Climate Change Denial and Dark Money

Those wondering how climate change denial became an integral part of the Republican party should check out the video below.  There really has been a dramatic shift here; three decades ago, there were several bipartisan bills on the U.S. Senate floor that would have addressed climate change, potentially preventing us from getting where we are now. Now, such efforts would be unheard of.

How did this happen?  In a word: money, and lots of it. One factor was the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision Citizens United, that released billions of dollars of campaign contributions from anonymous sources aimed at creating a climate denial orthodoxy within the Republican party.

The other, of course is subsidies.  This paper of May, 2019 from the International Monetary Fund, updates estimates of fossil fuel subsidies, “defined as fuel consumption times the gap between existing and efficient prices (i.e., prices warranted by supply costs, environmental costs, and revenue considerations), for 191 countries. Globally, subsidies remained large at $4.7 trillion (6.3 percent of global GDP) in 2015 and are projected at $5.2 trillion (6.5 percent of GDP) in 2017. The largest subsidizers in 2015 were China ($1.4 trillion), United States ($649 billion), Russia ($551 billion), European Union ($289 billion), and India ($209 billion).”

Before we continue, let me point something out: I’m just a reporter.  Anyone wishing to challenge these figures should bypass the middle man (me) and take up their beefs directly with the IMF, specially with the four-person team that authored the 39-page report.

Armed with these subsidies, the fossil fuel industry funded dozens of front groups, most of which carry benign-sounding names, like Americans for Prosperity.  Through phony science, propaganda, and buying elections, the opposition to climate action became a total piece of cake.

Enjoy.