Heartland Institute
The Heartland Institute is a libertarian, free-market think tank based in Chicago, Illinois, established in 1984. As a tax-exempt nonprofit organization, it focuses on researching and promoting free-market solutions to various social and economic challenges, with particular attention to issues like government spending, taxation, education, healthcare, and environmental matters. The institute is known for its controversial stance on climate change, advocating the view that there is insufficient evidence to support the existence of global warming and suggesting that a moderate increase in temperatures could be beneficial.
Heartland has actively partnered with other organizations that challenge mainstream scientific consensus on climate issues, organizing conferences that unite global warming skeptics and criticize institutions like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The organization has faced criticism for its publication practices and has been involved in controversies regarding the inclusion of scientists on its lists without their consent. Additionally, connections between Heartland and corporate executives from industries such as fossil fuels and tobacco have raised questions about its governance and funding. The Heartland Institute continues to be a prominent voice in the climate change debate, advocating for skepticism regarding anthropogenic global warming.
Heartland Institute
Mission
An American, libertarian, free-market-oriented, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Heartland Institute researches and develops free market solutions to social and economic problems, including environmental problems. The institute was established in 1984 and is based in Chicago, Illinois. Its activities are directed by a fifteen-member board of directors that meets quarterly. The think tank focuses on issues such as government spending, taxation, education, health care, free market environmentalism, and global warming.
Significance for Climate Change
The Heartland Institute asserts that there are no reliable data supporting the notion that global warming mechanisms or trends have ever taken place or are taking place presently. Furthermore, it claims that a moderate degree of global warming is beneficial to the environment and humans worldwide. The institute has partnered with other global warming skeptic organizations such as the Cooler Heads Coalition, which has itself been widely criticized for its work against penalizing big emitters.
At the Heartland Institute’s March 2008, conference, global warming skeptics from around the world were brought together in New York. At the meeting, participants collectively criticized the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, as well as proponents of any scientific studies that reported positive correlation between human activities and global warming. The organization’s numerous publications and conferences have all shared a similar theme and tone. The organization continued to organize anti-climate change conferences throughout the 2020s. It has remained an active advocate of climate change denial.
The Heartland Institute received extensive scrutiny of its publication procedures in April 2008, after environmental journalist Richard Littlemore revealed that it engaged in questionable practices. In compiling a list of “Five Hundred Scientists with Documented Doubts of Man-Made Global Warming Scares,” the organization included over forty-five scientists as coauthors on various articles with which they had no affiliation, that they did not agree to coauthor, or that made claims with which they disagreed. Following this scandal, when scientists came forward to demand removal of their names from the list, the Heartland Institute claimed that they had no legal or ethical grounds to remove or amend the original list of names.
The institute has also been criticized for its policies on appointing and recruiting members of its board of directors. In the past, executives from such corporations as ExxonMobil, an oil company, and Philip Morris, a tobacco company, have served on the Heartland Institute’s steering committee.
Bright, Sam, and Barnett, Adam. "Nigel Farage Goes on Pro-Fossil Fuel Rant at Fundraiser for Climate Denial Group." DeSmog, 14 Sept. 2024, www.desmog.com/2024/09/14/nigel-farage-speaks-fundraiser-america-climate-denial-group-heartland-institute/. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.
Kusnetz, Nicholas. "Heartland Institute Launches Website of Contrarian Climate Science Amid Struggles With Funding and Controversy." Inside Climate News, 13 Mar. 2020, insideclimatenews.org/news/13032020/heartland-instutute-climate-change-skeptic/. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.
Waldman, Scott. "Climate Denial Group Wants to Subvert NOAA Data With Its Own." E&E News, 31 May 2024, www.eenews.net/articles/climate-denial-group-wants-to-subvert-noaa-data-with-its-own/. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.