of the company and its owners, the brothers David and Charles Koch, detailing their generous, if discreet, support for these and other right-wing courses. If all this adverse publicity had indeed induced a bout of climate conscience in the brothers, it would be quite some story.
Of course, even if Koch Industries did pull funding from climate denial front groups like Americans for Prosperity, the oil conglomerate would still be a major impediment to climate and clean energy policies. As our report shows, Koch Industries spends millions to elect polluter-friendly politicians and tens of millions more on polluter lobbyists in Washington DC. And it was recently revealed that David and Charles Koch orchestrate secret strategy meetings with other wealthy tycoons to plan how to further pollute our democracy and roll back environmental and health standards. Yes, if these notorious oil billionaires suddenly decided to stop funding one piece of their vast “Kochtopus” it would be quite some story – and entirely inconsistent with all their other efforts to protect their profits at the expense of people and the planet.
