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GreenfactsGreenFacts, also known as Green Facts and under its website name greenfacts.org, formerly GreenFacts Foundation, is an European lobbying-related industry front group located in Brussels, Belgium. Green Facts was founded in December 2001 and is predominantly funded by the industry. The main stated activity of GreenFacts is the production of multilingual summaries of scientific review documents on environment and health issues. Most topics closely correlate with the interests of the funding companies and organizations. Beside their publishing activities GreenFacts is engaging in the european environment and health policy debate by participating in workshops and congresses where participants from industry and government debate about risk communication, industry public relations, and EU legislation — in the absence of environmental NGOs. http://www.greenfactsfoundation.org/news/conference/proceedings/index.htm, http://www.healthy-planet-forum.org/doc/Final%20NGO%20Strategy%20Conference%20report.pdf, http://www.env-health.org/a/960, http://www.heraproject.com/files/HERA%20Workshop%20PRINTED%20BOOKLET1.pdf, http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/conferences/2004/cer2004/pdf/cer2004_presence_list_web.pdf, http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/conferences/2004/cer2004/pdf/cer2004_report.pdf, http://www.friendsofeurope.org/pdfs/BarrosoReportFinalVersion.pdf GreenFacts has also been involved in developing the European environment and health action plan 2004-2010 http://otri.unizar.es/doc/health_tech_annex1.pdf and the European environment and health strategy (SCALE) http://www.greenfactsfoundation.org/news/press-releases/191209-pr-scale-en.htm. Several topics covered in these plans can be found as GreenFacts scientific summaries.http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/health/layers_workinggroups_en.htm#3, http://www.euractiv.com/Article?tcmuri=tcm:29-117480-16&type=LinksDossier Sourcewatch (formerly Disinfopedia) comes to the following conclusion: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=GreenFacts_Foundation - "GreenFacts has many characteristics of an industry-funded front organization defining itself as an NGO, and claiming to have been formed by a wide range of stakeholders. It has established a level of credibility through its production of summary documents, and it now appears to be using this activity as a way of more deeply engaging in the policy debate."
Currently published GreenFacts summaries are about: Front group GreenFacts tries to gain credibility as an objective and balanced organisation using the following strategies: - Its name as well as the appearance and phraseology used on their website and on press releases gives the wrong impression that environmental NGOs are involved.
- Publishing summaries of selected scientific consensus documents in an objective style, restricting links to obviously biased information to the "Other views" section at the end of some of these documents.
- Approaching experts in the field to review these summaries and then listing their names as their "Panel of Experts".
- Website link exchanges and "partnerships" with other organisations, environmental groups, universities, and governments. These are then listed as "Current Partners" together with funding companies and lobbying groups.
A front group is an organization that purports to represent one agenda while in reality it serves some other party or interest. The shadowy way front groups operate makes it difficult to know whether a seemingly independent grassroots is actually representing some other entity. While GreenFacts does not hide its financial sources, the strategies mentioned above show the typical characteristics of an industrial front group that is involved in industry lobbying and public relations. Sound science The role of GreenFacts in a sound science strategy of industry lobbying is illustrated by the following facts: Sound Science is a phrase often used by corporate public relations and government agency spokesmen to describe the scientific research used to justify a claim or position. Sound science, however, has no specific scientific definition itself, so the phrase is used subjectively. Lack of sound science is a common critique used against public health and consumer activists in an attempt to discredit their concerns about public safety and environmental risk http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sound_science. The Research Headlines, published by the European Commission, writes about GreenFacts: - "Images of the green movement dominated by activists spiking the wheels of industry could be a thing of the past, if the GreenFacts Foundation has its way. Stakeholder dialogue, clear communication and co-operation are the new mantras driving the environment and health debate."http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/headlines/news/article_03_06_20_en.html
Funding Initially GreenFacts was initially funded solely by Solvay. In 2006 the initial funding by Solvay ends and GreenFacts now plans to get substantial subsidies from public authorities such as the European Commission and the Belgian Governments. Such subsidies are generally reserved to organizations having at least three years of existence. The total income for 2005 is estimated with 680,000. According to the GreenFacts foundation website in March 2005, the organization is now funded by the following companies: GreenFacts is also funded or supported by the following trade associations and industry-funded lobbying groups: The funding situation is obscured by the fact that some companies are funding GreenFacts directly as well as indirectly through trade associations and lobbying groups. For examples, Solvay is a member of most GreenFacts funding organizations including CEFIC, Euro Chlor, PlasticsEurope, and EpE. In addition, GreenFacts has received financial contributions from: - unknown individuals
- HARAFI Foundation (also known as HARAFI Fondation, an ominous organization for which no online information is available, known mainly as a ballet sponsor)
- Swiss government (unknown agency)
Most topics of GreenFacts publications closely correlate with the interests of the above mentioned funding companies and organizations: | GreenFacts summary | Funding company or organization | Company interest / public concerns | | Climate change and global warming | Suez-Tractebel | Promoting nuclear energy | | Climate change and global warming | Solvay, Suez-Tractebel | CO2 emission trading http://www.solvayhse.com/managingplants/energyefficiency/0,,675-10-0,00.htm, http://www.suez.com/documents/english/docderef2003en/SUEZ_RA2003_chap4_EN.pdf | | Power lines | Suez-Tractebel | Electromagnetic pollution | | Endocrine disruptors | Procter & Gamble, detergent industry in CEFIC, Euro Chlor | Hormone action of detergents and chlorinated chemicals | | Dioxins | Chlorine industry in Euro Chlor | Dioxin-like action of chlorinated chemicals | | Water disinfectants | Clorine industry in Euro Chlor | Chlorine as a water disinfectant | | Tobacco and cancer | Chemical industry | Relativizing cancer risk of chemicals | | Forest and Forestry | Paper industry in WBCSD, Euro Chlor | Forest certification http://www.wbcsd.org/Plugins/DocSearch/details.asp?strDocTypeIdList=749&DocType=749&StrCharValList=250&DateStart=01.01.1753&DateEnd=31.12.9999&MenuId=NDAy&ObjectId=13644&URLBack=%2Ftemplates%2FTemplateWBCSD2%2Flayout%2Easp%3Ftype%3Dp%26MenuId%3DNDAy%26doOpen%3D1%26ClickMenu%3DLeftMenu, paper production http://www.eurochlor.org/chlorine/issues/pulp.htm | | Mercury | Chlorine industry in Euro Chlor | Mercury in chlorine production http://www.euractiv.com/Article?tcmuri=tcm:29-134881-16&type=News, http://www.eurochlor.org/chlorine/news/news50.htm, http://www.eurochlor.org/chlorine/publications/mercury.pdf | Criticism of summaries GreenFacts emphasizes that their summaries of scientific studies are written from a strictly neutral and unbiased standpoint. This claim does not stand undisputed water disinfectants, mercury, climate change. External links
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