:Heartland Institute

The institute was founded in 1984 by Chicago investor David H. Padden, who served as the organization's chairman until 1995. Padden had been a director of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., since its founding as the Charles Koch Foundation in 1974.{{cite news|title=Explainer: What is the Heartland Institute?|first=Trevor|last=Quirk|date=February 16, 2012|access-date=February 23, 2018|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0216/Explainer-What-is-the-Heartland-Institute|newspaper=The Christian Science Monitor|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001102432/https://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0216/Explainer-What-is-the-Heartland-Institute|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=David H. Padden, 1927–2011; Businessman founded 2 national libertarian groups|date=October 6, 2011|first=Joan|last=Giangrasse Kates|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|access-date=February 23, 2018|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2011/10/06/david-h-padden-1927-2011/|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001102429/https://www.chicagotribune.com/2011/10/06/david-h-padden-1927-2011/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|date=October 4, 2011|title=David H. Padden, R.I.P.|first=David|last=Boaz|author-link=David Boaz|url=http://www.cato.org/blog/david-h-padden-rip|publisher=Cato Institute|access-date=April 4, 2015|archive-date=January 20, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120061317/https://www.cato.org/blog/david-h-padden-rip|url-status=live}} Padden was also a former director of Citizens for a Sound Economy, the Acton Institute, the Foundation for Economic Education, and the Center for Libertarian Studies. At age 26, Joseph L. Bast became Heartland's first employee. Bast's wife, Diane, was Heartland's publications director.{{cite journal|last=Tollefson|first=Jeff|title=Climate-change politics: The sceptic meets his match|journal=Nature|date=July 27, 2011|volume=475|issue=7357|pages=440–441|doi=10.1038/475440a|pmid=21796181|bibcode=2011Natur.475..440T|s2cid=4429475 |doi-access=}}{{cite news|title=Back-yard Think Tanks: Heartland, Rockford Institutes Put Local Spin On National Issues|date=January 8, 1995|first=Michele|last=Mohr|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|access-date=February 23, 2018|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1995/01/08/back-yard-think-tanks/|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001102433/https://www.chicagotribune.com/1995/01/08/back-yard-think-tanks/|url-status=live}}

In the 1990s, the Heartland institute worked with the tobacco company Philip Morris to question serious cancer risks from secondhand smoke, and to lobby against government public-health regulations. Starting in 2008, Heartland has organized conferences to question the scientific consensus on climate change.{{rp|334}}{{Cite book |title=The Inquisition of Climate Science |first=James Lawrence |last=Powell |isbn=978-0231157193 |year=2012 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York City |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5SU7utP8PIMC&q=The+Inquisition+of+Climate+Science |page=10 |quote=Presenters at the Heartland Institute Conference attacked the findings of mainstream scientists ... |access-date=November 1, 2020 |archive-date=October 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001102441/https://books.google.com/books?id=5SU7utP8PIMC&q=The+Inquisition+of+Climate+Science#v=snippet&q=The%20Inquisition%20of%20Climate%20Science&f=false |url-status=live }}

After the election of U.S. president Barack Obama in November 2008, the institute became involved with the Tea Party movement. In 2011, the organization's director of communications said that "the support of the Tea Party groups across the country has been extremely valuable."{{cite news|title=Heartland Institute continues to influence prominent legislators, citizens|first=Joshua|last=Dwyer|date=December 7, 2011|url=http://newsarchive.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=197545|agency=Medill School of Journalism|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402144745/http://newsarchive.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=197545|archive-date=April 2, 2015|df=mdy-all}} Heartland was among the organizers of the September 2009 Tea Party protest march, the Taxpayer March on Washington.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/13/barack-obama-denounced-washington-march|title=Barack Obama denounced by rightwing marchers in Washington|last=Pilkington|first=Ed|date=September 13, 2009|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=February 23, 2018|archive-date=June 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220614163437/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/13/barack-obama-denounced-washington-march|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=Tea Party Express roars to D.C.|first=Donald|last=Lambro|newspaper=The Washington Times|date=September 8, 2009|access-date=February 23, 2018|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/08/tea-party-express-roars-to-dc-tour-anticipates-500/|archive-date=January 9, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220109012252/https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/08/tea-party-express-roars-to-dc-tour-anticipates-500/|url-status=live}}

In March 2020, Heartland laid off staff, reportedly in response to financial issues; they also removed its president, Frank Lasee.{{Cite news |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/heartland-institute-staff-layoffs-climate-change-denial_n_5e6302a6c5b6670e72f85fa5 |title=Pro-Trump Climate Denial Group Lays Off Staff Amid Financial Woes, Ex-Employees Say |first=Alexander C. |last=Kaufman |date=March 7, 2020 |publisher=HuffPost |language=en |access-date=2020-03-11 |archive-date=May 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220514002536/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/heartland-institute-staff-layoffs-climate-change-denial_n_5e6302a6c5b6670e72f85fa5 |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/prominent-us-climate-denial-group-fires-president-amid-financial-crisis |title=Prominent U.S. Climate Denial Group Fires President Amid Financial Crisis |first=Scott |last=Waldman |date=March 17, 2020 |publisher=Science |language=en |access-date=2020-12-06 |archive-date=August 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808101949/https://www.science.org/content/article/prominent-us-climate-denial-group-fires-president-amid-financial-crisis |url-status=live }}

Since 2023, the institute has worked with right-wing members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from Poland, Hungary and Austria, helping coordinate campaigns against proposed environmental laws.{{Cite news |last1=Horton |first1=Helena |last2=Bright |first2=Sam |last3=Carlile |first3=Clare |date=2025-01-22 |title=Revealed: US climate denial group working with European far-right parties |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/22/us-thinktank-climate-science-deniers-working-with-rightwingers-in-eu-parliament-heartland-institute |access-date=2025-01-25 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} In December 2024, the institute opened a European branch, Heartland UK/Europe, in London; the opening was attended by former UK prime minister Liz Truss; Nigel Farage, the leader of the right-wing Reform UK party, and several Tory MPs.{{Cite news |last1=Helena Horton |last2=Ben Quinn |date=2025-01-15 |title=Farage and Truss attend UK launch of US climate denial group |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/15/farage-and-truss-attend-uk-launch-of-us-climate-denial-group-heartland |access-date=2025-01-25 |work=The Guardian}}

