Guest essay by Eric Worrall
The Climate Institute, a previously well funded climate NGO promoting support for the Paris Agreement and other climate causes, has announced it will close due to lack of money, after a failed call for philanthropic donations to keep their doors open.
Climate Institute to shut due to lack of philanthropic support
Australia’s original climate change-focused think-tank and lobby group will shut after it failed to replace the multi-million-dollar bequest it relied on.
The Climate Institute, known for its research and leading role in public debate since being set up in 2005, will close in June.
It comes 18 months after the institute called for public donations to offset the lapsing of the foundational support set up by Rupert Murdoch’s niece, Eve Kantor, and her husband, farmer Mark Wootton.
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“We are disappointed that some in government prefer to treat what should be a risk-management issue as a proxy for political and ideological battles,” he said.
“They are increasingly isolated as the costs of inaction mount and the opportunities and benefits of action become ever clearer.”
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The Press Release from the Climate Institute;
Chair of Board announces closure of The Climate Institute
Mar 08, 2017 – 5:14pm
The Board of The Climate Institute (TCI) has announced that the TCI will cease to operate on June 30 2017. The Board announced that the decisions comes as a result of being unable to establish the viable level of funding that would enable The Climate Institute to continue in a meaningful, sustainable form.
TCI has conducted ground-breaking research; built influential strategic partnerships among business, investor, welfare, union and other community groups; achieved domestic and diplomatic public policy outcomes; helped shape change to the regulatory landscape and driven the evolution of financial sector climate risk management, particularly among superannuation and institutional funds, domestically and internationally (see attached list of achievements on following page).
Through its Climate of the Nation series, TCI has also conducted what is now the longest trend survey of the attitudes of Australians to climate change and its solutions.
“With the expiry of its original founding bequest, and despite ongoing support from a range of philanthropic and business entities, the Board has been unable to secure sufficient funding to continue the level and quality of work that is representative of TCI’s strong reputation,” said Board Chair Mark Wootton, who was among the original founding Directors and has been Chair since 2007.
“The Climate Institute has been a provider of pioneering research and a leading advocate for credible, practical climate policy throughout a tumultuous period in Australian public, investor and business decision-making.
“TCI is often described as a trusted broker and critical friend, and we are proud of the way it has built understanding and consensus among a wide variety of stakeholders on such a complex, challenging and important issue. “We are disappointed that some in Government prefer to treat what should be a risk management issue as a proxy for political and ideological battles. They are increasingly isolated as the costs of inaction mount and the opportunities and benefits of action become ever clearer,” he said.
When established in 2005 for an intended five-year life, TCI was the only non-government organisation focussed solely on climate change. TCI has now been joined by many other organisations with a significant focus on climate change. Regulators and investors are beginning to seriously integrate climate risk and opportunity management. The historic Paris agreement provides a framework for international accountability and action. There has also been a stunning recent surge in affordability and scale of clean energy alternatives.
“While challenges still abound, the landscape is much stronger than it was twelve years ago when TCI was first established. The Board is proud of the achievements of The Climate Institute, and its staff, in making an enduring contribution towards its 2050 vision of a resilient Australia prospering in a zero-carbon global economy, participating fully and fairly in international climate change solutions.”
TCI will see a core body of projects to fruition by June 30, and the Board will work with other organisations to ensure key aspects of its work continue through 2017 and beyond. A Transition Sub-Committee has been established to oversee this work.
The Board has also reluctantly accepted the resignation of John Connor who has been Chief Executive Officer of The Climate Institute since February 2007. From April, Mr Connor will be working with Baker McKenzie, heading up the Fijian Government’s COP 23 Secretariat which has been established for the purpose of Fiji’s Presidency of the 23rd Convention of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. John has been a dedicated and highly skilled CEO at TCI and has been pivotal to our achievements.
Olivia Kember, Head of Policy will assume the role of Acting CEO.
The Board will make final determinations on the future of The Climate Institute and its work before June 30.
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The Climate Institute appear to have found it impossible to survive on less than a million dollars per year. Receipts in 2014 dropped to $727,000, down from over three million dollars in previous years.
In my opinion they could probably have done more to trim expenses.
For example, The Climate Institute website appears to be a bespoke effort powered by Lateral Systems. I am not disrespecting the quality of their web pages, but the Lateral Systems product seems quite expensive, though no doubt comparable to similar bespoke offerings.
By comparison, WUWT runs on WordPress.com – a content management system which allows people to create a new website for free.
If I have correctly understood the Lateral Systems product page, the Climate Institute likely paid 10s of thousands of dollars every year for their website. This is a substantial and in my opinion unnecessary standing cost, for an organisation which relies on donations to survive.
