Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow

The Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1985 that advocates for free-market solutions to environmental issues. According to its mission statement, CFACT also seeks to protect private property rights, promote economic policies that reduce pollution and protect wildlife, and provide an "alternative voice on issues of environment and development".[2][3]

Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow
AbbreviationCFACT
MottoProspering Lives. Promoting Progress. Protecting the Earth.
Formation1985
TypeNonprofit organization think tank
HeadquartersWashington, DC, United States
President
David Rothbard
Key people
  • Craig Rucker
  • Marc Morano
  • Duggan Flanakin
  • Christina Wilson Norman
  • Paul Driessen
Revenue (2015)
$2,131,668[1]
Expenses (2015)$1,751,468[1]
Websitewww.cfact.org

The organization rejects the scientific consensus on climate change.[4][5]

Personnel and funding

CFACT is governed by a Board of Directors that includes founding president David Rothbard. Staffers include communications director Marc Morano and policy analyst Paul Driessen, the author of Eco-Imperialism: Green Power, Black Death.[6][7]

Total revenues over the years 2009 through 2011 have averaged around $3 million, as reported on the organization's IRS Form 990[8] and its 2011 annual audited financial statement.[9] In 2010, nearly half of CFACT's funding came from Donors Trust, a nonprofit donor-advised fund with the goal of "safeguarding the intent of libertarian and conservative donors".[10][11] In 2011, CFACT received a $1.2 million grant from Donors Trust, 40% of CFACT's revenue that year.[12] Peabody Energy funded CFACT before its bankruptcy as did Robert E. Murray's Murray Energy before its bankruptcy.[13][14]

Advocacy activities

CFACT is a member organization of the Cooler Heads Coalition, which rejects climate science, is known to promote falsehoods about climate change and has been characterized as a leader in efforts to stop the government from addressing climate change.[15][16] CFACT chapters have protested in defense of oil exploration[17] and in opposition to the Kyoto Protocol.[18][19] CFACT supports drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as well as hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in natural gas and oil-rich regions of the country.[20][21]

Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow

Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow is a student-led branch of CFACT led by National Director Bill Gilles.

Climate Hustle documentary

The 2016 documentary film Climate Hustle, co-written and presented by Marc Morano of climate change denial group ClimateDepot, was produced by "CFACT Presents", with the organization's president and executive director, David Rothbard and Craig Rucker, receiving executive producer credits.[22][23] Aired in around 400 theaters across the United States on May 2, 2016, the film mocks climate science through a series of interviews with climate change deniers as well as commentary by Morano.[24] Ars Technica likened the film's style to a "Gish Gallop", calling it "a fast-paced, uninterrupted delivery of superficial and false claims about climate science" which forms "an 80-minute-long list of all the climate 'skeptic' blogosphere's favorite claims.[25]

Copenhagen Climate Challenge 2009

During the COP15 conference in Copenhagen, CFACT hosted a rival event in Copenhagen called the Copenhagen Climate Challenge, which was attended by about 50 people.[26] According to Lenore Taylor of The Australian, Professor Ian Plimer, "a star attraction of the two-day event", attracted an audience of 45.[27]

CFACT Europe

CFACT Europe is CFACT's European branch. It was founded by German historian Holger Thuss[13] who is also connected to the Heartland Institute.[28] Thuss is also president of the climate change denial European Institute for Climate and Energy in Jena.[29]

See also

References
  1. "Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow" (PDF). Foundation Center. 4 October 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  2. "CFACT – Collegians For A Constructive Tomorrow". CFACT – Collegians For A Constructive Tomorrow. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  3. Nadal, Josh. "About". CFACT. Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  4. Rucker, Craig (December 9, 2009). "Man-Made Hysteria". National Journal. Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2016.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  5. "The myth of the 97% climate change consensus". CFACT. 2014-05-30. Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  6. "CFACT Staff". Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  7. "About". www.globalwarming.org. Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  8. "CFACT's 2011 IRS Form 990" (PDF). Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  9. "CFACT 2011 Audit" (PDF). Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  10. Callahan, David (March 3, 2016). "Inside DonorsTrust: What This Mission-Driven DAF Offers Philanthropists on the Right". Inside Philanthropy. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
  11. Goldenberg, Suzanne (February 14, 2013). "How Donors Trust distributed millions to anti-climate groups". The Guardian. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  12. Hickley, Walter (February 12, 2013). "Inside The Secretive Dark-Money Organization That's Keeping The Lights On For Conservative Groups". Business Insider. Retrieved February 14, 2013.
  13. Friedman, Lisa (17 December 2019). "A Coal Baron Funded Climate Denial as His Company Spiraled Into Bankruptcy". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  14. Goldman, Gretchen (2016-06-30). "Peabody Energy Discloses Extensive Payments to Climate Denial Groups". Union of Concerned Scientists. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
  15. "A two-decade crusade by conservative charities fueled Trump's exit from Paris climate accord". Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
  16. "Playing Climate-Change Telephone". The New Yorker. 2014-04-29. Retrieved 2015-10-11.
  17. "CFACT". cfactcampus.org. Archived from the original on 2015-09-30. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
  18. "CFACT". cfactcampus.org. Archived from the original on 2015-09-30. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
  19. Epstein, Lita; Jaco, C.D.; Neimann, Julianne C. (2003). The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Politics Of Oil. p. 273.
  20. "Drilling for straight facts on ANWR development". cfact.org. 2004-07-06.
  21. Driessen, Paul (2016-08-22). "Fracturing common sense". CFACT. Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  22. Hinckley, Story (2 May 2016). "'Climate Hustle' mocks climate change concerns with a movie". Christian Science Monitor.
  23. McNary, Dave (11 April 2016). "Sarah Palin Endorses Anti-Climate Change Film (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety.
  24. "'Climate Hustle': The movie sneers at climate change concerns". Christian Science Monitor. 2016-05-02. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  25. "Climate Hustle wants you to believe you just can't trust climate science". Ars Technica. May 5, 2016. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
  26. Gray, Louise (2009-12-09). "Copenhagen climate summit: Behind the scenes at the sceptics' conference – Telegraph". London: telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-12-10.
  27. "Plimer the toast of Copenhagen sceptics meeting". The Australian. www.theaustralian.com.au. Retrieved 2009-12-10.
  28. "Who We Are - Holger J. Thuss | Heartland Institute". www.heartland.org. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  29. Connolly, Kate (14 May 2019). "Germany's AfD turns on Greta Thunberg as it embraces climate denial". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
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