» WELCOME
» AN INTRODUCTION
» PROFILES
» LM WATCH
» CONTACT
» LOBBYWATCH LINKS
»


Royal Society blasts lobbyists! (20/9/2006)

1.Royal Society blasts its pals
2.Royal Society tells Exxon: stop funding climate change denial
---

1.Royal Society blasts its pals

The Royal Society has taken issue with Exxon over its funding of lobby groups which engage in climate change denial. Among the groups mentioned in the article are the the International Policy Network (IPN) and the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI).

The article notes that senior figures in the CEI "have described global warming as a myth" while the IPN "jointly published a report with the UK group the Scientific Alliance which claimed that global temperature rises were not related to rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere."

The Royal Society's letter is said by The Guardian to reflect "mounting concern about the activities of lobby groups that try to undermine the overwhelming scientific evidence that emissions are linked to climate change."

The joke is of course that many of those involved in these lobby groups have been amongst the Royal Society's staunchest allies in the GM debate.

The CEI, for instance, actually co-founded CS Prakash's AgBioWorld campaign and the CEI's Greg Conko serves as AgBioWorld's Vice-President.

The climate-change denying Scientific Alliance has an Advisory Forum that is dominated by fervent GM supporters, eg Anthony Trewavas, who is a Fellow of the Royal Society, and Vivian Moses, who is the Chair of the biotech industry backed lobby group CropGen, and who like Trewavas is on the Advisory Council of Sense About Science - a lobby group which has worked hand in glove with the Royal Society.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=151

Moses and Trewavas also get quoted in Science Media Centre press releases on GM. And the SMC's director, Fiona Fox, connects to the climate change denying network behind LM, Spiked and the Institute of Ideas. Many of the individuals and organisations listed above also regularly turn up at events run by and at the Royal Institution, which hosts the SMC
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=162

Others on the Scientific Alliance Advisory Forum include:
Sir Colin Berry
Queen Mary, University of London
Bill Durodie
Department of Defence Management, Cranfield University
Mick Fuller
Department of Agriculture & Food Studies, University of Plymouth
and Tom Addiscott
Rothamsted Research
http://www.scientific-alliance.com/about_us_advisory_forum.htm

Amongst those previously sitting on the Alliance's Advisory Forum are such well known GM supporters as Mike Wilson, Philip Stott, and Martin Livermore - a PR consultant formerly with Dupont, who is also a Fellow of the climate-change denying International Policy Network.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=136

Julian Morris who directs the Exxon-backed IPN has lobbied for GM crops via a whole series of front groups, including the Institute of Economic Affairs, the European Science and Environment Forum, and the so-called Sustainable Development Network, which organised a pro-GM conference in Johannesburg only last month and which also helped organise the notorious Fake Parade.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6981

In the Royal Society's letter to Exxon the RS's Bob Ward writes, "I would be grateful if you could let me know which organisations in the UK and other European countries have been receiving funding so that I can work out which of these have been similarly providing inaccurate and misleading information to the public."

Interestingly, the Royal Society itself has had no hesitation in accepting substantial funding from transnational corporations in the biotech and nuclear sectors.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=113

Profiles of all of the individuals and organisations mentioned here, including the Royal Society, can be found in the GM Watch directory:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile.asp

For more on the Exxon funded lobbyists see George Monbiot's new book 'Heat' or this unedited extract in The Guardian, 'The denial industry':
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1875762,00.html
---

2.Royal Society tells Exxon: stop funding climate change denial
David Adam, environment correspondent
The Guardian, September 20, 2006
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1876538,00.html

In a letter earlier this month to Esso, the UK arm of ExxonMobil, the Royal Society cites its own survey which found that ExxonMobil last year distributed $2.9m to 39 groups that the society says misrepresent the science of climate change.

These include the International Policy Network, a thinktank with its HQ in London, and the George C Marshall Institute, which is based in Washington DC. In 2004, the institute jointly published a report with the UK group the Scientific Alliance which claimed that global temperature rises were not related to rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

"There is not a robust scientific basis for drawing definitive and objective conclusions about the effect of human influence on future climate," it said.

In the letter, Bob Ward of the Royal Society writes: "At our meeting in July ... you indicated that ExxonMobil would not be providing any further funding to these organisations. I would be grateful if you could let me know when ExxonMobil plans to carry out this pledge."

The letter, a copy of which has been obtained by the Guardian, adds: "I would be grateful if you could let me know which organisations in the UK and other European countries have been receiving funding so that I can work out which of these have been similarly providing inaccurate and misleading inform

Go to a Print friendly Page


Email this Article to a Friend


Back to the Archive