The Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change (also known as CO2Science) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Arizona in the United States.[1] Its stated purpose is to "disseminate factual reports and sound commentary on new developments in the world-wide scientific quest to determine the climatic and biological consequences of the ongoing rise in the air's CO2 content."[2] The Center produces a weekly online science newsletter called CO2Science.
The Center was founded and is run by Craig D Idso, along with Sherwood B Idso, his father, and Keith E Idso, his brother. They came from backgrounds in agriculture and climate, and became involved in the global warming controversy through their study of earth's temperature sensitivity to radiative perturbations and plant responses to elevated CO2 levels and carbon sequestration. The Center is sharply critical of the position of the IPCC and believes that global warming will be beneficial to mankind. In late 2009, Mother Jones ranked the Center number 8 on its "Dirty Dozen of Climate Change Denial" list.[3]
The Center also offers assistance in preparing the reports that U.S. corporations can file pursuant to the U.S. Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases program of the Energy Policy Act of 1992.[4]
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The Center has a policy of not disclosing its funding sources because "ideas about the way the world of nature operates should stand or fall on their own merits, irrespective of the source of support for the person or organization that produces them."[5] ExxonMobil corporate giving statements and IRS filings document $90,000 to the Center between 1998 and 2006.[6]ExxonMobil's contributions have also been been reported by the BBC, USA Today,[7] the Seattle Post Intelligencer,[8]
Sherwood Idso confirmed that Exxon "made some donations to us a few times in the past" but attributed this to the fact that "they probably liked what we typically had to say about the issue. But what we had to say then, and what we have to say now, came not, and comes not, from them or any other organization or person."[9]
ExxonMobil's 2001 list of groups it funded listed a $10,000 contribution to the Center in 2001.[10][11]
StopExxon.org reports the Center has received $90,000 from ExxonMobil between 1998 and 2005 comprising: [12]
According to MediaTransparency, in 1999 the Center received $50,000 from the Sarah Scaife Foundation, and in 2003 another $50,000 for "General operating support";[16] but this information may conflict with the Center's 2003 "Grants and contributions".
Craig Idso incorporated Cenospheres.net Inc., serving the oilfield industry, in 2006.[17]
In October 1999 Craig D. Idso and Keith E. Idso mentioned that they had "recently completed a project commissioned by the Greening Earth Society entitled "Forecasting World Food Supplies: The Impact of the Rising Atmospheric CO2 Concentration," which we presented at the Second Annual Dixy Lee Ray Memorial Symposium held in Washington, DC on 31 August - 2 September 1999." [18] The Greening Earth Society, a front group of the Western Fuels Association.