Editing Global Climate Coalition

{{Short description|Lobbyist group against reduction of greenhouse gas emissions}}
{{Infobox organization
| type         = [[Advocacy group]]
| formation    = 1989
| dissolved    = 2001
| abbreviation = GCC
| status       = Nonprofit<ref name="Franz 1998">{{harvnb|Franz|1998}}</ref>
| purpose      = [[Lobbying]]
| headquarters = [[Washington, D.C.]], U.S.
| website      = {{URL|https://web.archive.org/web/20060127223742/http://www.globalclimate.org/|As of 2006}} at [[Internet Archive]]
| logo         = GlobalClimateCoalitionLogo.gif
| logo_alt     = Global Climate Coalition logo
}}
The '''Global Climate Coalition''' (GCC) (1989–2001) was an international [[lobbying|lobbyist]] group of businesses that opposed action to reduce [[greenhouse gas emissions]] and engaged in [[climate change denial]], publicly challenging the science behind [[global warming]]. The GCC was the largest industry group active in climate policy and the most prominent industry advocate in international climate negotiations. The GCC was involved in opposition to the [[Kyoto Protocol]], and played a role in blocking ratification by the United States. The coalition knew it could not deny the scientific consensus, but sought to sow doubt over the [[scientific consensus on climate change]] and create [[manufactured controversy]].<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/science/earth/24deny.html Industry Ignored Its Scientists on Climate] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609002637/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/science/earth/24deny.html |date=2021-06-09 }}, ''New York Times''</ref> 

The GCC was dissolved in 2001 after membership declined in the face of improved understanding of the role of greenhouse gases in [[climate change]] and of public criticism. It declared that its primary objective had been achieved: U.S. President [[George W. Bush]] withdrew the U.S., which alone accounted for nearly a quarter of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, from the Kyoto Protocol process through the [[Kyoto Protocol#Non-ratification by the US|Senate voting to not ratify the treaty]]. Thus, this rendered mandatory global reductions unreachable.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |title=Oil industry targets EU climate policy |first=David |last=Adam |date=December 7, 2005 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2005/dec/08/greenpolitics.europeanunion |access-date=February 8, 2016 |quote=During the 1990s US oil companies and other corporations funded a group called the Global Climate Coalition, which emphasised uncertainties in climate science and disputed the need to take action. It was disbanded when President Bush pulled the US out of the Kyoto process. |archive-date=June 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210610023647/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2005/dec/08/greenpolitics.europeanunion |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|May|2005}}: The GCC was "deactivated" in 2001, once President Bush made it clear he intended to reject the Kyoto protocol.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Levy|2001}}: Without the participation of the United States, which accounts for nearly one-quarter of global emissions, the Kyoto Protocol is meaningless.</ref><ref name="globalclimate_org">{{cite web |url=http://www.globalclimate.org/index.htm |publisher=Global Climate Coalition |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021014142013/http://www.globalclimate.org/index.htm |archive-date=October 14, 2002 |title=Home |url-status=dead |access-date=February 18, 2016}}</ref>

== Founding ==
The Global Climate Coalition (GCC) was formed in 1989 as a project under the auspices of the [[National Association of Manufacturers]].<ref name=levyrothenberg>{{harvnb|Levy|Rothenberg|1999}}: On the organizational level, the three major US automobile companies, as well as the [[American Automobile Manufacturers Association]] (AAMA) worked largely through the Global Climate Coalition (GCC), which was formed in 1989, initially under the auspices of the [[National Association of Manufacturers]] (NAM), but reorganized as an independent entity in 1992.</ref> The GCC was formed to represent the interests of the major producers and users of [[fossil fuel]]s,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kolk |first1=Ans |first2=David |last2=Levy |chapter=Multinationals and global climate change. Issues for the automotive and oil industries |title=''Multinationals, Environment and Global Competition'' |year=2003 |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235253964 |doi=10.1016/S1064-4857(03)09008-9 |isbn=9780762309665 |editor-first=Sarianna M. |editor-last=Lundan |access-date=February 23, 2016 |quote=This aggressive approach was typified in the activities of The Global Climate Coalition (GCC), an industry association formed in 1989 to represent major fossil fuel users and producers, which has strongly challenged the scientific basis for action, questioned the legitimacy of the [[Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change]] (IPCC), and highlighted potential economic costs.}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Franz|1998}}: GCC was established in 1989 to coordinate business participation in the science and policy debate on the climate change issue.</ref> to oppose regulation to mitigate global warming,<ref name=rahm>{{harvnb|Rahm|2009}}: In 1989, [[ExxonMobil]] and the [[American Petroleum Institute]] (which was twice chaired by [[Lee Raymond]]) formed the Global Climate Coalition. The Coalition's mission was to oppose policy action on climate change. ExxonMobil and the Coalition argued that global warming was a natural phenomenon and that human actions were not contributing to it.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Mooney|2005}}: In 1989, the petroleum and automotive industries and the National Association of Manufacturers forged the Global Climate Coalition to oppose mandatory actions to address global warming.</ref> and to challenge the science behind [[global warming]].<ref>{{harvnb|Lee|2003}}: Exxon's backing of third-party groups is a marked contrast to its more public role in the Global Climate Coalition, an industry group formed in 1989 to challenge the science around global warming.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brulle |first=Robert J. |date=2022 |title=Advocating inaction: a historical analysis of the Global Climate Coalition |journal=Environmental Politics |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=185–206 |doi=10.1080/09644016.2022.2058815 |s2cid=248112482 |issn=0964-4016|doi-access=free }}</ref> Context for the founding of the GCC from 1988 included the establishment of the [[Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change]] (IPCC)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dunlap |first1=Riley E. |first2=Aaron M. |last2=McCright |chapter=Organized climate change denial |title=The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society |year=2011 |pages=144–160 |publisher=OUP Oxford |chapter-url=http://scottvalentine.net/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/dunlap_cc_denial.302183828.pdf |isbn=9780199566600 |access-date=February 23, 2016 |quote=The Global Climate Coalition (GCC), formed in 1989 in reaction to the establishment of the IPCC, was an early front group designed to combat evidence of climate change and climate policy making. |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304081400/http://scottvalentine.net/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/dunlap_cc_denial.302183828.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[NASA]] climatologist [[James Hansen]]'s congressional testimony that climate change was occurring.<ref>{{harvnb|McGregor|2008}}: One of the reasons given for its formation was that in 1988 there was a: “very alarmist presentation by James Hansen of NASA to a Senate Committee that climate change was taking place”.</ref> The government affairs' offices of five or six corporations recognized that they had been inadequately organized for the [[Montreal Protocol]], the international treaty that phased out [[ozone]] depleting [[chlorofluorocarbon]]s, and the [[Clean Air Act (United States)|Clean Air Act]] in the United States, and recognized that fossil fuels would be targeted for regulation.<ref>{{harvnb|Franz|1998}}: The GCC began when the federal affairs representatives of five or six companies realized that they had not been organized for the Clean Air Act and its amendments or for the Montreal protocol. By 1989, it seemed clear the climate issue would come to directly address fossil fuels.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Levy|Rothenberg|1999}}: A senior GCC staff member, discussing motivations for the creation of the GCC, expressed the view that industry had “been caught napping” by the ozone issue, and that there was also considerable dissatisfaction with the Clean Air Act process. As he expressed it, “Boy, if we didn't like the Montreal Protocol, we knew we really wouldn’t like climate change! This is the mother of all issues!”</ref>

