Heartland Institute: GM Yanks Funding, Says Global Warming Is Real
Capping a campaign by environmentalists, General Motors this week said it would cease funding the Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank that denied global warming as “junk science,” according to The Los Angeles Times.
The Times said the announcement was a direct result of the leak of confidential funding documents (PDF) in February, which showed that the General Motors Foundation, which is separate from GM, had provided $30,000 to the institute over the last two years.
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“Yep, it’s true,” Greg Martin, a GM spokesman, was quoted as telling The Times. “Dan Akerson was giving remarks at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco a few weeks ago, and the issue of GM’s very modest and previous contribution to Heartland came up, and Mr. Akerson said he’d look into it. And we’ve looked into it, and we’ve decided to discontinue it.”
“As Dan said at the Commonwealth Club, GM’s operating its business as if climate change is real.”
Early this month, the organization Forecast The Facts, which encourages TV meteorologists to discuss climate change more openly, delieverdd a petition to GM in which it said 20,000 signers were calling for an end to GM funding of Heartland. The organization said more than 10,000 petitioners were current or former GM vehicle owners, according to The Times.