A climate change reporting website that demands transparency from energy companies and pro-market groups is itself a creation of a dark money network of left-wing foundations and donors.
The Sustainable Markets Foundation (SMF) uses what is known as a pass-through entity to fund the investigative reporting outlet Climate Investigations Center (CIC), which is regularly relied upon by outlets including the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times to report on climate issues.
The CIC’s reporting includes investigating scientists who have resisted dogmatic interpretations of various climate studies and tracking persons and organizations it perceives as discrediting government or scientific efforts on climate change.
A 2015 report from the New York Times spurred on by documents obtained by CIC homed in on a scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who had argued variation in the sun’s energy was a significant contributor to climate changes. CIC tried to tie those conclusions to funding from energy groups, something the scientist denied.
The CIC also catalyzed a report in the L.A. Times showing the number of times fossil fuel companies sent representatives to attend “global climate discussions.” – READ MORE