US climate study group gets big oil funds

A reputable US think-tank that sought solutions for climate change has lost most of its charitable donations and will now take funding from big oil and energy interests, it said Wednesday. Formerly known as the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, the new name is The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) and it will be funded by Shell, General Electric, Bank of America and others, it said in a statement. The changes came after The Pew Charitable Trusts decided to stop giving 3.5 million dollars per year to the group, which made up almost 80 percent of its 4.4 million dollar annual budget, spokesman Tom Steinfeld told AFP. Pew did not immediately answer a request for comment from AFP regarding why it made the decision to withdraw the funding for a group it has supported since 1998. The climate group's president, Eileen Claussen, a former climate negotiator under president Bill Clinton, will carry on as head of the new group, self-described as an "independent, nonpartisan center." "As C2ES, we bring the same team and the same commitment to fact-based analysis and pragmatic solutions," Claussen said in a statement. "We are deeply indebted to The Pew Charitable Trusts for its many years of extraordinary support. Without Pew, we could not possibly be the organization we are today," she added. "But it's time we stand on our own two feet, and thanks to our many supporters, we can. We're especially thankful that, even amid such economic and political uncertainty, so many in the business and philanthropic communities are so deeply committed to our mission." The statement names three "strategic partners" as Entergy, HP and Shell, adding that they had made "substantial multi-year funding commitments to the new organization." "Major contributors" were listed as the Alcoa Foundation, Bank of America, GE, The Energy Foundation, Duke Energy, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.