The largest publicly traded coal company in the United States, Peabody Energy, has funded over two dozen organizations and groups whose mission it is to deny and debunk climate change. The funding was revealed when Peabody Energy filed for bankruptcy. The records do not show amounts or dates, but the some of the organizations that received funding were committed to blocking EPA regulations on the environment, as well as refuting that carbon emissions are causing global warming.
Environmental groups had long suspected the company was financing climate change denial groups, but the scope of Peabody Energy's donations and influence came as a surprise. While most fossil fuel companies have publicly tried to cast doubt on climate change science, the released records show that Peabody went further than most, insisting that rising carbon emissions were actually beneficial to the planet.