Liars And The Money Behind Them

A new report documents the money spent by the fossil fuel industry and industry associations to oppose efforts to mitigate climate change, and says it is at least $115 million per year. According to Influence Map, a British research organization, the largest contributors to the climate change denial campaign are the American Petroleum Institute ($65 million), followed by oil giants Exxon ($27  million) and Shell ($22 million).

Much of the money spent is on false advertising ($53 million) that tries to sow doubt about actual science that a warming climate is man-made, due to the burning of fossil fuels. Some $12 million is spent on lobbying (that's a lot of 3-martini lunches for legislators), and $40 million is spent on "corporate staff costs," shorthand for the legion of spinners,"researchers," and the like that are employed by the fossil fuel sector to manufacture doubt about the real science behind climate change.

And against this onslaught of (literally) dirty money? The report estimates that advocates climate change legislation spent just $5 million in that effort.