The International Energy Agency (IEA) has announced in its latest World Energy Outlook that every year of delayed action to address climate change will add $500 Billion to the price tag of saving the planet.

The climate denial industry should foot the bill, since they are responsible for causing the delay.

In the run-up to the Copenhagen climate summit, a growing number of government leaders from around the world - and even high level United Nations representatives - have suggested that an ambitious, legally binding agreement is all but impossible to achieve in Denmark this December.  Some have indicated that it may take six months to a year beyond Copenhagen to cement a global agreement.  Nearly all point the finger at the United States for causing this delay.

But it is not President Obama’s fault, a fact that is difficult for many outside the U.S. to comprehend. Shouldn’t the U.S. president, often considered the “most powerful man in the world,” be able to commit the nation to specific emissions reduction targets and financial contributions to help developing countries deal with climate change?

It is not that simple, though. 

The real blame lies at the feet of the climate denial industry, which has spent the past 20 years working to confuse the U.S. public and lawmakers about climate change. More than any other single factor, the climate denial industry can claim responsibility for the present stalemate in both domestic U.S. and international climate policy debates.

Groups like the Heartland Institute, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers, American Enterprise Institute and a host of oil and coal industry front groups, including the now-infamous American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), have collectively thrown a wrench in the cogs of U.S. climate policy, grinding the nation’s response to climate change to a halt.

With more than three years of writing on climate change issues and the climate denial industry, DeSmogBlog has amassed a lot of information - close to 1,300 articles in fact.

As part of the annual summer cleaning, I'm going through a lot of the old material for technical reasons, so I thought I would start a post listing some of our "golden oldies."

I'll add more as I come across them.

Do you have any favorites? Let me know and I'll add them to the list.

Here's an October 1995 internal memo I came across written by someone at tobacco giant Philip Morris outlining all the "public policy grants" and the totals received by US think tanks and associations.

More than a few of the familiar names involved in the industry-funded war on climate science appear on this list, including:

Competitive Enterprise Institute - $200,000

...

This is the text of a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper from 60 "accredited experts" who deny the reality of climate change. See the next post for additional information on the reliability of this group:

Ninety of Canada's most accomplished and reputable climate scientists have sent a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, pleading for sensible policy to address the impend threats of climate change.