Nonprofit foundations focused on climate change spent over half a billion dollars between 2011 and 2015, according to a report from WIREs Climate Change.
A handful of major foundations spent roughly $567 million related to climate change, with most of it supporting green energy.
"Nearly a quarter of all funding, however, remained dedicated to promoting renewable energy and efficiency-related actions with comparatively little funding devoted to other low-carbon energy technologies," wrote Matthew Nisbet, the author of the study and a professor at Northeastern University.
"Significant funding was also devoted to mobilizing public opinion and to opposing the fossil fuel industry," Nisbet wrote.
"$69.4 million in grants focused on promoting policy actions and regulations to limit fossil fuel production and development," he added.
"In this case, $42 million was devoted to opposing coal power. The major funders in this area were Bloomberg ($20 million) and MacArthur ($15 million) which supported the Sierra Club's work on the issue."
Former Vice President Al Gore's group, Alliance for Climate Protection, received $20 million in funding from the foundations, although it merged with another group founded by Gore, Climate Reality Project, in 2010.
Although various alternatives to coal and oil were promoted, no money went toward nuclear energy or "clean coal" technology.
"During the post cap-and-trade years, out of 2,502 grants reviewed, not a single grant was awarded for work focused on developing and promoting nuclear energy, and only $1.3 million was granted to support work on carbon capture and storage," Nisbet wrote.
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