The institute advocates free market policies.{{cite web|url=http://heartland.org/reply-to-critics|title=Reply to critics|work=heartland.org|access-date=February 23, 2018|archive-date=April 12, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412005532/https://www.heartland.org/reply-to-critics|url-status=dead}} The policy orientation of Heartland has been described as conservative, libertarian, and right wing.It also has been described as right-wing. See, for example:

• {{Cite news|newspaper=The Irish Times|title=Anti-Obama protesters march in Washington|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0914/1224254474903.html|date=September 14, 2009|access-date=February 23, 2018|first=Ed|last=Pilkington|quote=They include right-wing think tanks such as the Heartland Institute...}}{{Dead link|date=July 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
• {{Cite news|work=The Independent|title=Tobacco and oil pay for climate conference|first=Steve|last=Connor|date=March 3, 2008|access-date=February 23, 2018|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/tobacco-and-oil-pay-for-climate-conference-790474.html|quote=The first international conference designed to question the scientific consensus on climate change is being sponsored by a right-wing American think-tank which receives money from the oil industry.|archive-date=September 6, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110906051828/http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/tobacco-and-oil-pay-for-climate-conference-790474.html|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite news|publisher=BBC|title=Climate sceptics rally to expose 'myth'|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8694544.stm|first=Roger|last=Harrabin|date=May 21, 2010|access-date=February 23, 2018|quote=At the world's biggest gathering of climate change sceptics, organised by the right-wing Heartland Institute...|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001102435/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8694544.stm|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite news|work=Philadelphia City Paper|url=http://citypaper.net/articles/2009/12/17/pennsylvania-climate-change-action-plan|title=Shooting the Messenger|first=Julia|last=Harte|date=December 16, 2009|quote=Jay Lehr, science director at the right-wing Heartland Institute, concurs.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100126180534/http://citypaper.net/articles/2009/12/17/pennsylvania-climate-change-action-plan|archive-date=January 26, 2010|df=mdy-all}}Roberts, Alasdair Scott, Blacked out: government secrecy in the information age, (2006) Cambridge University Press, [https://archive.org/details/blackedoutgovern0000robe/page/253 p. 253], via GoogleBooks. {{ISBN|978-0521858700}}

Heartland has long questioned the links between tobacco smoking, secondhand smoke, and lung cancer and the social costs imposed by smokers.{{cite journal|author=Tesler LE, Malone RE|title="Our reach is wide by any corporate standard": how the tobacco industry helped defeat the Clinton health plan and why it matters now|journal=American Journal of Public Health|volume=100|issue=7|pages=1174–1188|date=July 2010|pmid=20466958|doi=10.2105/AJPH.2009.179150 |pmc=2882403}} One of Heartland's first campaigns was to oppose tobacco regulation. According to the Los Angeles Times, Heartland's advocacy for the tobacco industry is one of the two things Heartland is most widely known for.{{cite news |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |title=Climate change doubter Heartland Institute documents leaked |date=February 16, 2012 |first=Neela |last=Banerjee |access-date=February 23, 2018 |url=https://www.latimes.com/science/la-xpm-2012-feb-16-la-me-gs-climate-deniers-heartland-institute-documents-leaked-20120216-story.html |archive-date=October 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001102932/https://www.latimes.com/science/la-xpm-2012-feb-16-la-me-gs-climate-deniers-heartland-institute-documents-leaked-20120216-story.html |url-status=live }}

During the 1990s, the institute worked with tobacco company Philip Morris to question the links between smoking, secondhand smoke and health risks. Philip Morris commissioned Heartland to write and distribute reports. Heartland published a policy study which summarized a jointly prepared report by the Association of Private Enterprise Education and Philip Morris. The institute also undertook a variety of other activities on behalf of the tobacco industry, including meeting with legislators, holding off-the-record briefings, and producing op-eds, radio interviews, and letters.{{Cite book|title=Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming |first1=Erik |last1=Conway |first2=Naomi |last2=Oreskes |isbn=978-1596916104 |year=2010 |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=US |url=https://archive.org/details/merchantsofdoubt00ores |url-access=registration }}{{rp|233–234}}