According to GCC's mission statement on the home page of its website, GCC was established: "to coordinate business participation in the international policy debate on the issue of global climate change and global warming,"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.globalclimate.org/index.htm |publisher=Global Climate Coalition |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010302000601/http://www.globalclimate.org/index.htm |archive-date=March 2, 2001 |title=Home |url-status=dead |access-date=February 18, 2016 |quote=The Global Climate Coalition is an organization of trade associations established in 1989 to coordinate business participation in the international policy debate on the issue of global climate change and global warming.}}</ref> and GCC's executive director in a 1993 press release said GCC was organized "as the leading voice for industry on the global climate change issue."<ref>{{cite press release |first=John |last=Shlaes |publisher=Global Climate Coalition |url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/STATEMENT+BY+JOHN+SHLAES,+EXECUTIVE+DIRECTOR,+GLOBAL+CLIMATE+COALITION-a013111109 |title=Statement by John Shlaes, executive director, Global Climate Coalition |agency=[[PR Newswire]] |date=February 2, 1993 |access-date=February 18, 2016 |archive-date=July 10, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710122801/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/STATEMENT+BY+JOHN+SHLAES,+EXECUTIVE+DIRECTOR,+GLOBAL+CLIMATE+COALITION-a013111109 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

GCC reorganized independently in 1992,<ref name=levyrothenberg/> with the first chairman of the board of directors being the director of government relations for the [[Phillips Petroleum Company]].<ref>{{harvnb|McGregor|2008}}: ... GCC’s first chairman Thomas Lambrix, director of government relations for Phillips Petroleum.</ref> Exxon, later [[ExxonMobil]], was a founding member, and a founding member of the GCC's board of directors; the energy giant also had a leadership role in coalition.<ref>{{harvnb|Whitman|2015}}: The company, which in 1999 became Exxon Mobil, helped found the Global Climate Coalition, which from 1989 to 2002 argued the role "of greenhouse gases in climate change is not well understood," the ''New York Times'' reported Friday.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Banerjee|Song|Hasemyer|2015}}: "Exxon helped to found and lead the Global Climate Coalition, an alliance of some of the world's largest companies seeking to halt government efforts to curb fossil fuel emissions."</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Van den Hove|Le Menestrel|De Bettignies|2002}}: Instrumental to the implementation of Exxon’s strategy was its participation in industry and lobby groups. Exxon is a prominent member of the American Petroleum Institute (API), the major US petroleum industry trade association, and was, from the date of its creation in 1989, a board member of the Global Climate Coalition (GCC), one of the most influential US lobbying front group on the climate issue.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Lorenzetti|2015}}: Exxon has known about climate change for almost 40 years, despite its efforts to continue to promote fossil fuels and deny its existence throughout the 1990s as a leader of the Global Climate Coalition</ref><ref name=vidal/><ref>{{harvnb|Banerjee|Song|Hasemyer|2015}}: Exxon helped to found and lead the Global Climate Coalition</ref> The [[American Petroleum Institute]] (API) was a leading member of the coalition.<ref>{{harvnb|Mooney|2005}}: In 1989, the petroleum and automotive industries and the National Association of Manufacturers forged the Global Climate Coalition to oppose mandatory actions to address global warming. Exxon—later ExxonMobil—was a leading member, as was the American Petroleum Institute</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Lieberman|Rust|2015}}: a collection of energy companies, primarily from the coal sector, created the Global Climate Coalition to fight impending climate change regulations. The group approached the American Petroleum Institute for funding and support in the early 1990s. William O’Keefe, executive vice president of the Petroleum Institute at the time, delivered.</ref> API's executive vice president was a chairman of the coalition's board of directors.<ref>{{harvnb|Lieberman|Rust|2015}}: William O’Keefe, executive vice president of the Petroleum Institute at the time, delivered. The major oil companies, he recalled, decided “something has to be done.” By 1993, he was sitting on the board, and within a few years, he was chairman.</ref><ref>{{cite news |magazine=[[Newsweek]] |title=Global Warming Deniers Well Funded |url=http://www.newsweek.com/global-warming-deniers-well-funded-99775 |date=August 12, 2007 |access-date=February 6, 2016 |quote=There is too much "scientific uncertainty" to justify curbs on greenhouse emissions, William O'Keefe, then a vice president of the American Petroleum Institute and leader of the Global Climate Coalition, suggested in 1996. |archive-date=June 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210619065047/https://www.newsweek.com/global-warming-deniers-well-funded-99775 |url-status=live }}</ref> Other GCC founding members included the [[National Coal Association]], [[United States Chamber of Commerce]], [[American Forest & Paper Association]], and [[Edison Electric Institute]]. GCC's executive director John Shlaes was previously the director of government relations at the Edison Electric Institute.<ref>{{harvnb|McGregor|2008}}: The initial GCC members included major fossil fuel industry organisations (American Petroleum Institute, National Coal Association), major generators and industrial users of electricity (most generators in US use coal) and more general Business Interest NGOs (BINGOs) - US Chamber of Commerce, American Paper Institute and others... Executive Director...John Shlaes, was previously director of government relations at Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the association of investor-owned electric utilities. EEI was a founding member of the GCC.</ref> GCC was run by [[Ruder Finn]], a public relations firm.<ref>{{harvnb|Hammond|1997}}: The Global Climate Coalition (GCC), run by Washington P.R. firm Ruder Finn, represents the big oil, gas, coal, and auto corporations.</ref> GCC's comprehensive PR campaign was designed by [[E. Bruce Harrison]], who had been creating campaigns for the US industry against environmental legislation from the 1970s.<ref>{{cite journal|publisher=Taylor&Francis Online|title=Advocating inaction: a historical analysis of the Global Climate Coalition|date=11 April 2022|doi=10.1080/09644016.2022.2058815 |last1=Brulle |first1=Robert J. |journal=Environmental Politics |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=185–206 |s2cid=248112482 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

GCC was the largest industry group active in climate policy.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Levy |first1=David L. |first2=Daniel |last2=Egan |title=Capital contests: National and transnational channels of corporate influence on the climate change negotiations |journal=[[Politics & Society|Politics and Society]] |volume=26 |issue=3 |year=1998 |pages=337–361 |access-date=February 23, 2016 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249674467 |doi=10.1177/0032329298026003003 |s2cid=154879490 |archive-date=June 29, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629032048/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249674467_Capital_Contests_National_and_Transnational_Channels_of_Corporate_Influence_on_the_Climate_Change_Negotiations |url-status=live }}</ref> About 40 companies and industry associations were GCC members.<ref>{{harvnb|Levy|Rothenberg|1999}}: The GCC represented about 40 companies and industry associations</ref> Considering member corporations, member [[trade association]]s, and business represented by member trade associations, GCC represented over 230,000 businesses. Industry sectors represented included: aluminium, paper, transportation, power generation, petroleum, chemical, and small businesses.<ref name="Franz 1998">{{harvnb|Franz|1998}}</ref>  All major oil companies were members until 1996 (Shell left in 1998).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Levy |first1=David L. |first2=Ans |last2=Kolk |title=Strategic responses to global climate change: Conflicting pressures on multinationals in the oil industry |journal=Business and Politics |volume=4 |issue=3 |year=2002 |pages=275–300 |access-date=February 15, 2016 |doi=10.1080/1369525021000158391 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/4985263 |doi-access=free |archive-date=August 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210807083312/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/4985263 |url-status=live }}</ref>  GCC members were from industries that would have been adversely effected by limitations on fossil fuel consumption.<ref>{{harvnb|Levy|1997}}: the Global Climate Coalition (GCC), which represents more than 50 companies and trade associations in the oil, coal, utility, chemicals, and auto industries. These industries stand to lose out if curbs are placed on fossil fuels</ref>  GCC was funded by membership dues.<ref name="Franz 1998"/><ref>{{harvnb|Revkin|2009}}: The coalition was financed by fees from large corporations and trade groups representing the oil, coal and auto industries, among others.</ref>

