Anti-Wind Study Linked to Climate Sceptics

Ask any oil executive where our future energy will come from and they will reply that the answer lies in “the mix”: arguing we need oil, gas, renewables and probably nuclear.

The oil industry argues that its days as the predominant provider of energy are not yet over, despite climate change and peak oil.

But we know that they have done their utmost to continue this dominance, especially in the climate change debate, where a whole army of oil-funded think tanks have tried to down play the threat of climate change.

Now it seems that these oil funded think tanks have not only been attacking climate change, but have been undermining renewable energy as well.

A highly critical report of the Danish wind power industry which was widely circulated before Copenhagen was published by the Danish organisation CEPOS, the Centre for Political Studies in Denmark.

The CEO of CEPOS is Martin Ågerup, who is a known climate sceptic. Ågerup is a fellow of the leading climate sceptic organisation the International Policy Network that was funded by Exxon for a number of years.

The IPN, in turn is run by Julian Morris, one of Britain’s leading climate sceptics. In 2003, Ågerup and Morris contributed to a climate sceptic book, called Adapt or Die, published by the IPN, which was written by many known climate sceptics, including Penny Peiser, now from the Global Warming Policy Foundation.

CEPOS has also acknowledged that the report was commissioned by the Houston-based Institute for Energy Research (IER), another think tank that used to receive funding from Exxon Mobil.

Its President is Robert Bradley, is linked to other leading climate sceptic organisations such as the Cato Institute  and Competitive Enterprise Institute.

Bradley has spoken at one of the main climate sceptic conferences in recent years organised by the Heartland Institute, another leading climate sceptic organisation.

Martin Ågerup says he is not bothered by who funds the IER. “I don’t know who supports them. That doesn’t interest me. They contacted me and so we did the report,” he said in an interview with Danish trade magazine Ingeniøren. “I was told that it was supported by coal and oil interests, but I don’t know the specific sponsors.

The Danish Wind Industry Association is rightly outraged.  Jan Hylleberg, the association’s managing director, said. “I think it is quite fair to ask why CEPOS has acted this way. Is it owed to a general opposition to the Danish wind industry? Or has CEPOS willingly been the American oil lobby’s mouthpiece?”