A 1993 internal "Five Year Plan" from Philip Morris to address environmental tobacco smoke regulation called for support for the efforts of the institute.{{cite web|title=The Climate Deniers Are Using the Same Tactics as the Tobacco Industry|date=April 9, 2014|author-link=Thom Hartmann|first=Thom|last=Hartmann|url=http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2014/04/climate-deniers-are-using-same-tactics-tobacco-industry|work=Thom Hartmann Program|access-date=February 23, 2018|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001102941/https://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2014/04/climate-deniers-are-using-same-tactics-tobacco-industry|url-status=live}} In 1996, Heartland president and chief executive officer Joe Bast wrote an essay entitled "Joe Camel is Innocent!," which said that contributions from the tobacco industry to Republican political campaigns were most likely because Republicans "have been leading the fight against the use of 'junk science' by the Food and Drug Administration and its evil twin, the Environmental Protection Agency."{{cite web|title=Joe Camel Is Innocent!|author-link=Joseph Bast|first=Joseph L.|last=Bast|date=August 21, 1996|url=http://news.heartland.org/editorial/1996/08/21/joe-camel-innocent|publisher=Heartland Institute|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150325210729/http://news.heartland.org/editorial/1996/08/21/joe-camel-innocent|archive-date=March 25, 2015|df=mdy-all}} In the "President's Letter" in the July 1998 issue of The Heartlander, the institute's magazine, Bast wrote an essay "Five Lies about Tobacco", which said "smoking in moderation has few, if any, adverse health effects."{{cite web|title=Five Lies about Tobacco; The Tobacco Bill Wasn't about Kids|author-link=Joseph Bast|first=Joseph L.|last=Bast|date=July 1, 1998|url=https://www.heartland.org/policy-documents/july-1998-five-lies-about-tobacco-tobacco-bill-wasnt-about-kids|publisher=Heartland Institute|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150419004424/https://www.heartland.org/policy-documents/july-1998-five-lies-about-tobacco-tobacco-bill-wasnt-about-kids|archive-date=April 19, 2015|df=mdy-all}}{{cite web|title=President's Letter: Five Lies about Tobacco; The Tobacco Bill Wasn't about Kids|author-link=Joseph Bast|first=Joseph L.|last=Bast|date=July 1, 1998|url=http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/oys60c00/pdf|access-date=February 23, 2018|publisher=Legacy Tobacco Documents Library|archive-date=October 15, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141015091309/http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/oys60c00/pdf|url-status=live}} In 1999, Bast referenced the essays in soliciting financial support from Philip Morris, writing "Heartland does many things that benefit Philip Morris' bottom line, things that no other organization does."{{Cite web |url=https://www.industrydocuments.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/#id=xfcb0184 |first=J.L. |last=Bast |author-link=Joseph Bast |date=July 27, 1999 |title=(Untitled correspondence) |publisher=Truth Tobacco Industry Documents |language=en |access-date=2023-02-11 |archive-date=February 8, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150208205841/http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/lnn13c00/pdf#id=xfcb0184 |url-status=live }} A Philip Morris executive, Roy Marden, the firm's manager of industrial affairs, was a member of the board of directors of the institute. Marden collected Key Actions promised by think tanks {{cite web|title=Fedsuit Actions/Marden|first=Roy|last=Marden|date=October 26, 1999|url=https://www.industrydocuments.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/#id=xtfd0074|access-date=September 22, 2021|publisher=Industry Documents Library|archive-date=February 8, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150208205841/http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/lnn13c00/pdf#id=xtfd0074|url-status=live}}. Heartland's were "blast faxes to state legislators, off-the-record briefings, op-eds, radio interviews, letters". In 2005, the institute opposed Chicago's public smoking ban, at the time one of the strictest bans in the country.{{cite news|title=Public can sound off on smoking at hearing|date=July 12, 2005|first=Kathryn|last=Masterson|access-date=February 23, 2018|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2005/07/12/public-can-sound-off-on-smoking-at-hearing/|publisher=Chicago Tribune|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001102934/https://www.chicagotribune.com/2005/07/12/public-can-sound-off-on-smoking-at-hearing/|url-status=live}} In 2008, Heartland's Environment and Climate News ran an article claiming no danger from secondhand smoke,{{cite news|title=Best Available Scientific Evidence Shows Secondhand Smoke is No Danger|date=July 2008|first=Jerome|last=Arnett Jr|access-date=September 22, 2021|url=http://heartland.org/sites/default/files/sites/all/modules/custom/heartland_migration/files/pdfs/23410.pdf|publisher=Heartland Institute|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120817131243/http://heartland.org/sites/default/files/sites/all/modules/custom/heartland_migration/files/pdfs/23410.pdf|archive-date=August 17, 2012}}{{rp|8}} featuring image of man puffing smoke next to a young girl. In 2011, Environment and Climate News ran article by Fred Singer{{cite news|title=Secondhand Smoke, Lung Cancer, and the Global Warming Debate|date=February 2008|first=Fred|last=Singer|access-date=September 22, 2021|url=http://heartland.org/sites/default/files/sites/all/modules/custom/heartland_migration/files/pdfs/29250.pdf|publisher=Heartland Institute|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120817130141/http://heartland.org/sites/default/files/sites/all/modules/custom/heartland_migration/files/pdfs/29250.pdf|archive-date=August 17, 2012}}{{rp|17}} casting doubt on United States Environmental Protection Agency 1993 findings of harm.

The institute rejects the scientific consensus on climate change,{{cite book|title=Global Climate Change: A Primer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZB7RQmcOJXsC&q=Heartland&pg=PA48|page=48|first1=Orrin H Jr.|last1=Pilkey|first2=Keith C.|last2=Pilkey|publisher=Duke University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0822351092|access-date=November 1, 2020|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001102939/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZB7RQmcOJXsC&q=Heartland&pg=PA48#v=snippet&q=Heartland&f=false|url-status=live}} and promotes climate change denial with claims that the amount of climate change is not catastrophic, claims that climate change might be beneficial,{{cite web|publisher=Heartland Institute|url=http://www.heartland.org/pdf/ieguide.pdf|title=Instant Expert Guide: Global Warming|access-date=February 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061201133847/http://www.heartland.org/pdf/ieguide.pdf|archive-date=December 1, 2006}}{{cite book|publisher=Routledge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ahGUAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA256|title=Routledge Handbook of Climate Change and Society|editor=Constance Lever-Tracy|author1=Riley E. Dunlap|author2=Aaron M. McCright|section=Climate change denial: source, actors and strategies|page=256|year=2010|isbn=978-1135998509|access-date=November 1, 2020|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001102440/https://books.google.com/books?id=ahGUAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA256#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}} and that the economic costs of trying to mitigate climate change exceed the benefits.{{cite web |year=2015 |url=https://www.heartland.org/ideas/global-warming-not-crisis |first1=Joseph |last1=Bast |first2=James M. |last2=Taylor |title=Global Warming: Not a Crisis |publisher=Heartland Institute |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160317052130/https://www.heartland.org/ideas/global-warming-not-crisis |archive-date=March 17, 2016 |df=mdy-all }} According to The New York Times, Heartland is "the primary American organization pushing climate change skepticism."{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 1, 2012 |access-date=February 23, 2018 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/science/earth/clouds-effect-on-climate-change-is-last-bastion-for-dissenters.html |title=Clouds' Effect on Climate Change Is Last Bastion for Dissenters |first=Justin |last=Gillis |quote=...the Heartland Institute, the primary American organization pushing climate change skepticism... |archive-date=March 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210316051533/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/science/earth/clouds-effect-on-climate-change-is-last-bastion-for-dissenters.html |url-status=live }} The institute has been a member of the Cooler Heads Coalition, a group dedicated to denying climate change science, since 1997.{{cite web

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}} Institute staff "recognize that climate change is a profound threat to our economic and social systems and therefore deny its scientific reality," wrote Naomi Klein in This Changes Everything.{{cite book |title=This Changes Everything |first=Naomi |last=Klein |title-link=This Changes Everything (book) |author-link=Naomi Klein |year=2014 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1451697384}}{{rp|211}}