== Advocacy activities ==
GCC was one of the most powerful lobbyist groups against action to mitigate global warming.<ref>{{harvnb|Levy|1997}}: One of the most powerful lobbies opposing action on global warming is the Global Climate Coalition (GCC)</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Brulle|first=Robert J.|title=Networks of Opposition: A Structural Analysis of U.S. Climate Change Countermovement Coalitions 1989–2015|journal=Sociological Inquiry|language=en|doi=10.1111/soin.12333|issn=1475-682X|year=2019|volume=91|issue=3|pages=603–624|s2cid=210361558 |doi-access=}}</ref> It was the most prominent industry advocate in international climate negotiations,<ref>{{harvnb|Levy|Rothenberg|1999}}: Although the GCC was constituted as a U.S.-based organization and was focused on domestic lobbying, a number of US subsidiaries of European multinationals also joined, and the GCC quickly rose to be the most prominent voice of industry, both in the US and in the international negotiations.</ref> and led a campaign opposed to policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=[[Climatic Change (journal)|Climatic Change]] |date=September 2015 |access-date=February 23, 2016 |volume=132 |issue=2 |pages=157–171 |title=The climate responsibilities of industrial carbon producers |first1=Peter C. |last1=Frumhoff |first2=Richard |last2=Heede |first3=Naomi |last3=Oreskes |author-link3=Naomi Oreskes |doi=10.1007/s10584-015-1472-5 |bibcode=2015ClCh..132..157F |s2cid=152573421 |url=https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs10584-015-1472-5.pdf |quote=...leading investor-owned fossil fuel corporations, including ExxonMobil, Shell, and British Petroleum, created the Global Climate Coalition (GCC) to oppose greenhouse gas emission reduction policies. From 1989 to 2002, the GCC led an aggressive lobbying and advertising campaign aimed at achieving these goals by sowing doubt about the integrity of the IPCC and the scientific evidence that heat-trapping emissions from burning fossil fuels drive global warming. They worked successfully to prevent the United States from signing the Kyoto Protocol after it was negotiated in 1997. |doi-access=free |archive-date=October 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191019135722/https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10584-015-1472-5.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The GCC was one of the most powerful [[non-governmental organization]]s representing business interests in climate policy, according to Kal Raustiala, professor at the [[UCLA School of Law]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Raustiala |first=Kal |chapter=Nonstate actors in the global climate regime |chapter-url=http://graduateinstitute.ch/files/live/sites/iheid/files/shared/iheid/800/luterbacher/luterbacher%20chapter%205%20105.pdf |access-date=February 12, 2016 |title=International Relations and Global Climate Change |page=117 |year=2001 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=9780262621496 |editor-last1=Luterbacher |editor-first1=Urs |editor-first2=Detlef F. |editor-last2=Sprinz |quote=Perhaps the most powerful broad-based business NGO is the U.S.-based Global Climate Coalition, which has an annual budget of $2 million and a membership roster that comprises many of the most powerful American and European corporations, including several from the energy sector. |archive-date=February 16, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216020142/http://graduateinstitute.ch/files/live/sites/iheid/files/shared/iheid/800/luterbacher/luterbacher%20chapter%205%20105.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

GCC's advocacy activities included [[lobbying]] government officials, [[grassroots lobbying]] through press releases and advertising, participation in international climate conferences, criticism of the processes of international climate organizations, critiques of [[climate model]]s, and personal attacks on scientists and environmentalists. Policy positions advocated by the coalition included denial of [[Human impact on the environment|anthropogenic climate change]], emphasizing the uncertainty in [[climatology]], advocating for additional research, highlighting the benefits and downplaying the [[Climate risk|risks of climate change]], stressing the priority of economic development, defending national [[sovereignty]], and opposition to the regulation of [[greenhouse gas emissions]].

GCC sent delegations to all of the major international climate conventions. Only nations and non-profits may send official delegates to the [[United Nations Climate Change conference]]s. GCC registered with the [[United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change]] (UNFCCC) as a [[non-governmental organization]], and executives from GCC members attended official UN conferences as GCC delegates.<ref>{{harvnb|McGregor|2008}}: Only not-for-profit organisations and governments are allowed to have delegates at the official international meetings of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC 2007). As GCC was a registered NGO with the UNFCCC, many executives from its member corporations registered as delegates under GCC for the official meetings.</ref>

In 1990, after US president, [[George H. W. Bush]], addressed the [[Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change]] (IPCC) urging caution in responding to global warming, and offering no new proposals, GCC said Bush's speech was "very strong" and concurred with the priorities of economic development and additional research.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bush Asks Cautious Response To Threat of Global Warming |page=1 |first=Philip |last=Shabecoff |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 6, 1990 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/06/us/bush-asks-cautious-response-to-threat-of-global-warming.html |access-date=February 8, 2016 |archive-date=February 17, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217052302/http://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/06/us/bush-asks-cautious-response-to-threat-of-global-warming.html |url-status=live }}</ref> GCC sent 30 attendees to the 1992 [[Earth Summit]] in [[Rio de Janeiro]],<ref name="Franz 1998"/> where it lobbied to keep targets and timetables out of the [[Framework Convention on Climate Change]].<ref>{{cite news |title=U.S. Business Woos Delegates to Earth Summit |last=Dolan |first=Maura |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=May 30, 1992 |page=1 |access-date=February 18, 2016 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-05-30-mn-224-story.html|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160223185658/http://articles.latimes.com/1992-05-30/news/mn-224_1_earth-summit|archive-date=23 February 2016}}</ref> In December, 1992 GCC's executive director wrote in a letter to ''[[The New York Times]]'': "...there is considerable debate on whether or not man-made greenhouse gases (produced primarily by burning fossil fuels) are triggering a dangerous 'global warming' trend."<ref>{{cite news |title=What Global Warming? |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=December 22, 1992 |first=John |last=Schlaes |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/22/opinion/l-what-global-warming-250692.html |access-date=February 8, 2016 |archive-date=February 17, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217052305/http://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/22/opinion/l-what-global-warming-250692.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1992 GCC distributed a half-hour video entitled ''[[The Greening of Planet Earth]]'', to hundreds of journalists, the White House, and several Middle Eastern oil-producing countries, which suggested that increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide could boost crop yields and solve world hunger.<ref>{{harvnb|Lieberman|Rust|2015}}: For the next 10 years, the coalition, whose annual revenue peaked at about $1.5 million before Kyoto, spent heavily on lobbying and public relations campaigns. As part of the effort, it distributed a video to hundreds of journalists, the White House and several Middle Eastern oil-producing countries suggesting that higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere were beneficial for crop production, and could be the solution to world hunger.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Helvarg|1996}}: Western Fuels funded a $250,000 video titled ''The Greening of Planet Earth'', which was distributed by the Global Climate Coalition to more than 1,000 US journalists, the White House and various oil states in the Middle East.  The video claims that industrial carbon dioxide buildup in the atmosphere acts as a kind of airborne nutrient that aids plant growth and therefore, by increasing crop yields, could be the solution to world hunger.</ref>

