Greenpeace report: Koch Industries funds climate denial
A report published on the website of environmental activist group Greenpeace USA alleges that Koch Industries, brothers Charles G. Koch and David H. Koch, and foundations controlled by the company and the Koch family have "quietly funneled" $50 million to "climate-denial front groups that are working to delay policies and regulations aimed at stopping global warming."
Greenpeace wrote on its website:
Charles G. Koch and David H. Koch have a vested interest in delaying climate action: they've made billions from their ownership and control of Koch Industries, an oil corporation that is the second largest privately held company in America (which also happens to have an especially poor environmental record).... The Koch brothers, their family members, and their employees direct a web of financing that supports conservative special interest groups and think-tanks, with a strong focus on fighting environmental regulation, opposing clean energy legislation, and easing limits on industrial pollution.
Koch Industries' official response to the Greenpeace report, cited on the New York Times' "Green Inc." blog, said:
In a consistent, principled effort for more than 50 years -- long before climate change was a key policy issue -- Koch companies and Koch foundations have worked to advance economic freedom and market-based policy solutions to challenges faced by society..... The Greenpeace report mischaracterizes these efforts and distorts the environmental record of our companies. Koch companies have long supported science-based inquiry and dialogue about climate change and proposed responses to it. Koch companies have put tremendous energy into achieving sound environmental stewardship and consistently implemented innovative and cost-effective ways to reduce waste and emissions, including greenhouse gases, associated with our manufacturing and processes.... Both a free society and the scientific method require an open and honest airing of all sides, not demonizing and silencing those with whom you disagree. We've strived to encourage an intellectually honest debate on the scientific basis for claims of harm from greenhouse gases....
(Sources: Greenpeace.org; "Green Inc.," nytimes.com, March 30, 2010.)
Posted Monday, April 05, 2010 • Permalink
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