In their 2010 book Merchants of Doubt, Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway wrote that the institute was known "for its persistent questioning of climate science, for its promotion of 'experts' who have done little, if any, peer-reviewed climate research, and for its sponsorship of a conference in New York City in 2008 alleging that the scientific community's work on global warming is fake."{{rp|233}} The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society in a chapter "Organized Climate Change Denial" identified Heartland as a conservative think tank with a strong interest in environmental and climate issues involved in climate change denial.{{cite book |last1=Dryzek |first1=John S. |author-link1=John Dryzek |first2=Richard B. |last2=Norgaard |author-link2=Richard Norgaard |first3=David |last3=Schlosberg |title=The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2011 |isbn=978-0199683420}}{{rp|149}} Heartland "emerged as a leading force in climate change denial" in the decade 2003–2013, according to sociology professor Riley Dunlap of Oklahoma State University and political science professor Peter J. Jacques of the University of Central Florida.{{cite journal |first1=Riley E. |last1=Dunlap |first2=Peter J. |last2=Jacques |journal=American Behavioral Scientist |date=June 2013 |volume=57 |number=6 |pages=699–731 |title=Climate Change Denial Books and Conservative Think Tanks, Exploring the Connection |doi=10.1177/0002764213477096|pmc=3787818 |pmid=24098056}} Historians James Morton Turner and Andrew Isenberg describe Heartland as a leader in the "scientific misinformation campaign" against climate change.{{Cite web|url=http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674979970|title=The Republican Reversal – James Morton Turner, Andrew C. Isenberg {{!}} Harvard University Press|website=hup.harvard.edu|page=184|language=en|access-date=2019-03-26|archive-date=January 8, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190108151027/http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674979970|url-status=live}}

Fred Singer was the founder and president of the closely-allied Science and Environmental Policy Project,{{cite web|url=https://www.heartland.org/s-fred-singer|title=S. Fred Singer|publisher=Heartland Institute|access-date=February 23, 2018|archive-date=April 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415181645/https://www.heartland.org/s-fred-singer|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|title=IPCC report: sceptic groups launch global anti-science campaign|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/sep/19/ipcc-report-sceptic-groups-anti-science-campaign|newspaper=The Guardian|first=Katherine|last=Bagley|date=September 19, 2013|access-date=February 23, 2018|archive-date=April 22, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422204439/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/sep/19/ipcc-report-sceptic-groups-anti-science-campaign|url-status=live}} and Heartland is a member organization of the Cooler Heads Coalition.{{rp|151}}{{cite web|publisher=Cooler Heads Coalition|title=About GlobalWarming.org|access-date=February 23, 2018|url=http://www.globalwarming.org/about}}

"Heartland's influence on national climate policy is at an apex" in March 2017 according to PBS Frontline.{{cite news |title=Climate Change Skeptic Group Seeks to Influence 200,000 Teachers |publisher=PBS |work=Frontline |date=March 28, 2017 |first=Katie |last=Worth |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/climate-change-skeptic-group-seeks-to-influence-200000-teachers/ |access-date=February 23, 2018 |archive-date=April 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240430155452/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/climate-change-skeptic-group-seeks-to-influence-200000-teachers/ |url-status=live }}

The institute previously employed German YouTube personality Naomi Seibt as an "anti-Greta".{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=David |date=2020-02-25 |title='Anti-Greta' teen activist to speak at biggest US conservatives conference |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/25/anti-greta-teen-activist-cpac-conference-climate-sceptic |access-date=2020-02-26 |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=September 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927180421/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/25/anti-greta-teen-activist-cpac-conference-climate-sceptic |url-status=live }}{{citation |title=Naomi Seibt vs. Greta Thunberg: Whom Should We Trust? |date=20 December 2019 |work=Heartland Institute}} The institute's president, James Taylor, considered Seibt the star of its "media strategy for the masses" in the "fight against climate protection measures" which "needs a better image"—to "move away from old white men and instead showcase a younger generation."{{Cite news |date=11 February 2020 |title=The Heartland Lobby |work=Correctiv |url=https://correctiv.org/en/top-stories-en/2020/02/11/the-heartland-lobby/ |access-date=28 February 2020}}

In 2008, the institute published a list purporting to identify "500 Scientists with Documented Doubts of Man-Made Global Warming Scares".{{cite press release|title=Controversy Arises Over Lists of Scientists Whose Research Contradicts Man-Made Global Warming Scares|publisher=Heartland Institute|date=May 5, 2008|url=http://heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=23207|archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20080919220421/http://www.heartland.org/policybot/results.html?artId%3D23207|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 19, 2008}} The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the work of Jim Salinger, chief scientist at New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, was "misrepresented" as part of a "denial campaign". In response to criticism, the institute changed the title of the list to "500 Scientists Whose Research Contradicts Man-Made Global Warming Scares." Heartland did not remove any scientist's name from the list. Avery explained, "Not all of these researchers would describe themselves as global warming skeptics...but the evidence in their studies is there for all to see." The institute's then president, Joseph Bast, argued that the scientists "have no right—legally or ethically—to demand that their names be removed" from Heartland's list.{{refn|group=nb|Heartland's president, Joseph Bast, wrote "They have no right—legally or ethically—to demand that their names be removed from a bibliography composed by researchers with whom they disagree. Their names probably appear in hundreds or thousands of bibliographies accompanying other articles or in books with which they disagree. Do they plan to sue hundreds or thousands of their colleagues? The proper response is to engage in scholarly debate, not demand imperiously that the other side redact its publications."}}

{{main|International Conference on Climate Change}}

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Heartland's conventions of climate change doubters are one of the things the institute is largely known for, according to the Los Angeles Times. Between 2008 and 2023, the institute organized fifteen International Conferences on Climate Change, bringing together hundreds of global warming deniers.{{cite news|last1=Revkin|first1=Andrew C|title=Skeptics Dispute Climate Worries and Each Other|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/science/earth/09climate.html?_r=4&|access-date=February 23, 2018|work=The New York Times|date=March 9, 2009|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001102939/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/science/earth/09climate.html?_r=4&|url-status=live}}{{cite web |title=Events: 15th International Conference on Climate Change |url=https://heartland.org/events/15th-international-conference-on-climate-change/ |website=Heartland Institute |year=2023 |access-date=2023-02-23}} Conference speakers have included Richard Lindzen, a professor of meteorology at MIT; Roy Spencer, a research scientist and climatologist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville; S. Fred Singer, a senior fellow of the institute and who was founding dean of the School of Environmental and Planetary Sciences at the University of Miami and founding director of the National Weather Satellite Service; Harrison Schmitt, a geologist and former NASA astronaut and Apollo 17 moonwalker; Dr. John Theon, atmospheric scientist and former NASA supervisor; and Wei-Hock "Willie" Soon, a part-time employee of the Solar and Stellar Physics (SSP) Division of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.{{cite news|title=Leading skeptical climate scientist earned more than $1 million from the fossil-fuel industry|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/climate-skeptic-willie-soon-funded-by-industry-2015-2|access-date=February 23, 2018|publisher=Business Insider|first=Chelsea|last=Harvey|date=February 25, 2015|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001102939/https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-skeptic-willie-soon-funded-by-industry-2015-2|url-status=live}}

