Google pulls support from political group for denying climate change

Google is to stop funding a major conservative group over its stance on climate change. Speaking in a radio interview with NPR’s Diane Rehm, Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt said that Google would not be renewing its membership to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), because the group was “literally lying” by opposing efforts to reduce global warming. The right-leaning ALEC, which has received donations from fossil fuel companies such as Exxon Mobil, has fought against the US government’s efforts to pursue renewable energy sources, battled against regulations for coal power plants, tried to get ecological activists classified as terrorists, and questioned climate change research.

Google is going to stop funding a key conservative group because of its stance on climate change, executive chairman Eric Schmidt revealed Monday. In an interview with NPR’s Diane Rehm, Schmidt said that the American Legislative Exchange Council had been “literally lying” about the reality of climate change — a fact that led Google to reconsider its financial contributions to the organization. “The consensus within the company was that that was some sort of mistake and so we’re trying to not do that in the future,” Schmidt said of the funding. Google had initially supported ALEC over an “unrelated” issue, Schmidt told Rehm. But ALEC’s stand on climate change convinced Google to pull its support. “The company has a very strong view that we should make decisions in politics based on facts — what a shock,” said Schmidt. “And the facts of climate change are not in question anymore. Everyone understands climate change is occurring and the people who oppose it are really hurting our children and our grandchildren and making the world a much worse place. And so we should not be aligned with such people — they’re just, they’re just literally lying.” Google said it will not be renewing its ALEC membership at the end of the year.