CO 2 coalition

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The CO 2 Coalition is an industry-funded, conservative American think tank that was founded to contest the scientific consensus on man-made global warming . Created in 2015 by William Happer , the CO 2 Coalition is regarded as the successor organization to the George C. Marshall Institute , which is regarded as one of the central organizations of the organized climate denial scene. The CO 2 Coalition is financed by conservative billionaires such as the Mercer family and the brothers Charles and David H. Koch as well as the coal company Peabody Energy .

History and staff

The CO 2 Coalition emerged from the now closed George C. Marshall Institute, whose main focus was on climate and defense policy. According to founding member William Happer, the reason for the split was that the Marshall Institute's stance on climate issues increasingly dried up donations from the arms industry.

It was led initially by Happer, a physicist who denies man-made climate change, and Robert O'Keefe , who was previously the executive director of the American Petroleum Institute , a lobbying group for the US oil industry. After Happer assumed a leadership role as an advisor to US President Donald Trump in the National Security Council , Patrick Moore took over the management in May 2019. According to the Süddeutscher Zeitung, Moore is an "ex-Greenpeace activist who is now ringing around the world with lectures that deny climate change".

As of September 2019, the governing body of the Coalition consists of an eight-member Executive Board, which includes Jan Breslow and Patrick Moore as well as Harrison Schmitt . Coalition members include Craig Idso , Roy Spencer , Don Easterbrook , Richard Lindzen and Patrick J. Michaels .

There are also personal connections to the German climate denial organization EIKE .

Positions and work

The core message of the CO 2 Coalition is the statement that the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, which is mainly responsible for man-made global warming, is actually a gas that is useful for the environment and that humanity should therefore release more carbon dioxide so that plants can thrive. According to Happer, the founding goal is "to divert the [climate] debate away from the unjustified criticism of CO 2 and fossil fuels." Happer has long held the view, which contradicts scientific research, that carbon dioxide emissions are beneficial and that the gas does not have any harmful effects . In 2017, he claimed in a letter that “the demonization of CO 2 ” in reality “hardly differs from the National Socialist persecution of Jews, the Soviet annihilation of class enemies or the ISIL slaughter of infidels”. As early as 2014, in an interview, he compared “the demonization of carbon dioxide” with the “demonization of the poor Jews under Hitler”.

The CO 2 Coalition became known through a sting operation carried out by Greenpeace against its founding director Happer. In the run-up to the UN climate conference in Paris in 2015 , Happer offered Greenpeace activists, who posed as representatives of oil and gas companies, to write a paper on the advantages of higher carbon dioxide levels in the earth's atmosphere in order to raise doubts about the need for climate protection measures to sprinkle. Happer said via email that this work would probably not pass a peer review . Although he could submit the work to a scientific journal , this would delay publication. In addition, the appraisal process could mean that, at the request of the reviewer, it would have to make such large changes that carbon dioxide would no longer appear beneficial but rather harmful. This is not in his interest and probably also not in the interest of the company. Instead, he suggested that the work be sent to a specially selected group of people who are to review the work. "Purists" wouldn't see this as a peer review, but he thinks it's okay to call it peer review. Happer also recommended donating his fee for this commissioned work to the CO 2 Coalition. His activities are a "work of love to take action against climate extremism", and he also wants to defend the "ideals of science that have been so corrupted by the climate change cult".

In 2018 it became known that the think tank had funded a total of six studies by climate change denier Nils-Axel Mörner , in which he had claimed that the sea level around various Pacific islands was not rising. Mörner had these papers published in so-called predatory journals, which often only simulate a peer review . The Guardian assessed this approach as a way of how climate deniers can exploit the questionable quality controls of such journals to have their work published as supposedly peer-reviewed papers. The geophysicist Kurt Lambeck , who is considered an expert on sea levels, said that none of Mörner's studies had survived the peer review in reputable journals.

The CO 2 Coalition is increasingly using social media , in particular Facebook, as a means of disseminating its contributions . Executive Director Caleb Rossiter cites both the reach and the fact that they are "not happy" with the way they are treated by "the mainstream media" as the reason for this. Among other things, the CO 2 Coalition ran an advertising campaign aimed at children on Facebook , in which it used cartoon videos to claim that plants are healthier and animals such as bees, bears and otters are happier in a world richer in carbon dioxide.

Affiliated Organizations

The coalition includes Energy45 , a non-partisan non-profit organization that was founded by Mandy Gunasekara and whose goal, according to its own statements, is to "support the Trump energy agenda". For science historian Naomi Oreskes provides Energy45 a "perfect example" of the reappearance of old disinformation organizations such as the George C. Marshall Institute in new forms represent. Gunasekara previously worked until February 2019 in the Trump Administration for the Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency as deputy Head of the Air and Radiation Bureau, run by a former lobbyist who campaigned for the abolition of environmental regulations before he was appointed. In her résumé she portrays herself as the “chief architect” behind the US exit from the Paris climate protection treaty and claims to have organized the repeal of the Clean Power Plan from Barack Obama's term in office .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c coal, coal, coal . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , December 7, 2018. Accessed August 31, 2019.
  2. ↑ Ruth E. McKie: Rebranding the Climate Change Counter Movement: A Critical Examination of Counter Movement messaging through a criminological and Political Economic Lens, Volume 1 . Dissertation University of Northumbria at Newcastle 2017, p. 37.
  3. ↑ a b c William Happer: Trump aide pushing climate denial inside the White House . In: The Guardian , June 21, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  4. ↑ a b c Think tank that cast doubt on climate change science morphs into smaller one . In: EE-News , December 10, 2015. Accessed August 31, 2019.
  5. ↑ Michael E. Mann , Tom Toles: The madhouse effect. How climate change denial threatens our planet, destroys our politics and drives us insane . Solare Zukunft Verlag, Erlangen, 1st edition 2018, ISBN 978-3-933634-46-7 ; P. 81.
  6. ↑ a b Trump adviser created group to defend CO2 . In: EE-News , February 28, 2019. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  7. ↑ CO2 Coalition . In: Desmog , Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  8. ↑ CO2 Coalition About . CO 2 Coalition website . Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  9. ↑ Patrick Bauer, Till Krause, Katharina Kropshofer, Katrin Langhans and Lorenz Wagner: The sham business. Attack on science . In: SZ-Magazin , July 20, 2018. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  10. ^ Scott Waldman: White House eyes nuclear weapons expert to lead challenge to climate science . In: Science . 2019, doi : 10.1126 / science.aax6761 .
  11. ↑ a b Greenpeace exposes skeptics hired to cast doubt on climate science . In: The Guardian , December 8, 2015. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  12. ↑ Carbon Dioxide Suffers Just Like Jews In Nazi Germany, 'Expert' Says On CNBC . In: Huffington Post . July 15, 2014. Accessed August 31, 2019.
  13. ^ Murky world of 'science' journals a new frontier for climate deniers . In: The Guardian , January 24, 2018. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  14. ↑ How CO2 boosters' op-ed slipped by Facebook fact-checkers . In: E&E News , June 23, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  15. ↑ Naomi Oreskes : Why science failed to stop climate change. How the energy companies took us all . In: Salon.com , November 18, 2019. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
  16. ^ Top EPA advisor leaves to head group lauding Paris exit, panning Green New Deal . In: ThinkProgress , February 8, 2019. Retrieved November 19, 2019.