The Global Warming Policy Foundation, a skeptical think tank, has been reported to the Charity Commission by Green MP Caroline Lucas and Extinction Rebellion.
The move comes after the Guardian revealed that the group had received funding from fossil fuel interests.
The think tank has charitable status, but climate activists say questions about its funding mean it should be deprived.
In a letter to the Charity Commission, the signatories, including writers Irvine Welsh and Zadi Smith, said the GWPF was “not a charity but a fossil fuel lobby.”
The GWPF, founded in 2009 by former Tory Chancellor Lord Lawson, is looking forward to a recent resurgence of influence in parliament. He has MP Steve Baker as trustee and his research is encouraged by the Net Zero Scrutiny Group of Conservative MPs.
The letter also claims that the think tank ignores the rules that charities must be run for the public good. The Commission states that “the goal must be beneficial – this must be in a way that can be identified and that can be demonstrated with evidence when necessary and that is not based on personal views”.
He also says that “any harm or harm resulting from the purpose (of people, property or the environment) must not outweigh the benefit – this is also based on evidence and not on personal views.”
The signatories say that the GWPF does not comply with this because it “works against the public need to prepare, mitigate and adapt to the evolving climate emergency” and therefore does not serve or benefit society.
They argue that the group’s funding may show a conflict of interest and is not working for the public good.
Through its US division, the group received $ 210,525 in 2018 and 2020 from the Sarah Skeif Foundation, founded by the billionaire libertarian heir to the oil and banking dynasty. The US-based foundation has $ 30 million in shares in 22 energy companies, including $ 9 million in Exxon and $ 5.7 million in Chevron, according to its financial documents.
Between 2016 and 2020, American Friends of the GWPF received $ 620,259 from the Donors Trust, funded by the Koch brothers, who inherited their father’s oil empire and spent hundreds of millions of dollars to fund the climate denial movement.
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The letter concludes: “We rely on the charity’s own guidelines that the charity must ensure that ‘protecting people from harm is central to its culture.’ We argue that the continuing global damage caused by climate change is exacerbated by private interests, which are using GWPF’s undeserved charitable status as a cover for their interests.
A GWPF spokesman declined to comment on the letter to the charity committee. The think tank has responded to previous revelations about its funding, saying the companies it receives money from are not considered oil and gas interests, as the wealth created by fossil fuels is historic.
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