In 1993, after then US president [[Bill Clinton]] pledged "to reducing our emissions of greenhouse gases to their 1990 levels by the year 2000," GCC's executive director said it "could jeopardize the economic health of the nation."<ref>{{cite news |last=Berke |first=Richard L. |date=April 22, 1993 |title=Clinton declares new U.S. Policies for Environment |access-date=February 7, 2016 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/22/world/clinton-declares-new-us-policies-for-environment.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |page=1 |archive-date=February 16, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216163102/http://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/22/world/clinton-declares-new-us-policies-for-environment.html |url-status=live }}</ref> GCC's lobbying was key to the defeat in the [[United States Senate]] of Clinton's 1993 [[energy tax|BTU tax]] proposal.<ref>{{harvnb|Van den Hove|Le Menestrel|De Bettignies|2002}}: The API and the GCC were very hostile to action on climate change...They were key to defeating President Clinton’s 1993 BTU tax proposal, through lobbying the Congress.</ref> In 1994, after [[United States Secretary of Energy]] [[Hazel R. O'Leary]] said the 1992 UNFCCC needed to be strengthened, and that voluntary carbon dioxide reductions may not be enough, GCC said it was: "disturbed by the implication that the President's voluntary climate action plan, which is just getting under way, will be inadequate and that more stringent measures may be needed domestically."<ref>{{cite news |first=John H. |last=Cushman Jr. |title=Clinton wants to strengthen global pact on air pollution |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 16, 1994 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/16/us/clinton-wants-to-strengthen-global-pact-on-air-pollution.html |access-date=February 8, 2016 |page=1 |archive-date=February 17, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217052334/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/16/us/clinton-wants-to-strengthen-global-pact-on-air-pollution.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

GCC did not fund original scientific research and its climate claims relied largely on the ''World Climate Review'' and its successor the ''[[World Climate Report]]'' edited by [[Patrick Michaels]] and funded by the [[Western Fuels Association]].<ref name="Franz 1998"/> GCC promoted the views of [[climate change denial|climate denier]]s such as Michaels, [[Fred Singer]], and [[Richard Lindzen]].<ref>{{harvnb|Levy|Rothenberg|1999}}: The GCC's efforts to challenge the science of climate change took a number of forms. It actively promoted the views of [[climate skeptics]] such as [[Patrick Michaels]], [[Fred Singer]], and [[Richard Lindzen]] in its literature, press releases, and congressional testimony, and would direct press inquiries to these people.</ref> In 1996, GCC published a report entitled ''Global warming and extreme weather: fact vs. fiction'' written by [[Robert E. Davis (climatologist)|Robert E. Davis]].<ref name="Franz 1998"/><ref>{{Citation |last=Davis |first=Robert E. |author-link=Robert E. Davis (climatologist) |title=Global warming and extreme weather: fact vs. fiction |location=[[Washington D.C.]] |publisher=Global Climate Coalition |year=1996}}</ref>

GCC members questioned the efficacy of climate change denial and shifted their message to highlighting the economic costs of proposed greenhouse gas emission regulations and the limited effectiveness of proposals exempting developing nations.<ref>{{harvnb|Levy|2001}}: Within the GCC, more companies were questioning the value of aggressively denying the climate problem...In the run-up to the Kyoto conference in December 1997, the GCC decided to shift strategy. Instead of challenging the science, industry's message shifted to the high cost and limited environmental effectiveness of an agreement that excludes developing countries from emission controls.</ref> In 1995, after the [[United Nations Climate Change conference]] in [[Berlin]] agreed to negotiate [[greenhouse gas]] emission limits, GCC's executive director said the agreement gave "developing countries like China, India and Mexico a free ride" and would "change the relations between sovereign countries and the United Nations. This could have very significant implications. It could be a way of capping our economy."<ref>{{cite news |last=Kinzer |first=Stephen |title=Nations Pledge to Set Limits by 1997 on Warming Gases |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=April 8, 1995 |access-date=February 7, 2016 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/08/world/nations-pledge-to-set-limits-by-1997-on-warming-gases.html |archive-date=February 17, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217052107/http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/08/world/nations-pledge-to-set-limits-by-1997-on-warming-gases.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Stevens |first=William K. |title=Climate Talks Enter Harder Phase of Cutting Back Emissions |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=April 11, 1995 |access-date=February 7, 2016 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/11/science/climate-talks-enter-harder-phase-of-cutting-back-emissions.html |archive-date=February 17, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217052052/http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/11/science/climate-talks-enter-harder-phase-of-cutting-back-emissions.html |url-status=live }}</ref> At a [[Washington, D.C.]] press conference on the eve of the second United Nations Climate Change conference in [[Geneva]], GCC's executive director said, "The time for decision is not yet now."<ref>{{cite news |last=Cushman Jr. |first=John H. |date=July 8, 1996 |title=Report says global warming poses threat to public health |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=February 8, 2016 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/08/world/report-says-global-warming-poses-threat-to-public-health.html |archive-date=February 17, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217054037/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/08/world/report-says-global-warming-poses-threat-to-public-health.html |url-status=live }}</ref> At the conference in Geneva, GCC issued a statement that said it was too early to determine the causes of global warming.<ref>{{cite news |title=Climate Session Opens with Words of Warning |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 9, 1996 |access-date=February 8, 2016 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/09/science/climate-session-opens-with-words-of-warning.html |archive-date=February 17, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217054050/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/09/science/climate-session-opens-with-words-of-warning.html |url-status=live }}</ref> GCC representatives lobbied scientists at the September, 1996 IPCC conference in [[Mexico City]].<ref>{{harvnb|Helvarg|1996}}: At the I.P.C.C.'s most recent session in Mexico City on September 11–13, representatives from industry's Climate Council, Global Climate Coalition, [[Edison Electric Institute]], [[World Coal Institute]] and [[IPIECA]] (another oil group) were buttonholing scientists, trying to weaken report language and pressing for restrictions on new research.</ref>

After actor [[Leonardo DiCaprio]], chairman of [[Earth Day]] 2000, interviewed Clinton for [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]], GCC sent out an e-mail that said that DiCaprio's first car was a [[Jeep Grand Cherokee]] and that his current car was a [[Chevrolet Tahoe]].<ref>{{cite news |first1=James |last1=Barron |first2=David |last2=Rohde |first3=Linda |last3=Lee |title=Public Lives |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=February 8, 2016 |date=April 13, 2000 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/13/nyregion/public-lives.html |archive-date=March 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305033842/http://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/13/nyregion/public-lives.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== ''Predicting Future Climate Change: A Primer'' ===
In 1995, GCC assembled an advisory committee of scientific and technical experts to compile an internal-only, 17-page report on climate science entitled ''Predicting Future Climate Change: A Primer'', which said: "The scientific basis for the Greenhouse Effect and the potential impact of human emissions of greenhouse gases such as CO2 on climate is well established and cannot be denied." In early 1996, GCC's operating committee asked the advisory committee to redact the sections that rebutted contrarian arguments, and accepted the report and distributed it to members. The draft document was disclosed in a 2007 lawsuit filed by the auto industry against California's efforts to regulate automotive greenhouse gas emissions.<ref name="Revkin 2009">{{harvnb|Revkin|2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/07/Climate-Deception-Dossier-7_GCC-Climate-Primer.pdf |first=Leonard S. |last=Bernstein |date=December 21, 1995 |access-date=February 11, 2016 |title=Approval draft: Predicting Future Climate Change: A Primer |archive-date=December 2, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151202221908/http://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/07/Climate-Deception-Dossier-7_GCC-Climate-Primer.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

