Former Vice President Al Gore has criticised some of the world’s largest oil companies, including Exxon for continuing to fund climate sceptics as part of a campaign to mislead the public.
“There has been an organized campaign, financed to the tune of about $10 million a year from some of the largest carbon polluters, to create the impression that there is disagreement in the scientific community” about global warming, Gore said at a forum in Singapore. “In actuality, there is very little disagreement.”
Gore likened the campaign to that of the millions spent by U.S. tobacco companies years ago on creating the appearance of uncertainty and debate within the scientific community on the harmful effects of smoking cigarettes.
After the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, released its report in February warning that the cause of global warming is “very likely” manmade, “the deniers offered a bounty of $10,000 for each article disputing the consensus that people could crank out and get published somewhere,” Gore said. “They’re trying to manipulate opinion and they are taking us for fools.”
Exxon Mobil spokesman Gantt Walton said yesterday the company’s financial support for scientific reports did not mean it influenced the outcome of those studies.
He also said that pigs could fly….
(Only joking)