At the first conference in 2008, participants criticized the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Al Gore.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/science/earth/04climate.html|title=Cool View of Science at Meeting on Warming|first=Andrew|last=Revkin|author-link=Andrew Revkin|work=The New York Times|date=March 4, 2008|access-date=February 23, 2018|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001102940/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/science/earth/04climate.html|url-status=live}} In 2010 the BBC reported that the heavily politicized nature of the Heartland conferences led some "moderate" climate skeptics to avoid them.{{cite news|publisher=BBC News Online|title=Climate sceptics rally to expose 'myth'|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8694544.stm|first=Roger|last=Harrabin|author-link=Roger Harrabin|date=May 21, 2010|access-date=February 23, 2018}}

In an article in The Nation, the 2011 conference was described as "the premier gathering for those dedicated to denying the overwhelming scientific consensus that human activity is warming the planet".{{cite news |magazine=The Nation |first=Naomi |last=Klein |author-link=Naomi Klein |title=Capitalism vs. the Climate |url=http://www.thenation.com/article/164497/capitalism-vs-climate |date=November 28, 2011 |access-date=February 23, 2018 |archive-date=June 12, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150612185530/http://www.thenation.com/article/164497/capitalism-vs-climate |url-status=live }}

The 2012 conference was the main subject of the film Climate of Doubt by the Frontline documentary TV series.{{cite news|first1=Catherine|last1=Upin|first2=John|last2=Hockenberry|author-link2=John Hockenberry|title=Climate of Doubt|publisher=PBS|work=Frontline|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/environment/climate-of-doubt/transcript-31/|access-date=February 23, 2018|date=October 23, 2012|archive-date=October 24, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151024090643/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/environment/climate-of-doubt/transcript-31/|url-status=live}}

At the conclusion of that conference, Bast announced that the organization might discontinue the conferences.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/may/24/heartland-institute-billboard-controversy|first=Suzanne|last=Goldenberg|date=May 23, 2012|work=The Guardian|title=Heartland Institute in financial crisis after billboard controversy|access-date=December 13, 2016|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001102940/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/may/24/heartland-institute-billboard-controversy|url-status=live}} But the conference series continued; the fifteenth was held in 2023.

On Thursday May 3, 2012, Heartland launched an advertising campaign in the Chicago area, and put up digital billboards along the Eisenhower Expressway in Maywood, Illinois, featuring a photo of Ted Kaczynski, the "Unabomber" whose mail bombs killed three people and injured 23 others, asking the question, "I still believe in global warming, do you?" They withdrew the billboards a day later.{{cite news|url=http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2012/05/billboards-liken-belief-in-climate-change-to-mass-murder/1#.T9L_vt18V50|title=Climate wars heat up with pulled Unabomber billboards|date=May 4, 2012|access-date=February 23, 2018|newspaper=USA Today|first=Wendy|last=Koch|archive-date=July 24, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180724085146/http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2012/05/billboards-liken-belief-in-climate-change-to-mass-murder/1#.T9L_vt18V50|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=Group provokes reaction with billboard doubting global warming|date=May 5, 2012|first1=Ryan|last1=Haggerty|first2=Liam|last2=Ford|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|access-date=February 23, 2018|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2012/05/05/group-provokes-reaction-with-billboard-doubting-global-warming/|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001103447/https://www.chicagotribune.com/2012/05/05/group-provokes-reaction-with-billboard-doubting-global-warming/|url-status=live}} The institute planned for the campaign to feature murderer Charles Manson, communist leader Fidel Castro and perhaps Osama bin Laden, asking the same question. The institute justified the billboards saying "the most prominent advocates of global warming aren't scientists. They are murderers, tyrants, and madmen."{{cite news|last=Samenow|first=Jason|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/heartland-institute-launches-campaign-linking-terrorism-murder-and-global-warming-belief/2012/05/04/gIQAJJ3Q1T_blog.html|title=Heartland Institute launches campaign linking terrorism, murder, and global warming belief|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=May 4, 2012|access-date=February 23, 2018}}

The billboard reportedly "unleashed a social media-fed campaign, including a petition from the advocacy group Forecast the Facts calling on Heartland's corporate backers to immediately pull their funding," and prompted Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) to threaten to cancel his speech at the upcoming seventh International Conference on Climate Change organized by Heartland.{{cite web|work=The Hill|title=Heartland Institute yanks Unabomber climate billboard|first=Ben|last=Geman|date=May 5, 2012|access-date=February 23, 2018|url=https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/113457-heartland-institute-yanks-unabomber-climate-billboard/}} Sensenbrenner ultimately did speak at the conference.{{cite web|title=Jim Sensenbrenner, ICCC7, May 22, 2012|url=http://climateconferences.heartland.org/jim-sensenbrenner-iccc7/|website=Heartland Institute|access-date=February 23, 2018|archive-date=December 31, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141231012356/http://climateconferences.heartland.org/jim-sensenbrenner-iccc7/|url-status=live}} Within 24 hours Heartland canceled the campaign, although its president refused to apologize for it.{{refn|group=nb|President Joseph Bast issued a statement saying: "We know that our billboard angered and disappointed many of Heartland's friends and supporters, but we hope they understand what we were trying to do with this experiment. We do not apologize for running the ad, and we will continue to experiment with ways to communicate the 'realist' message on the climate."}} The advertising campaign led to the resignation of two of the institute's 12 board members,{{cite web|last1=Bast|first1=Joe|title=Heartland Replies to the Economist|url=http://blog.heartland.org/2012/06/heartland-replies-to-the-economist/|website=Somewhat Reasonable|publisher=The Heartland Institute|access-date=February 23, 2018|archive-date=December 20, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220130924/http://blog.heartland.org/2012/06/heartland-replies-to-the-economist/|url-status=dead}} and the resignation of almost the entire Heartland Washington D.C. office, taking the institute's biggest project (on insurance) with it. The staff of the former Heartland insurance project founded the R Street Institute and announced they "will not promote climate change skepticism."{{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/05/14/climate_change_believers_split_from_heartland_institute.html|title=Climate Change Believers Split from Heartland Institute|first=David|last=Weigel|publisher=Slate|date=May 14, 2012|access-date=February 23, 2018|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001103458/https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2012/05/climate-change-believers-split-from-heartland-institute.html|url-status=live}}