According to ''The New York Times'', the primer demonstrated that "even as the coalition worked to sway opinion, its own scientific and technical experts were advising that the science backing the role of greenhouse gases in global warming could not be refuted."<ref name="Revkin 2009"/> According to the [[Union of Concerned Scientists]] in 2015, the primer was: "remarkable for indisputably showing that, while some fossil fuel companies' deception about climate science has continued to the present day, at least two decades ago the companies' own scientific experts were internally alerting them about the realities and implications of climate change."<ref name="Mulvey 2015">{{harvnb|Mulvey|Shulman|2015}}</ref>

=== IPCC Second Assessment Report ===
GCC was an industry participant in the review process of the [[IPCC Second Assessment Report]].<ref name="Franz 1998"/> In 1996, prior to the publication of the Second Assessment Report, GCC distributed a report entitled ''The IPCC: Institutionalized Scientific Cleansing'' to reporters, US Congressmen, and scientists. The coalition report said that [[Benjamin D. Santer]], the lead author of Chapter 8 in the assessment, entitled "Detection of Climate Change and Attribution of Causes," had altered the text, after acceptance by the Working Group, and without approval of the authors, to strike content characterizing the uncertainty of the science. [[Frederick Seitz]] repeated GCC's charges in a letter to ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' published June 12, 1996.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Naomi |last1=Oreskes |author-link1=Naomi Oreskes |first2=Erik M. |last2=Conway |author-link2=Erik M. Conway |title=Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming |year=2010 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-59691-610-4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/merchantsofdoubt00ores/page/200 200–2008] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/merchantsofdoubt00ores/page/200 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Stevens |first=William K. |date=June 17, 1996 |title=U.N. climate report was improperly altered, underplaying uncertainties, critics say |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/17/us/un-climate-report-was-improperly-altered-overplaying-human-rolecritics-say.html |access-date=February 8, 2016 |archive-date=February 17, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217054605/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/17/us/un-climate-report-was-improperly-altered-overplaying-human-rolecritics-say.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Van den Hove|Le Menestrel|De Bettignies|2002}}: ...the GCC personally attacked an IPCC lead author, Dr. Benjamin Santer.</ref> The coalition ran newspaper advertisements that said: "unless the management of the IPCC promptly undertakes to republish the printed versions ... the IPCC's credibility will have been lost."<ref>{{harvnb|Levy|Rothenberg|1999}}</ref>

Santer and his co-authors said the edits were integrations of comments from peer review as per agreed IPCC processes.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ucar.edu/communications/quarterly/summer96/insert.html |title=Special insert--An open letter to Ben Santer |publisher=[[University Corporation for Atmospheric Research]] |access-date=February 9, 2016 |date=Summer 1996 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060626011156/http://www.ucar.edu/communications/quarterly/summer96/insert.html |archive-date=June 26, 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Opposition to Kyoto Protocol ===
GCC was the main industry group in the United States opposed to the [[Kyoto Protocol]],<ref name=vidal/> which committed signatories to reduce [[greenhouse gas emissions]]. The coalition "was the leading industry group working in opposition to the Kyoto Protocol," according to [[Greenpeace]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Global Climate Coalition Meeting |date=June 21, 2001 |url=http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/research/global-climate-coalition-meeti/ |publisher=[[Greenpeace]] |access-date=February 15, 2016 |archive-date=February 23, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160223124851/http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/research/global-climate-coalition-meeti/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and led opposition to the Kyoto Protocol, according to the ''[[Los Angeles Times]].''<ref name=latimes20000315>{{cite news |title=Briefly: Autos; Also |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-mar-15-fi-8936-story.html |date=March 15, 2000 |access-date=February 21, 2016 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |quote=General Motors Corp. said it has quit the Global Climate Coalition, a lobbying group that has led the opposition to a 1997 global warming treaty reached in Kyoto, Japan. |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303130316/http://articles.latimes.com/2000/mar/15/business/fi-8936 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Prior to 1997, GCC spent about $1 million annually lobbying against limits on {{CO2}} emissions;<ref>{{harvnb|Levy|1997}}: the GCC has spent nearly $1 million a year to convince policy makers that proposals to limit CO emissions: "are premature and are not justified by the state of scientific knowledge or the economic risks they create."</ref> before Kyoto, GCC annual revenue peaked around $1.5 million;<ref>{{harvnb|Lieberman|Rust|2015}}: the coalition, whose annual revenue peaked at about $1.5 million before Kyoto</ref> GCC spent $13 million on advertising in opposition to the Kyoto treaty.<ref>{{harvnb|Farley|1997}}: The cost of a recent, influential $13-million advertising campaign sponsored by the Global Climate Coalition equaled Greenpeace's entire annual budget.</ref><ref name=mitchell>{{harvnb|Mitchell|1997}}: Using the same media team of [[Goddard Claussen]] that produced the Harry and Louise ads, the Global Climate Coalition, an association of industry groups and some unions, has already run $13 million in television advertisements against the agreement.</ref> The coalition funded the Global Climate Information Project and hired the advertising firm that produced the 1993–1994 [[Harry and Louise]] advertising campaign which opposed Clinton's health care initiative.<ref name="Franz 1998"/><ref name=mitchell/> The advertisements said, "the UN Climate Treaty isn't Global...and it won't work"<ref>{{harvnb|Van den Hove|Le Menestrel|De Bettignies|2002}}</ref> and "Americans will pay the price...50 cents more for every gallon of gasoline."<ref>{{harvnb|Brown|2000}}: Among other things, the ads indicated that “Americans will pay the price ... 50¢ more for every gallon of gasoline,”even though there was no proposal for such a tax.</ref>