Perhaps if the Climate Institute hadn’t started existence with a large though limited term annual multi-million dollar grant, they might have learned how to conserve scarce resources.
🙂 🙂
I note that their website puts up a box asking for personal details for ‘joining’ and a ‘click here’ to make a donation. As they have ‘ceased trading’ is this actionable?
Good riddance to bad rubbish! I hope it is the first of thousands of similar closures of parasitic pseudo-scientific organisations.
Why Greenpeace lies? – because most alarmist get more funds. Green NGO Darwinism. Survival of the shrills.
Don’t you just love the way these “intelligent, scientifically grounded” folks reduce the issue to the simplistic and irrelevant fact that CO2 is a greenhouse gas? Not only that, but have persuaded the public that this minor GHS is virtually the ONLY GHS of consequence (excepting methane).
Isn’t it lovely to watch the wheels, as they fall off the gravy train.
The warmist ‘Rats are abandoning the sinking fireship.
AWESOME! More Green Blob NGO closings, please.
Too bad it was not closed the Roman Way –
burn it and salt it, slavery for the survivors…
They will be missed…………..who where they again? Does anyone give a shit?
We in real science have never blinked: not once. We will bury every KooK who ever said AGW could have possibly been real.
You hold your breath.
AGW may well be real.
Catasrophic AGW that requires application of the Precautionary Principle… that’s near certainly not real.
Indeed, it looks like merely noticeable AGW may not exist too.
But that doesn”t mean that land use change, urban heat islands and even trace gas emissions can have no impact on global weather systems. Just not a big impact.
“The Board of The Climate Institute (TCI) has announced that the TCI will cease to operate on June 30 2017.”
Sounds like a call for climate cash, with the veiled threat of closing.
Is this just a bad case of jet-lag? (What was included in those “employee benefits”?)
Govt funds drying up………….This is FANTASTIC news!!!!
Hasnt taken long for reactions to Trump, these folks had a good reason to be crying when hillary lost….
I recall reading that some Australian group (perhaps even the government) had donated a total of $88 million to the Clinton Foundation over a 10 year period and would cease future donations in 2017. Unrelated?
Its called “Elections have consequences”
As I recall, the Australian Gillard-led Labor Government (Democrat equivalent) donated $50M or so of foreign aid funds to the Clinton Foundation. Post-Australian-politics, Gillard had an executive position (unpaid – but with all sorts of travel/accommodation – etc perks – but hey, she had her Australian Parliamentary pension/superannuation to tide her over, didn’t she?) with one of the Clinton Foundation arms. She was also involved with HRC’s presidential campaign. Coincidence?
PS for Australian commentators – anyone know what Time Matheson (Gillard’s consort when she was Prime Minister) is doing these days? [Purely objective question, since I have no idea.]
http://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/australian-economy/australia-ceases-multimilliondollar-donations-to-controversial-clinton-family-charities/news-story/219577919ed8dfbd79cf808321234eba
Sorry for the world’s second longest link.
Perhaps the philanthropists have decided their money is better spent on current problems than speculations of possible problems that might materialize a century or more down the line.
“Hail to Dorothy. The wicked Witch is dead.”
The closure of store front climates alarmist businesses has started and in less than 3 years they will all be history . Not only is the funding drying up fast but the promoters are going to be held accountable .
The biggest scientific fraud in history has resulted in the premature deaths of 10’s of thousands so
the promoters and architects don’t get to just walk .
Who knew that money was the cause of global warming ?
Somebody cancelled their phony baloney jobs. h/t Mel Brooks. Cheers –
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTmfwklFM-M&w=854&h=480%5D
Harrumph
I know where they went wrong — the mission statement should have begun with “Australia’s aboriginal climate…” rather than “Australia’s original climate…”. Simple! Makes all the difference in support money!
GOOD !!!!
Oh such great news!.
A few years back one of the leading lights of this bunch of Dumbos (apologies to Disney) scrounged $80 or $90 M of Govt (ie tax payer)$ to demonstrate the “proven” technology (Huh?) of geothermal energy.
The casing corroded out (who’d a thunk it) and the whole thing fell in a heap (including the investments of the gullibilies who bought shares).
Meanwhile around that time same bloke bought an esturine river front property and when asked was he worried about rising sea levels said not a problem in my lifetime (or something similar)
“OPM no longer available ” could become a rather familiar sight soon.
(=Other People’s Money if you don’t know it !)
Let Musk save it……for a fee and a US tax credit of course.
Lack of philanthropic support means they ran out of stupid or those with alternate agendas did not see a payoff. Oh well, move on to the next protest theme.