Following the 2012 document leak and the controversial billboard campaign, substantial funding was lost as corporate donors, including the General Motors Foundation, sought to dissociate themselves from the institute. According to the advocacy group Forecast the Facts, Heartland lost more than $825,000, or one third of planned corporate fundraising for the year. The shortfall led to sponsorship of the institute's May 2012 climate conference by Illinois' coal lobby, the Illinois Coal Association, the institute's "first publicly acknowledged donations from the coal industry," and The Heritage Foundation.Goldenberg, Suzanne, [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/may/20/heartland-institute-future-staff-cash "Heartland Institute facing uncertain future as staff depart and cash dries up"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001103454/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/may/20/heartland-institute-future-staff-cash |date=October 1, 2024 }}, guardian.co.uk, May 20, 2012. The billboard controversy led to the loss of substantial corporate funding, including telecommunications firm AT&T, financial service firm BB&T, alcoholic beverage company Diageo and about two dozen insurance companies, including State Farm and the United Services Automobile Association.{{cite news|title=Big donors ditch rightwing Heartland Institute over Unabomber billboard|first=Suzanne|last=Goldenberg|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/may/09/heartland-institute-donors-lost-unabomber-ad|newspaper=The Guardian|date=May 9, 2012|access-date=February 23, 2018|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001103455/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/may/09/heartland-institute-donors-lost-unabomber-ad|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=Unabomber billboard continues to hurt Heartland Institute|date=May 9, 2012|first=Dean|last=Kuipers|url=https://www.latimes.com/science/la-xpm-2012-may-09-la-me-gs-unabomber-billboard-continues-to-hurt-heartland-institute-20120509-story.html|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|access-date=February 23, 2018|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001103501/https://www.latimes.com/science/la-xpm-2012-may-09-la-me-gs-unabomber-billboard-continues-to-hurt-heartland-institute-20120509-story.html|url-status=live}}{{cite news|magazine=Chicago|title=Chicago's Heartland Institute, the Group Behind the Unabomber Billboard|date=June 14, 2012|access-date=February 23, 2018|first=Carol|last=Felsenthal|url=http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/Felsenthal-Files/June-2012/Chicagos-Heartland-Institute-and-its-Unabomber-Billboards/|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001103458/https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/Felsenthal-Files/June-2012/Chicagos-Heartland-Institute-and-its-Unabomber-Billboards/|url-status=live}}{{cite news|first=Lucia|last=Graves|title=Heartland Stands By Its Climate Change Denial As Donors Jump Ship|date=May 9, 2012|access-date=February 23, 2018|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/09/heartland-climate-change_n_1504632.html|work=The Huffington Post|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001104459/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/heartland-climate-change_n_1504632|url-status=live}} Pharmaceutical companies Amgen, Eli Lilly, Bayer and GlaxoSmithKline ended financial support.{{cite news|title=Amgen cuts funding to the Heartland Institute|date=June 18, 2012|url=http://www.vcstar.com/business/amgen-cuts-funding-to-the-heartland-institute|newspaper=Ventura County Star|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150409204426/http://www.vcstar.com/business/amgen-cuts-funding-to-the-heartland-institute|archive-date=April 9, 2015|df=mdy-all}} Heartland's May, 2012, climate conference was smaller than previous years.

The institute wrote model legislation to repeal mandates on renewable energy, such as solar and wind power, and presented the model legislation to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a nonprofit organization of conservative state legislators and private sector representatives that drafts and shares model state-level legislation for distribution among state governments in the United States. ALEC's board of directors adopted the model legislation in October 2012.

In 2013, the Chinese Academy of Sciences published a report from the Heartland Institute in order to better understand the public debate and encourage discussion of other views.{{cite web|url=http://www.shapingtomorrowsworld.org/lewandowskyCAS.html|title=Ethics Lost in Translation|first=Stephan|last=Lewandowsky|date=15 June 2013|publisher=Shaping Tomorrows Worls|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130723145513/http://www.shapingtomorrowsworld.org/lewandowskyCAS.html|archive-date=July 23, 2013|df=mdy-all}} The preface included a disclaimer that the academy did not endorse the views in the report, but in June, the institute announced that the Chinese Academy of Sciences supported their views, and said the publication placed significant scientific weight against climate change.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2013/jun/14/climate-change-heartland-chinese-academy-sciences|title=The Heartland Institute's skeptical Chinese fantasy|date=June 14, 2013|author=Nuccitelli, Dana|work=The Guardian|access-date=December 13, 2016|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001104506/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2013/jun/14/climate-change-heartland-chinese-academy-sciences|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/at-the-edge/2013/06/24/the-chinese-academies-of-science-incident|title=The Chinese Academies of Science incident – It's been an interesting couple of weeks for the deny-the-science policy crowd|date=June 24, 2013|author=Nesbit, Jeff|work=U.S. News & World Report|access-date=September 16, 2017|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001104509/https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/at-the-edge/2013/06/24/the-chinese-academies-of-science-incident|url-status=live}} The Chinese Academy of Sciences, responding to the announcement, said "The claim of the Heartland Institute about CAS' endorsement of its report is completely false," clarified that they did not endorse the views of the institute, and asked for a retraction.{{cite web|url=http://english.llas.cas.cn/ns/es/201306/t20130615_104626.html|title=The Statements on the Chinese Translation of the "Climate Change Reconsidered – NIPCC Report"|publisher=The Lanzhou Branch of the National Science Library, CAS|date=June 15, 2013|access-date=July 3, 2013|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001104505/http://english.llas.cas.cn/ns/es/201306/t20130615_104626.html|url-status=live}}