GCC opposed the signing of the Kyoto Protocol by Clinton.<ref>{{harvnb|Farley|1997}}: A group of energy companies, the Global Climate Coalition, has urged President Clinton not to OK signing a treaty here</ref> GCC was influential in the withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol by the administration of President [[George W. Bush]].<ref>{{harvnb|Rahm|2009}}: The Global Climate Coalition was influential in Bush administration decision making on withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol and policy positions on a successor treaty.</ref> According to briefing notes prepared by the [[United States Department of State]] for the under-secretary of state, Bush's rejection of the Kyoto Protocol was "in part based on input from" GCC.<ref name=vidal>{{harvnb|Vidal|2005}}: In briefing papers given before meetings to the US under-secretary of state, [[Paula Dobriansky]], between 2001 and 2004, the administration is found thanking Exxon executives for the company's "active involvement" in helping to determine climate change policy, and also seeking its advice on what climate change policies the company might find acceptable. "Potus [president of the United States] rejected Kyoto in part based on input from you [the Global Climate Coalition]," says one briefing note before Ms Dobriansky's meeting with the GCC, the main anti-Kyoto US industry group, which was dominated by Exxon.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Mooney|2005}}: ...the Global Climate Coalition. For her meeting with the latter group, one of Dobriansky’s prepared talking points was “POTUS [President Bush in Secret Service parlance] rejected Kyoto, in part, based on input from you.”</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Brill|2001}}</ref> GCC lobbying was key to the July, 1997 unanimous passage in the [[United States Senate]] of the [[Byrd–Hagel Resolution]], which reflected the coalition's position that restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions must include developing countries.<ref name="Franz 1998"/><ref>{{harvnb|Van den Hove|Le Menestrel|De Bettignies|2002}}: The GCC was indeed instrumental to the passing the Byrd–Hagel Senate resolution in July 1997</ref> GCC's chairman told a US congressional committee that mandatory greenhouse gas emissions limits were: "an unjustified rush to judgement."<ref>{{cite news |last=Stevens |first=William K. |title=Industries Revisit Global Warming |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=February 8, 2016 |date=August 5, 1997 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/05/world/industries-revisit-global-warming.html |archive-date=May 27, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527053223/http://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/05/world/industries-revisit-global-warming.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The coalition sent 50 delegates to the third Conference of the Parties to the [[United Nations Climate Change Conference]] in [[Kyoto]].<ref name="Franz 1998"/> On December 11, 1997, the day the Kyoto delegates reached agreement on legally binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions, GCC's chairman said the agreement would be defeated by the US Senate.<ref>{{cite news |last=Stevens |first=William K. |title=Meeting Reaches Accord to Reduce Greenhouse Gases |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=February 8, 2016 |date=December 11, 1997 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/11/world/meeting-reaches-accord-to-reduce-greenhouse-gases.html |archive-date=February 17, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217053940/http://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/11/world/meeting-reaches-accord-to-reduce-greenhouse-gases.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2001, GCC's executive director compared the Kyoto Protocol to the ''[[RMS Titanic]]''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Some Energy Executives Urge U.S. Shift on Global Warming |last1=Revkin |first1=Andrew C. |author-link1=Andrew Revkin |last2=Banerjee |first2=Neela |date=August 1, 2001 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/01/business/some-energy-executives-urge-us-shift-on-global-warming.html |access-date=February 8, 2016 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |archive-date=February 17, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217060659/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/01/business/some-energy-executives-urge-us-shift-on-global-warming.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Membership decline ==
GCC's challenge to science prompted a backlash from environmental groups.<ref name="Jones 2007">{{harvnb|Jones|Levy|2007}}</ref> Environmentalists described GCC as a "club for polluters" and called for members to withdraw their support.<ref name=nyt20000107>{{cite news |title=DaimlerChrysler Leaving Climate Coalition |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=February 8, 2016 |date=January 7, 2000 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/07/business/daimlerchrysler-leaving-climate-coalition.html |archive-date=June 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210627115528/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/07/business/daimlerchrysler-leaving-climate-coalition.html |url-status=live }}</ref> "Abandonment of the Global Climate Coalition by leading companies is partly in response to the mounting evidence that the world is indeed getting warmer," according to environmentalist [[Lester R. Brown]].<ref name="Brown 2000">{{harvnb|Brown|2000}}</ref> In 1998, [[European Green Party|Green Party]] delegates to the [[European Parliament]] introduced an unsuccessful proposal that the [[World Meteorological Organization]] name hurricanes after GCC members.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Karliner |first=Joshua |title=Petroleum Weather |journal=Earth Island Journal |volume=14 |date=December 1, 1998 |page=48}}</ref> Defections weakened the coalition.<ref>{{harvnb|Levy|2001}}: The GCC was weakened by a series of defections</ref> In 1996, [[BP|British Petroleum]] resigned and later announced support for the Kyoto Protocol and commitment to greenhouse gas emission reductions.<ref>{{cite news |title=How Green Is BP? |first=Darcy |last=Frey |date=December 8, 2002 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=February 8, 2016 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/08/magazine/how-green-is-bp.html |archive-date=February 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230226022325/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/08/magazine/how-green-is-bp.html |url-status=live }}: In 1996, BP resigned from the Global Climate Coalition, then offered its support of the Kyoto Protocol</ref> In 1997, [[Shell plc|Royal Dutch Shell]] withdrew after criticism from European environmental groups. In 1999, [[Ford Motor Company]] was the first US company to withdraw; the ''New York Times'' described the departure as "the latest sign of divisions within heavy industry over how to respond to global warming."<ref name=nyt19991207>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/07/business/ford-announces-its-withdrawal-from-global-climate-coalition.html |title=Ford Announces Its Withdrawal From Global Climate Coalition |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=February 8, 2016 |date=1999-12-07 |last1=Bradsher |first1=Keith |archive-date=2018-10-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002122740/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/07/business/ford-announces-its-withdrawal-from-global-climate-coalition.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[DuPont]] left the coalition in 1997 and [[Shell USA]] (then known as Shell Oil Company) left in 1998. In 2000, GCC corporate members were the targets of a national student-run university [[divestment|divestiture]] campaign. Between December, 1999 and early March, 2000, [[Texaco]], the [[Southern Company]], [[General Motors]] and [[Daimler AG|Daimler-Chrysler]] withdrew.<ref name=latimes20000315/><ref name=nyt20000107/><ref name=gelbspan>{{cite web |url=http://www.heatisonline.org/contentserver/objecthandlers/index.cfm?id=3440&method=full |title=GCC Suffers Technical Knockout, Industry defections decimate Global Climate Coalition |publisher=The Heat is Online |access-date=February 8, 2016 |author-link=Ross Gelbspan |first=Ross |last=Gelbspan |quote=Between December, 1999 and early March, 2000, the GCC was deserted by Ford, Daimler-Chrysler, Texaco, the Southern Company and General Motors...The defeat of the Global Climate Coalition reflects, among other things, a student divestiture campaign which urged universities to divest their holdings in companies that belonged to the GCC. It also represents a sustained effort by the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility, which has mounted shareholder actions against a number of intransigent corporations. |archive-date=June 14, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614195233/http://www.heatisonline.org/contentserver/objecthandlers/index.cfm?id=3440&method=full |url-status=live }}</ref> Some former coalition members joined the Business Environmental Leadership Council within the [[Center for Climate and Energy Solutions|Pew Center on Global Climate Change]] which represented diverse stakeholders, including business interests, with a commitment to peer-reviewed scientific research and accepted the need for emissions restrictions to [[climate change mitigation|address climate change]].<ref name="Jones 2007"/>

In 2000, GCC restructured as an association of [[trade association]]s; membership was limited to trade associations, and individual corporations were represented through their trade association. Brown called the restructuring "a thinly veiled effort to conceal the real issue – the loss of so many key corporate members."<ref name="Mulvey 2015"/><ref name="Brown 2000"/>

== Dissolution ==
After US President George W. Bush withdrew the US from the Kyoto process in 2001, GCC disbanded.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |title=Oil industry targets EU climate policy |first=David |last=Adam |date=December 7, 2005 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2005/dec/08/greenpolitics.europeanunion |access-date=February 8, 2016 |quote=During the 1990s US oil companies and other corporations funded a group called the Global Climate Coalition, which emphasised uncertainties in climate science and disputed the need to take action. It was disbanded when President Bush pulled the US out of the Kyoto process. |archive-date=June 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210610023647/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2005/dec/08/greenpolitics.europeanunion |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|May|2005}}: The GCC was "deactivated" in 2001, once President Bush made it clear he intended to reject the Kyoto protocol.</ref> Absent the participation of the US, the effectiveness of the Kyoto process was limited.<ref>{{harvnb|Levy|2001}}: Without the participation of the United States, which accounts for nearly one-quarter of global emissions, the Kyoto Protocol is meaningless.</ref> GCC said on its website that its mission had been successfully achieved, writing "At this point, both Congress and the Administration agree that the U.S. should not accept the mandatory cuts in emissions required by the protocol."<ref name="globalclimate_org" /> Networks of well-funded [[fossil fuels lobby | industry lobbyists]] and other [[climate change denial]] groups continue its work.

