Globalisation:Global Warming Policy Foundation: Criticisms

The Global Warming Policy Foundation has received much support in the past year, however it has also received much criticism.

David Aaronovitch, a British journalist, wrote in The Times on 24 November that “Lord Lawson’s acceptance of the science turns out, on close scrutiny, to be considerably less than half-hearted. Thus he speaks of “the (present) majority scientific view”. He goes on to say that “people like Lord Lawson” are not sceptical about climate change and are only sceptical about “what they don’t want to be true”. David Aaronvitch is claiming that Lord Lawson and his colleagues are claiming that there is no issue with climate change as this is what they would like to believe.

Another question which has risen about the Global Warming Policy Foundation is the fact that they refuse to reveal the identity of donors that fund it. This raises doubts about the charity’s agenda. Statements such as "we do not accept gifts from anyone with a significant interest in an energy company" will always lead to suspicion when operating in such a distrustful environment. It is not fully understood why the GWPF do not just nip the suspicions in the bud and reveal the identity of the donors or reveal the identity of the donors who for their names to be given?

Benny Peiser once stated that the GWPF does not recieve funding "from people with links to energy companies or the companies themselves although this might be true (however as they do not relase the names of donors we cannot be sure) Peiser has strong ties with to institutions in the US such as the Heartland Institute which have, over the years, received significant sums of money from companies such as Exxon Mobil, the world's leading publicly-owned energy company and operates facilities or markets products in most of the world's countriesExxon Mobil", accessed 18.10.10</ref>. Although this is not a donation to the GWPF themselves Peiser is representing them as an organisation and thereofer the view of teh GWPF should stand with him aswell. The fact that he has strong ties with this instituion and they are receiving large donations from companies such as Exxon Mobil, does not give a good image of Peiser or the GWPF to that of the public.