On April 28, 2015, the Catholic Church convened a council to discuss the religious implications of global warming. Held at the Vatican and hosted by the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences, it was attended by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, as well as national presidents, CEOs, academics, scientists, and representatives of the world's major religions. The institute sent a delegation in an attempt to present a dissenting opinion. It held a "prebuttal" of the conference and argued that climate science does not justify papal recognition of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.{{cite news|last1=San Martín|first1=Inés|title=Climate change skeptics press their case to the Vatican|url=http://www.cruxnow.com/life/2015/04/27/climate-change-skeptics-press-their-case-to-the-vatican/|access-date=February 23, 2018|work=Crux|publisher=Boston Globe Media Partners LLC.|date=27 April 2015|archive-date=October 17, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171017073715/https://cruxnow.com/life/2015/04/27/climate-change-skeptics-press-their-case-to-the-vatican/|url-status=dead}}

After the council ended, a representative (Marc Morano) from the institute broke into a press briefing being given by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who was reporting on his meeting with the Pope. He interrupted the Secretary-General and the moderator, asking that global-warming skeptics be allowed to speak. After a few minutes, he was escorted from the premises by Vatican officials.{{cite web |last=Shank |first=Michael |date=May 1, 2015 |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015/05/pope_francis_ban_ki_moon_climate_change_talks_renewed_faith_from_vatican.html?wpisrc=burger_bar |publisher=Slate.com |title=Blessed are the Climate Advocates |access-date=2020-09-02 |archive-date=October 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001104507/https://slate.com/technology/2015/05/pope-francis-ban-ki-moon-climate-change-talks-renewed-faith-from-vatican-global-warming-conference.html |url-status=live }} In response to the papal encyclical "Laudato Si'", which outlined the Church's moral case for addressing climate change, and in anticipation of Pope Francis' September 2015 visit to the United States, Gene Koprowski, director of marketing for the institute, suggested that the Pope's pronouncements on climate change indicate that "pagan forms are returning to the Church this day."{{cite web | url=https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/09/climate-change-pope-paganism | title=Conservative Group Blasts the Pope: 'Paganism' Has 'Entered the Church' | work=Mother Jones magazine | date=September 18, 2015 | access-date=September 3, 2020 | author=Schulman, Jeremy | archive-date=October 1, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001104506/https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/09/climate-change-pope-paganism/ | url-status=live }}

In March 2017, the institute's program the Center for Transforming Education began an unsolicited mailing of the institute's book Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming and a companion DVD to all 200,000 K-12 science teachers in the U. S., with a cover letter giving a link to an online course planning guide. "The material is not science and was intended to confuse teachers", according to the National Center for Science Education.{{cite news |title=A political organization that doubts climate science is sending this book to 200,000 teachers |first=Angela |last=Fritz |date=March 29, 2017 |access-date=February 23, 2018 |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/03/29/a-political-organization-that-doubts-climate-science-is-sending-this-book-to-200000-teachers/}}{{cite web |title=Frontline on climate change denial |first=Glenn |last=Branch |work=NCSE |date=March 28, 2017 |access-date=February 23, 2018 |publisher=National Center for Science Education |url=https://ncse.com/news/2017/03/frontline-climate-change-denial-0018501}}

The institute is a critic of current federal, state, and local budgets and tax codes. Several of the institute's budgetary views include privatization of federal services to a competitive marketplace, changing the tax code to a more simplified version of the current code, and implementing Taxpayer Savings Grants.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}}

In 1987, the institute advocated for tenant ownership of the Chicago Housing Authority's Cabrini-Green Homes public housing complex through a cooperative or condominium conversion.{{cite news|title=Study Pushes Tenant Ownership Of Cabrini-Green|date=October 8, 1987|first=Stanley|last=Ziemba|access-date=February 23, 2018|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1987/10/08/study-pushes-tenant-ownership-of-cabrini-green/}} In 1990, the institute advocated for lower taxes in Illinois to foster job growth.{{cite news|title=Group Maps Plan For Accelerated Illinois Growth|date=March 5, 1990|first=Merrill|last=Goozner|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|access-date=February 23, 2018|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1990/03/05/group-maps-plan-for-accelerated-illinois-growth/}}

The institute advocated for the privatization of Illinois' toll highway system in 1999 and 2000.{{cite news|title=Illinois Tollway System Finds Ally; Public Policy Group Pushes New Options|date=December 3, 1999|first=Rogers|last=Worthington|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|access-date=February 23, 2018|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1999/12/03/illinois-tollway-system-finds-ally/|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001105034/https://www.chicagotribune.com/1999/12/03/illinois-tollway-system-finds-ally/|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=Toll Chief Goes Public Against Privatization|date=February 10, 2000|first=James|last=Hill|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2000/02/10/toll-chief-goes-public-against-privatization/|access-date=February 23, 2018|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001105024/https://www.chicagotribune.com/2000/02/10/toll-chief-goes-public-against-privatization/|url-status=live}} In 2008, the institute opposed state subsidies and tax credits for local film productions, saying the economic benefits are less than the incentives.{{cite news|title=Hollywood will not make Illinois rich|date=December 1, 2008|first=John|last=Nothdurft|access-date=February 23, 2018|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2008/12/01/hollywood-will-not-make-illinois-rich/|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001105037/https://www.chicagotribune.com/2008/12/01/hollywood-will-not-make-illinois-rich/|url-status=live}}

The institute supports charter schools, education tax credits to attend private schools, and vouchers for low-income students, as well as the Parent Trigger reform that started in California. The institute supports the introduction of market reforms into the public K–12 education system to increase competition.{{cite web|url=http://heartland.org/issues/education|title=Education|publisher=Heartland.org|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120228171845/http://heartland.org/issues/education|archive-date=February 28, 2012|df=mdy-all}}

In 1994, the institute criticized the Chicago Public Schools' reform efforts and advocated privatization of public schools and school vouchers.{{cite news|title=Reform Lost In Schools, Report Says; Researchers Pin Blame On City, Teachers|date=November 1, 1994|first=Jacquelyn|last=Heard|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|access-date=February 23, 2018|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1994/11/01/reform-lost-in-schools-report-says/|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001105035/https://www.chicagotribune.com/1994/11/01/reform-lost-in-schools-report-says/|url-status=live}}

