Based on the company's annual worldwide giving report, ExxonMobil has significantly reduced grants for climate change research from $3.4 million in 2005 to $800,000 in 2010. But why?
The lightning rod of this controversy is astrophysicist Willie Soon, whose work has been probed in a report by Greenpeace. In the last decade, Dr. Soon received more than $1 million in research grants from energy companies, including Exxon.
Leslie Kaufman of The New York Times writes:
"Dr. Soon, who works at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has researched whether solar variance might be responsible for climate warming. He earned notoriety among climatologists when he attacked Michael Mann's so-called 'hockey stick' graph of warming temperatures in 2003 and when he wrote that polar bears were not threatened by a decline in Arctic ice in 2007."
Calling the issue a "distraction," Exxon's spokesman Alan Jeffers retorts, "I am not prepared to talk about the individual grant requirements, but if their positions are distracting to how we are going to meet the energy needs of the world, then we didn't want to fund them."
FULL STORY: Exxon Cut Financing to Climate Skeptics, Group Says
Pennsylvania Mall Conversion Bill Passes House
If passed, the bill would promote the adaptive reuse of defunct commercial buildings.
Planning for Accessibility: Proximity is More Important than Mobility
Accessibility-based planning minimizes the distance that people must travel to reach desired services and activities. Measured this way, increased density can provide more total benefits than increased speeds.
Fair Housing Cannot Take a Back Seat to ‘Build, Baby, Build’
If we overlook fair housing principles in the plan to build US housing back better, we risk ending up right back where we started.
LA Metro Board Approves New 710 Freeway Plan
The newest plan for the 710 corridor claims it will not displace any residents.
Austin’s Proposed EV Charging Rules Regulate Station Locations, Size
City planners say the new rules would ensure an efficient distribution of charging infrastructure across the city and prevent an overconcentration in residential areas.
Making California State Parks More Climate-Resilient
A recently released report offers recommendations for keeping state parks healthy and robust, including acquiring additional land for conservation and recreation.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.