Green MP Caroline Lucas and Extinction Rebellion have reported on the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a skeptical climate think tank, to the Charity Commission.
The move comes after The Guardian revealed that the group received interest on fossil fuel interest.
The think tank has a charitable status, but climate advocates say questions about its funding mean it should be stripped.
In a letter to the Charity Commission, the signatories, including writers Irvine Welsh and Zadie Smith, say the GWPF is “not a charity, but a pressure group on fossil fuels”.
The GWPF, created in 2009 by former Conservative Chancellor Lord Lawson, has enjoyed a recent renaissance in its influence in parliament. He has MP Steve Baker as trustee and has his research promoted by the Net Zero Scrutiny Group of Conservative MPs.
The letter also states that the think tank violates the rules that charities must enforce for the public good. The commission states that “a purpose must be beneficial, it must be in a way that is identifiable and that can be demonstrated by evidence when necessary and not based on personal opinions.”
It also says that “any harm or harm resulting from the purpose (for people, property or the environment) must not outweigh the benefit; this is also based on evidence and not on personal opinions.”
The signatories claim that the GWPF does not comply as it “works against the citizen’s need to prepare, mitigate and adapt to the climate emergency” and therefore does not serve or benefit society.
They argue that the group’s funding could show a conflict of interest, and that it does not work for the public good.
Through its American arm, the group received $ 210,525 in 2018 and 2020 from the Sarah Scaife Foundation, created by the billionaire libertarian heir to an oil and banking dynasty. The U.S.-based foundation has $ 30 million in shares in 22 energy companies, including $ 9 million in Exxon and $ 5.7 million in Chevron, according to its financial documents.
Between 2016 and 2020, the American Friends of the GWPF received $ 620,259 from the Donors Trust, which is funded by the Koch brothers, who inherited their father’s oil empire and have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to fund the climate denial.
Sign up for First Edition, our free daily newsletter, every weekday morning at 7:00 BST
The letter concludes: “We look at the Charity Commission’s own guidance that a charity should ensure that ‘protecting people from harm is critical to their culture.’ climate change is exacerbated by vested interests that use the undeserved charitable status of the GWPF as a front for their interests. “
A GWPF spokesman declined to comment on the letter to the Charity Commission. The think tank did respond to previous revelations about its funding, saying that the companies from which it receives money do not count as interest on oil and gas, as the wealth created from fossil fuels is historic.