== Reception ==
In 2015, the [[Union of Concerned Scientists]] compared GCC's role in the public policy debate on climate change to the roles in the public policy debate on tobacco safety of the [[Tobacco Institute]], the tobacco industry's lobbyist group, and the Council for Tobacco Research, which promoted misleading science.<ref>{{harvnb|Mulvey|Shulman|2015}}: With key members bowing out, the GCC announced in 2000 that it would undergo a “strategic restructuring” much as the tobacco industry, under growing pressure, gave up its lobbying arm (the Tobacco Institute) and its wing devoted to promoting misleading science about the links between tobacco and disease (the Council for Tobacco Research) as part of the 1998 master settlement agreement with U.S. states.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Rahm|2009}}: The strategy drew on tactics pioneered by the tobacco industry in the 1960s - to promote doubt and uncertainty in the minds of the public that human actions were not contributing to global warming.</ref> Environmentalist [[Bill McKibben]] said that, by promoting doubt about the science, "throughout the 1990s, even as other nations took action, the fossil fuel industry's Global Climate Coalition managed to make American journalists treat the accelerating warming as a he-said-she-said story."<ref>{{cite news |title=Climate of Denial |first=Bill |last=McKibben |author-link=Bill McKibben |date=May 2005 |magazine=[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]] |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2005/05/climate-denial |access-date=February 10, 2016 |archive-date=May 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506210704/https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2005/05/climate-denial/ |url-status=live }}</ref> According to the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', GCC members integrated projections from climate models into their operational planning while publicly criticising the models.<ref>{{harvnb|Lieberman|Rust|2015}}: O’Keefe said no one in the coalition denied the existence of global warming, but there was uncertainty about how well the models could project its future impact. What coalition members felt certain about, he said, was that any government-mandated emission reductions would have “a clear negative impact,” including unemployment, higher energy prices and a drop in the U.S. standard of living. When it came to their own investments, though, coalition members relied on scientific projections — from rising sea levels to thawing permafrost — to design and protect multibillion-dollar investments in pipelines, gas developments and offshore oil rigs.</ref>

Former Vice President [[Al Gore]] described the oil companies' blocking campaign as "the most serious crime of the post-World War Two era".<ref name="BBC">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-62225696|publisher=BBC|author1=Jane McMullen|title=The audacious PR plot that seeded doubt about climate change|date=23 July 2022|access-date=23 July 2022|archive-date=23 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723034755/https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-62225696|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Members ==
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[American Electric Power]]<ref group=note name=mcgregorboard/>
* [[American Farm Bureau Federation]]<ref group=note name=brill/>
* [[American Highway Users Alliance]]<ref group=note name=brill/>
* [[American Iron and Steel Institute]]<ref group=note name=mcgregorboard/><ref group=note name=brill/>
* [[American Paper Institute]],<ref group=note name=mcgregor>{{harvnb|McGregor|2008}}</ref> later [[American Forest & Paper Association]]<ref group=note name=brill/>
* [[American Petroleum Institute]]<ref group=note name=mcgregorboard/><ref group=note name=revkin>{{harvnb|Revkin|2009}}</ref><ref group=note name=brill/>
* [[Amoco]]<ref group=note name=mcgregorboard/>
* [[ARCO]]<ref group=note name=mcgregorboard/>
* [[Association of American Railroads]]<ref group=note name=brill/>
* [[Association of Global Automakers|Association of International Automobile Manufacturers]]<ref group=note name=mcgregorboard/><ref group=note name=revkin/>
* [[BP|British Petroleum]]<ref group=note name=brown>{{harvnb|Brown|2000}}</ref>
* [[American Chemistry Council|Chemical Manufacturers Association]],<ref group=note name=mcgregorboard>{{harvnb|McGregor|2008}}: 1992 board of directors</ref> later [[American Chemistry Council]]<ref group=note name=brill>{{harvnb|Brill|2001}}</ref>
* [[Chevron Corporation|Chevron]]<ref group=note name=mulvey>{{harvnb|Mulvey|Shulman|2015}}</ref>
* [[DaimlerChrysler]]<ref group=note name=lieberman>{{harvnb|Lieberman|Rust|2015}}</ref><ref group=note name=brown/>
* [[Dow Chemical Company]]<ref group=note name=mcgregorboard/>
* [[DuPont]]<ref group=note name=mcgregorboard/><ref group=note name=brown/>
* [[Edison Electric Institute]]<ref group=note name=mcgregorboard/><ref group=note name=brill/>
* [[Enron]]<ref group=note name=mcgregorboard/>
* [[ExxonMobil]] (through both of its predecessors) <ref group=note name=revkin/>
* [[Ford Motor Company]]<ref group=note name=lieberman/><ref group=note name=brown/>
* [[General Motors Corporation]]<ref group=note name=lieberman/><ref group=note name=brown/>
* [[Ameren|Illinois Power]]<ref group=note name=mcgregorboard/>
* [[Automobile Manufacturers Association|Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association]]<ref group=note name=mcgregorboard/>
* [[National Association of Manufacturers]]<ref group=note name=mcgregorboard/><ref group=note name=revkin/><ref group=note name=brill/>
* [[National Coal Association]]<ref group=note name=mcgregorboard/>
* [[National Mining Association]]<ref group=note name=brill/>
* [[National Rural Electric Cooperative Association]]<ref group=note name=brill/>
* [[FirstEnergy#Ohio Edison|Ohio Edison]]<ref group=note name=mcgregorboard/>
* [[Phillips Petroleum]]<ref group=note name=mcgregorboard/>
* [[Shell Oil]]<ref group=note name=lieberman/><ref group=note name=brown/><ref group=note name=mulvey/>
* [[Southern Company]]<ref group=note name=mcgregorboard/><ref group=note name=lieberman/>
* [[Texaco]]<ref group=note name=mcgregorboard/><ref group=note name=lieberman/><ref group=note name=brown/>
* [[Union Electric Company]]<ref group=note name=mcgregorboard/>
* [[United States Chamber of Commerce]]<ref group=note name=mcgregorboard/><ref group=note name=brill/>
}}

