When the Heartland Institute held its gathering in New York City last year celebrating climate skepticism, Exxon Mobil made a point of saying it had stopped contributing money to that group, explaining that it did not want to support groups “whose position on climate change could divert attention from the important discussion about how the world will secure the energy required for economic growth in an environmentally responsible manner.”

But it turns out that Exxon money is still flowing to such efforts, just indirectly. An article on Monday in Britain’s Independent newspaper laid out some of the links:

Free-market, anti-climate change think tanks such as the Atlas Economic Research Foundation in the U.S. and the International Policy Network in the U.K. have received grants totaling hundreds of thousands of pounds from the multinational energy company Exxon Mobil. Both organizations have funded international seminars pulling together climate change deniers from across the globe.

Environmental Web sites that had previously noted the shrinking flow of oil money for efforts challenging global warming science on Monday were echoing the Who hit, “We Won’t Get Fooled Again.”

I reached out for a response to Alan Jeffers, media relations manager for the oil company. He did not deny the money flow of money to skeptics/contrarians/denialists/realists (take your pick depending on your worldview) and defended the company’s actions this way:

As indicated previously, we do not fund Heartland. We said at the time that we had discontinued contributions to several public policy research groups whose position on climate change could divert attention from the important discussion about how the world will secure the energy required for economic growth in an environmentally responsible manner.

When Exxon Mobil provides financial support to public policy organizations we do so openly and transparently by publishing our contributions on our Web site annually. The approximately 50 public policy groups to which Exxon Mobil provides support include some of the finest institutions in the world and encompass a range of points of view on a wide variety of policy topics. Such institutions include Stanford University, the Brookings Institution and M.I.T. We provide funding to promote discussion on issues of direct relevance to the company and contribute to a wide range of academic and policy organizations that research and promote dialogue on significant domestic and foreign policy issues.

We do not dictate the activities or policy positions of any of the public policy organizations to which we provide funding. Only Exxon Mobil can speak for Exxon Mobil and our position on climate change is clear.

We take the issue of climate change seriously and believe the risks warrant action. ExxonMobil is taking action by reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our operations, helping consumers reduce their emissions, supporting research into technology breakthroughs and participating in constructive dialogue on policy options with NGOs, industry and policy makers, such as our recent statements regarding the benefits of a revenue-neutral carbon tax.

We have the same concerns as people everywhere – and that is how to provide the world with the energy it needs while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

There is additional information on our Web site at the following link exxonmobil.com/climate

Alan Jeffers
Media Relations Manager
Exxon Mobil Corporation