When truth is inconvenient there will always be those that discourage it. Few people, for example, are foolish enough to refute the causative link between smoking and respiratory disease that has been demonstrated in medical science since the 1950s, and yet lobbyists still, to this day, fund pro-smoking policies to protect the tobacco industry.The same is true of climate science. The threat of fossil fuel divestment and enforced cuts in greenhouse gas emissions gives a clear motive for various stakeholders to promote climate denial. A recent study examining US tax records has suggested that between 2003 and 2010 a total of 140 foundations made over $558 million of grants to promote human-caused climate change as a scientific mistake. Unfortunately, this likely represents just the tip of the iceberg with potential donors, keeping an eye on PR, reducing the amount of publicly traceable donations.
Of course, it is wrong to denounce many sceptics of climate change as 'influential climate deniers'. Scepticism promotes good science and essentially acts as a quality control measure for research. In fact, the scientific community is probably the biggest sceptic of all; continually wary of tarnishing reputation on shoddy results and risking careers on unfounded hypotheses.
What turns a sceptic into an 'influential denier' is when they blindly preach misguided views to the uneducated or misinformed. Instead of promoting robustness and healthy debate, they drive a wedge between opinions and turn climate science into a polarising argument by funding or spreading misconstrued facts.
Here are perhaps the 5 most influential of all.
5. Christopher Monckton
Starting the list is a British politician for the UK Independence Party who became its 'Chief Spokesperson on Climate Change' in 2009. Despite holding such responsibility, his education consists of a degree in classics and a diploma in journalism with no formal qualifications in science, whether related to climate change or not. Paradoxically he accepts that CO2 contributes to a greenhouse effect but denies the existence of anthropogenic global warming.In 2006 he wrote a detailed article in the Sunday Telegraph on how he 'disputes the "facts" of this impending apocalypse and accuses the UN and its scientists of distorting the truth'; an essay so fraught with inaccuracies that it's much more insightful to read George Monbiot's rebuttal of the article.
He earns his place as an influential denier because of his wide ranging links that allows him extensive coverage of his claims. He has travelled the world numerous times to give talks on climate change and even addressed Congress on behalf of the Republican representatives. Perhaps the most apt example of his credentials, however, is the lifetime ban from UN Climate Talks he received after gatecrashing a major UN conference in 2012.
4. Steven Milloy
As deliverers of information to the masses, journalists hold great clout when it comes to contentious subjects. The Fox News columnist and self-styled libertarian Steven Milloy makes the list as one of the staunchest climate denying journalists. His website JunkScience.com lambasts scientific consensus (whilst failing to cite alternative explanations) and even offers a prize of $500,000 to anyone that can prove that humans are causing harmful global warming - at his discretion of course.But Milloy's true motives become clear when viewed alongside some questionable dealings. He is a paid advocate for ExxonMobil and he has close ties to the tobacco giant Phillip Morris. Perhaps this explains his ongoing and heavy criticism of anthropogenic global warming and denial of a link between passive smoking and cancer.
There are a few other climate denying journalists that could be listed here. Milloy clinches it, however, on account of his widely known corporate sponsorship and broad controversial views.
3. Jim Inhofe
A couple of world leaders also came close to making the top 5, with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and ex-President of the Czech Republic Václac Klaus being leading contenders. In Abbott's case, he has at least made some inroads in tackling climate change, although his personal opinion of the subject is not clear. Although Klaus is an outright opponent of environmentalism, calling global warming a 'communist conspiracy', he misses out on the top 5 because of the recent end of his second term as President.
2. ExxonMobil
Of all the big oil companies, ExxonMobil is perhaps the most prolific spenders when it comes to supporting climate change denialism. ExxonSecrets, a website that uses data from the company's official documents, states that ExxonMobil has donated $22.1 million to various organisations since 1998. Where at least some of that money has gone can be viewed here, and from the business and calibre of the recipients it is clear what this money is trying to achieve.The large-scale funding of disinformation by ExxonMobil is massively damaging to the climate change debate. In 2012 the company made almost unimaginable profits of $44.9 billion. With that money, they could afford to adhere to Kyoto agreements and would be perfectly operational with a price cap on carbon. They could still be a highly successful provider of oil - an undoubtedly essential commodity - but work to offset their environmental impact on a much wider scale. But instead they attack science and help turn scientific consensus to public argument. This, therefore, makes them a quintessential 'dangerous' denier of climate change.
Similarly to ExxonMobil, the funding of conservative groups has successfully influenced policy and undoubtedly slowed action on climate change. However, it must again be stressed that labelling people as 'influential deniers' must distinguish between those that promote positive scepticism of science and those that promote biased views. However, it is clear from multiple sources that at least some of the dealings of the people listed here have fallen into the latter category. As for the Koch brothers, they have an extremely widespread sphere of connections and their well-documented support for anti-climate action surely earns them the title of 'most influential climate deniers'.
Have your say in the comments if you feel someone is more deserving of a place on the list.
