I think it’s a good thing for groups like the Global Warming Policy Foundation to examine the IPCC in detail. After all, policy decisions based on reports from the IPCC will have enormous ramifications on society. I don’t think anyone would dispute this.
However, they too should not be immune to scrutiny. It is only fair that they should reveal their backers. Not to do so will invite the inevitable assumptions from their critics that oil companies are backing the group to drive their own agenda. If this is the case, just say so.
Climate scientists back call for sceptic thinktank to reveal backers | Environment | The Guardian
"Lord Lawson's think-tank, which has been bankrolled by shadowy funders, is lobbying government for a change in climate policy that would affect the lives of millions of people," Montague told the Guardian. "The privacy of wealth has so far been valued above public accountability, even by our own civic institutions. The democratic principle of transparency is breached when a former chancellor can sit in the House of Lords influencing government policy on matters as important as climate change while accepting funding for his think-tank from secret supporters."
Openness and accountability, it cuts both ways.
