Conservative Donors Pump $1 Billion a Year into Climate Denying Groups, Study Finds

Organizations that actively block efforts to address climate change are funded by a large network of conservative donors to the tune of nearly $1 billion a year, according to the first in-depth study into the dark money that fuels the denial effort.

The study, published Friday in the journal Climatic Change, analyzed the income of 91 think tanks, advocacy groups, and industry associations, funded by 140 different foundations, that work to oppose action on climate change.  The study's author, Robert Brulle, refers to these organizations as the climate change counter-movement, and concludes that their outsized influence "has not only played a major role in confounding public understanding of climate science, but also successfully delayed meaningful government policy actions to address the issue."

"It is not just a couple of rogue individuals doing this," Brulle told the Guardian.  "This is a large-scale political effort."

Conservative Donors Pump $1 Billion a Year into Climate Denying Groups, Study Finds