A new peer-reviewed study has analysed the so far under-reported role that PR firms played promoting climate misinformation from the late eighties to 2020. It makes for fascinating reading.
Astroturfing
Is Fossil Fuel Industry Secretly Behind a New Campaign Against Fossil Fuel Divestment?
Last week a newly formed organization, The Institute for Pension Fund Integrity (IPFI), published its first “white paper” on the topical issue of “getting politics out of pensions”.
Big Oil’s Front Groups Exposed
It has often been called the heart of public relations: but the third party technique is simple – it is putting your words in someone else’s mouth.
Avatar director: Tar sands Are “Black Eye” to Canada
When faced with a PR battle, one of the fossil fuel industry’s tactics is to set up a supposed grass-roots organisation or “Astroturf” organisation. So Citizens for the Environment had no citizens in it – it was just a front for big oil and other polluting industries. The Global Climate Coalition was also no such … Read More
The Angry Mermaid Strikes Back
All the news reports this morning are that a deal at Copenhagen is dead. Barack Obama has said that we had run out of time to secure a deal in December. This will please the corporate lobbyists no end. The longer they can delay action on climate the better. But now Copenhagen’s iconic mermaid is … Read More
Big Oil Front Group Fights for Tar Sands
The debate on energy and climate is littered with corporate front groups scare-mongering over action on climate change at the moment. On the blog we have recently talked about the American Petroleum Institute’s astroturf “Energy Citizen” campaign and American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCE)’s fake letter writers.
“We are seeing fraud-mongering on clean energy”
It’s turning into Astroturf August. Hot on the heels of the revelations about the fake oil industry PR campaign, comes the fake coal PR campaign. We knew that the fossil fuel industry would not give up without a fight, but we did not realise that had turned into such fossil fools, by have all their … Read More
Oil Industry Astroturf Campaign Exposed
You really didn’t think that the oil industry would just roll over and give up without a fight on the US Waxman-Markey Climate Bill did you? Just a couple of days ago I blogged about how many people had lobbied the climate bill. Although they are pouring in serious cash to defeat the Bill, its … Read More