Message From the Editor

This week, investigative reporter Geoff Dembicki covered Wind Concerns, a group that calls carbon dioxide the ‘Gas of Life’ and has praised Alberta’s six-month pause on new renewable energy projects.

When the Alberta government announced in early August a six-month pause on new renewable energy projects, over 100 developments were plunged into uncertainty awaiting approval and investments worth $25 billion.

“It was a done deal before we had a chance to convince the minister that the industry doesn’t need a moratorium,” Vittoria Bellissimo, president and CEO of the Canadian Renewable Energy Association, said in reaction.

Amid the financial pandemonium, Wind Concerns, an anti-wind and solar advocacy group, is jubilant — and also claiming partial credit for the decision.

Wind Concerns cites on its website the CO2 Coalition, the Global Warming Policy Foundation, the Heartland Institute and other organizations that have attempted to discredit and undermine the scientific consensus on climate change.

Across the ocean in the United Kingdom, Phoebe Cooke and Sam Bright have reported on the fossil fuel giant BP hosting politicians at Wimbledon.

BP donated tennis tickets worth a total of more than £4,200 to a government minister and two MPs, parliamentary records reveal. The Wimbledon tickets were gifted to Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, and Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy Paul Scully, worth £1,500 and £1,560 respectively.

Some of the MPs on the receiving end of BP’s largesse have opposed policies to tax the oil and gas industry more heavily during the cost of living crisis. 

“This dodgy tennis deal is a foul serve for all those impacted by the climate crisis,” said Alexander Kirk, campaigner at Global Witness.

Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: [email protected]. Want to know what our UK team is up to? Sign up for our UK newsletter.

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

P.S. Investigative journalism like this is made possible by readers like you. Can you donate $10 or $20 right now to support more of this essential work?

Image credit: Chris Schwarz

Group That Calls CO2 ‘Gas of Life’ Praises Alberta’s Renewables Moratorium

— By Geoff Dembicki (4 min. read) —

When the Alberta government announced in early August a six-month pause on new renewable energy projects, it caused immediate chaos within the sector, plunging into uncertainty 100 developments awaiting approval and investments worth $25 billion. Industry leaders say they weren’t warned or consulted. 

“It was a done deal before we had a chance to convince the minister that the industry doesn’t need a moratorium,” Vittoria Bellissimo, president and CEO of the Canadian Renewable Energy Association (CanREA), said in reaction. “I think it was a mistake,” she told CBC. 

MPs Gifted £4,200 Tennis Tickets by Oil Giant BP

— By Phoebe Cooke and Sam Bright (4 min. read) —

BP donated tennis tickets worth a total of more than £4,200 to a government minister and two MPs, parliamentary records reveal. 

The oil and gas supermajor, which recorded bumper profits of £22 billion last year, gifted Wimbledon tickets to Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, and Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy Paul Scully, worth £1,500 and £1,560 respectively. 

BBC Under Fire for Doing Pesticide Giant’s PR

— By Clare Carlile (8 min. read) —

The BBC has been accused of “selling the public’s trust” by producing “totally biased” documentaries on the future of sustainable food sponsored by Corteva, one of the world’s largest pesticide firms, potentially in breach of the broadcaster’s editorial guidelines.

The “Follow the Food” documentaries, which featured a total of 28 episodes over three series, showcase “solutions” to climate breakdown, biodiversity loss, and food security in the farming sector.

Proposed Pipeline Expansion Could Upend Three States’ Climate Plans

— By Nick Cunningham (8 min. read) —

California, Oregon, and Washington have all passed laws and enacted policies that require utilities to dramatically cut carbon pollution over the next decade. 

But TC Energy, the Canadian owner of a major regional gas pipeline, has asked federal regulators to approve a plan that would dramatically expand the line’s capacity, flooding the region for decades with new supplies of methane gas – even as demand dwindles.

Revealed: Media Blitz Against Heat Pumps Funded by Gas Lobby Group

— By Phoebe Cooke (12 min. read) —

An energy trade association that represents and promotes gas boilers and manufacturers is behind a barrage of negative press attacking heat pumps, DeSmog has learned.

Over the past two years, the Energy and Utilities Association (EUA) has paid a public affairs firm to generate hundreds of articles and interviews to lobby the UK government on energy policy.

From the Climate Disinformation Database: CO2 Coalition

The CO2 Coalition was established in 2015 from the remains of the now-defunct George C. Marshall Institute and registered as a 501(c)(3) organization for the purpose of “educating thought leaders, policy makers, and the public about the important contribution made by carbon dioxide and fossil fuels to our lives and the economy.” The CO2 Coalition’s tag line is “Carbon dioxide, a nutrient vital for life”. The Mercer Family Foundation was a top donor to the CO2 Coalition in 2016 with a $150,000 donation.

Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database and Koch Network Database.