Google has ceased funding a right-wing US lobbying group which denies climate change, in the week of a UN climate change summit in New York.
Funding the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) had been a mistake, Google chairman Eric Schmidt told National Public Radio. ALEC has significant funding from fossil fuel companies, and has opposed environmental rules, as well as challenging climate change research.
This week, leaders including President Barack Obama, UK Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande and the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon are attending a UN Climate Summit in New York, which hopes to agree international action on climate change, before the next UN meeting, in Paris at the end of 2015.
With data centers making up an estimated two percent of electricity use, Google will be impacted by any climate change action, but the firm has backed green energy in the form of solar and wind power. Environmental groups wrote to the company earlier in September demanding that it reconsider its membership of ALEC, and Schmidt announced it is to cancel its subscription on Monday.
"The facts of climate change are not in question anymore," said Schmidt. "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 literally lying.”
In the United States, government bills are often drafted by pressure groups, and ALEC's proposed laws have included one which opposes the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, and another which would classify environmental activists as "terrorists". It has also opposed the "Obamacare" initiative for healthcare, and opposed gun controls - and advocated telecoms deregulation.
Schmidt said that Google joined ALEC for a different campaign - but has not said which.
ALEC issued a statement in response: "It is unfortunate to learn Google has ended its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council as a result of public pressure from left-leaning individuals and organizations who intentionally confuse free market policy perspectives for climate change denial."
The statement concluded: “ALEC believes in freedom of speech and opinion. Google is an important voice on these and many other issues, and we will miss their perspective in our discussions. However, ALEC and its members will continue to advance limited government, free markets and federalism through dialogue, debate and model policy formulation.”
Earlier this year, Microsoft also cancelled its membership of ALEC.