=== Membership notes ===

{{reflist|2|group=note}}

==See also==
* ''[[The Power of Big Oil]]''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite news |last1=Banerjee |first1=Neela |first2=Lisa |last2=Song |first3=David |last3=Hasemyer |title=Exxon's Own Research Confirmed Fossil Fuels' Role in Global Warming Decades Ago |date=September 16, 2015 |url=http://insideclimatenews.org/news/15092015/Exxons-own-research-confirmed-fossil-fuels-role-in-global-warming |agency=[[InsideClimate News]] |access-date=October 14, 2015 |archive-date=October 13, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151013164929/http://insideclimatenews.org/news/15092015/Exxons-own-research-confirmed-fossil-fuels-role-in-global-warming |url-status=live }}
* {{cite web |last=Brill |first=Ken |title=Your meeting with members of the Global Climate Coalition |url=http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/wp-content/uploads/legacy/Global/usa/report/2009/10/global-climate-coalition-meeti.pdf |date=June 20, 2001 |access-date=February 15, 2016 |publisher=[[United States Department of State]] |archive-date=February 23, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160223100547/http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/wp-content/uploads/legacy/Global/usa/report/2009/10/global-climate-coalition-meeti.pdf |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last=Brown |first=Lester R. |author-link=Lester R. Brown |date=July 25, 2000 |chapter=The Rise and Fall of the Global Climate Coalition |access-date=February 6, 2016 |chapter-url=http://www.earth-policy.org/plan_b_updates/2000/alert6 |title=The Earth Policy Reader: Today's Decisions, Tomorrow's World |editor1-link=Lester R. Brown |editor1-first=Lester R. |editor1-last=Brown |editor2-first=Janet |editor2-last=Larsen |editor3-first=Bernie |editor3-last=Fischlowitz-Roberts |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=9781134208340 |archive-date=February 14, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160214031300/http://www.earth-policy.org/plan_b_updates/2000/alert6 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite news |last=Farley |first=Maggie |title=Showdown at Global Warming Summit |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=December 7, 1997 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-dec-07-mn-61743-story.html |access-date=February 6, 2016 |archive-date=February 13, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160213011320/http://articles.latimes.com/1997/dec/07/news/mn-61743 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite web |last=Franz |first=Wendy E. |title=Science, skeptics, and non-state actors in the greenhouse |url=http://live.belfercenter.org/files/Science%20Skeptics%20and%20Non-State%20Actors%20in%20the%20Greenhouse%20-%20E-98-18.pdf |publisher=[[Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs]] |year=1998 |access-date=February 12, 2016 }}
* {{cite news |last=Hammond |first=Keith |title=Astroturf Troopers, How the polluters' lobby uses phony front groups to attack the Kyoto treaty |date=December 4, 1997 |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/1997/12/astroturf-troopers |magazine=[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]] |access-date=February 6, 2016 |archive-date=February 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205022257/http://www.motherjones.com/politics/1997/12/astroturf-troopers |url-status=live }}
* {{cite news |last=Helvarg |first=David |author-link=David Helvarg |title=The greenhouse spin |magazine=[[The Nation]] |date=December 16, 1996 |volume=263 |issue=20 |pages=21–24 |access-date=February 10, 2016 |url=https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/212/45418.html |archive-date=February 16, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216035849/https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/212/45418.html |url-status=live }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Jones |first1=Charles A. |first2=David L. |last2=Levy |title=North American business strategies towards climate change |journal=European Management Journal |volume=25 |issue=6 |year=2007 |pages=428–440 |doi=10.1016/j.emj.2007.07.001 }}
* {{cite news |last=Lee |first=Jennifer 8. |date=May 28, 2003 |title=Exxon backs groups that question global warming |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=February 7, 2016 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/28/business/exxon-backs-groups-that-question-global-warming.html |archive-date=February 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205211808/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/28/business/exxon-backs-groups-that-question-global-warming.html |url-status=live }}
* {{cite news |last=Levy |first=David |title=Not to worry, say business lobbyists |magazine=[[Dollars & Sense]] |date=November 1997 }}
* {{cite news |last=Levy |first=David L. |magazine=[[Dollars & Sense]] |title=Business and climate change: Privatizing environmental regulation? |date=January 2001 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Levy |first1=David |first2=Sandra |last2=Rothenberg |title=Corporate strategy and climate change: heterogeneity and change in the global automobile industry |date=October 1999 |journal=[[Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs]] |citeseerx=10.1.1.25.6082}}
* {{cite news |last1=Lieberman |first1=Amy |first2=Susanne |last2=Rust |title=Big Oil braced for global warming while it fought regulations |date=December 31, 2015 |url=http://graphics.latimes.com/oil-operations/ |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=January 24, 2016 |archive-date=April 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210401191506/https://graphics.latimes.com/oil-operations/ |url-status=live }}
* {{cite news |last=Lorenzetti |first=Laura |title=Exxon has known about climate change since the 1970s |date=September 16, 2015 |url=http://fortune.com/2015/09/16/exxon-climate-change/ |access-date=October 14, 2015 |magazine=[[Fortune (magazine)|Fortune]] |archive-date=October 15, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015184622/http://fortune.com/2015/09/16/exxon-climate-change/ |url-status=live }}
* {{cite news |last=May |first=Bob |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=January 27, 2005 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2005/jan/27/lastword.environment |title=Under-informed, over here |access-date=February 8, 2016 }}
* {{cite conference |last=McGregor |first=Ian |title=Organising to Influence the Global Politics of Climate Change |url=http://www.anzam.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf-manager/1355_MCGREGOR_IAN-274.PDF |conference=Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management Conference |year=2008 |access-date=February 16, 2016 |archive-date=February 24, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160224193645/http://www.anzam.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf-manager/1355_MCGREGOR_IAN-274.PDF |url-status=live }}
* {{cite news |last=Mitchell |first=Alison |title=G.O.P. Hopes Climate Fight Echoes Health Care Outcome |date=December 13, 1997 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=February 8, 2016 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/13/world/gop-hopes-climate-fight-echoes-health-care-outcome.html |archive-date=February 17, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217052135/http://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/13/world/gop-hopes-climate-fight-echoes-health-care-outcome.html |url-status=live }}
* {{cite news |last=Mooney |first=Chris |url=https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2005/05/some-it-hot |title=Some Like It Hot |magazine=[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]] |date=May 2005 |access-date=February 24, 2016 |author-link=Chris Mooney (journalist) |archive-date=February 24, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160224153224/http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2005/05/some-it-hot |url-status=live }}
* {{cite web |last1=Mulvey |first1=Kathy |last2=Shulman |first2=Seth |date=July 2015 |title=The Climate Deception Dossiers |publisher=[[Union of Concerned Scientists]] |url=http://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/07/The-Climate-Deception-Dossiers.pdf |access-date=February 11, 2016 |archive-date=January 28, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160128000305/http://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/07/The-Climate-Deception-Dossiers.pdf |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last=Rahm |first=Dianne |title=Climate Change Policy in the United States: The Science, the Politics and the Prospects for Change |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |year=2009 |isbn=9780786458011 }}
* {{cite news |last=Revkin |first=Andrew C. |author-link=Andrew Revkin |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/science/earth/24deny.html |title=Industry Ignored Its Scientists on Climate |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=April 23, 2009 |access-date=February 6, 2016 |archive-date=June 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609002637/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/science/earth/24deny.html |url-status=live }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Van den Hove |first1=Sybille |first2=Marc |last2=Le Menestrel |first3=Henri-Claude |last3=De Bettignies |title=The oil industry and climate change: strategies and ethical dilemmas |journal=Climate Policy |volume=2 |number=1 |year=2002 |pages=3–18 |doi=10.3763/cpol.2002.0202  |bibcode=2002CliPo...2....3V |s2cid=219594585 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228892927 |access-date=February 23, 2016 }}
* {{cite news |last=Vidal |first=John |title=Revealed: how oil giant influenced Bush |date=June 8, 2005 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=February 6, 2016 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/jun/08/usnews.climatechange |archive-date=May 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200522041507/https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/jun/08/usnews.climatechange |url-status=live }}
* {{cite news |last=Whitman |first=Elizabeth |title=Exxon Arctic Drilling Benefitting From Global Warming: Oil Company Denied Climate Change Science While Factoring It Into Arctic Operations, Report Shows |date=October 10, 2015 |url=http://www.ibtimes.com/exxon-arctic-drilling-benefitting-global-warming-oil-company-denied-climate-change-2136118 |newspaper=[[International Business Times]] |access-date=October 21, 2015 |archive-date=October 22, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151022005638/http://www.ibtimes.com/exxon-arctic-drilling-benefitting-global-warming-oil-company-denied-climate-change-2136118 |url-status=live }}

==External links==
* [http://www.globalclimate.org/ GCC homepage] - No longer active as of March 2006; [https://web.archive.org/web/20060127223742/http://www.globalclimate.org/ internet archive version]
{{Good article}}

[[Category:Climate change denial]]
[[Category:Defunct climate change organizations]]
[[Category:Environmental organizations established in 1989]]
[[Category:Environmental organizations disestablished in 2001]]
[[Category:International business organizations]]
[[Category:Organizations based in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Organizations of environmentalism skeptics and critics]]