The institute advocates for free-market reforms in healthcare and opposes federal control over the healthcare industry. Heartland supports Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), replacing federal tax deductions for employer-based healthcare with a refundable tax credit to allow individual choice over health insurance, removing state and Federal healthcare regulations aimed at providers and consumers of healthcare, and reducing litigation costs which are associated with malpractice suits.{{cite web|url=http://heartland.org/issues/health-care|title="Health Care" on Heartland.org web page|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111029092701/http://heartland.org/issues/health-care|archive-date=October 29, 2011|df=mdy-all}}

In 2010, Heartland published the 66 page book The Obamacare Disaster by Peter Ferrara, which opposed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.{{Cite book|title=The Obamacare Disaster|year=2010|publisher=The Heartland Institute|isbn=978-1934791349}}

In 2015, the institute filed an amicus curiae brief in support of the petitioner in King v. Burwell, a Supreme Court case challenging income tax subsidies to those who enroll in health insurance under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act via the federal as opposed to the state health insurance exchanges.{{cite news|first=Katrina|last=vanden Heuvel|author-link=Katrina vanden Heuvel|title=The Koch Cash Behind the Latest Attack on Obamacare|date=March 2, 2015|access-date=February 23, 2018|url=http://www.thenation.com/blog/199793/koch-cash-behind-latest-attack-obamacare|magazine=The Nation|archive-date=July 2, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702175314/http://www.thenation.com/blog/199793/koch-cash-behind-latest-attack-obamacare|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=The Busy Reader's Guide to Amicus Briefs in King v. Burwell|first=Jonathan|last=Keim|date=February 26, 2015|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/414478/busy-readers-guide-amicus-briefs-king-v-burwell-jonathan-keim|magazine=National Review|access-date=February 23, 2018}}

The institute advocates for hydraulic fracturing (aka "fracking"), a well-stimulation technique in which rock is fractured by pressurized liquids,{{cite web|url=http://heartland.org/policy-documents/research-commentary-hydraulic-fracturing-bans|title=Research & Commentary: Hydraulic Fracturing Bans|first=Taylor|last=Smith|date=June 7, 2012|publisher=Heartland Institute|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130129073847/http://heartland.org/policy-documents/research-commentary-hydraulic-fracturing-bans|archive-date=January 29, 2013|df=mdy-all}} publishing essays in support of fracking in various national newspapers.{{cite news|title=Hydraulic fracturing in Illinois|date=January 15, 2013|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2013/01/15/hydraulic-fracturing-in-illinois/|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|access-date=February 23, 2018|first=Taylor|last=Smith|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001105031/https://www.chicagotribune.com/2013/01/15/hydraulic-fracturing-in-illinois/|url-status=live}}{{cite news|date=September 3, 2014|title=Fracking is not a threat|first=Isaac|last=Orr|newspaper=The Hill |url=https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-environment/216425-fracking-is-not-a-threat/|access-date=February 23, 2018}}{{cite news|date=November 6, 2014|title=Is Illinois borrowing from New York's fracking playbook?|first=Isaac|last=Orr|access-date=February 23, 2018 |work=Chicago Business |url=http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20141106/OPINION/141109857/is-illinois-borrowing-from-new-yorks-fracking-playbook}} On March 20, 2015, Heartland's science director defended hydraulic fracturing on the Your World With Neil Cavuto program on Fox News.{{cite news|title=Your World With Neil Cavuto|publisher=Fox News|date=March 20, 2015|url=https://archive.org/details/FOXNEWSW_20150320_200000_Your_World_With_Neil_Cavuto}}{{cite web |title=Fox's Cavuto, Heartland's Lehr In Denial About Fracking Pollution |date=March 24, 2015 |first=Denise |last=Robbins |url=http://mediamatters.org/research/2015/03/24/foxs-cavuto-heartlands-lehr-in-denial-about-fra/203019 |access-date=February 23, 2018 |publisher=Media Matters for America |archive-date=October 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001105035/https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/foxs-cavuto-heartlands-lehr-denial-about-fracking-pollution |url-status=live }}

According to its brochures, Heartland receives money from approximately 5,000 individuals and organizations, and no single corporate entity donates more than 5% of the operating budget,{{cite web|title=Reply to our Critics|url=http://heartland.org/reply-to-critics|website=Heartland Institute|access-date=February 23, 2018|archive-date=April 12, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412005532/https://www.heartland.org/reply-to-critics|url-status=dead}} although the figure for individual donors can be much higher, with a single anonymous donor providing $4.6 million in 2008, and $979,000 in 2011, accounting for 20% of Heartland's overall budget, according to reports of a leaked fundraising plan.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/feb/15/heartland-institute-microsoft-gm-money|title=Climate science attack machine took donations from major corporations|author-link1=Suzanne Goldenberg|last1=Goldenberg|first1=Suzanne|first2=Dominic|last2=Rushe|newspaper=The Guardian|date=February 16, 2012|access-date=February 23, 2018}} Heartland states that it does not accept government funds and does not conduct contract research for special-interest groups.{{cite web|last=Bast|first=Joseph|url=http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=10582|title=Welcome to The Heartland Institute!|work=Heartlander|publisher=The Heartland Institute|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080816145549/http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=10582|archive-date=August 16, 2008|df=mdy-all}}

Oil and gas companies have contributed to the institute, including $736,500 from ExxonMobil between 1998 and 2005.{{cite news|title=Climate skeptic group works to reverse renewable energy mandates|first=Juliet|last=Eilperin|date=November 24, 2012|access-date=February 23, 2018|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/climate-skeptic-group-works-to-reverse-renewable-energy-mandates/2012/11/24/124faaa0-3517-11e2-9cfa-e41bac906cc9_print.html}} Greenpeace reported that Heartland received almost $800,000 from ExxonMobil.{{cite news|work=Sydney Morning Herald|title=The climate change smokescreen|first=David|last=McKnight|date=August 2, 2008|access-date=February 23, 2018|url=https://www.smh.com.au/news/global-warming/the-climate-change-smokescreen/2008/08/01/1217097533885.html|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001105546/https://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/the-climate-change-smokescreen-20080802-gdsosa.html|url-status=live}} In 2008, ExxonMobil said that it would stop funding to groups skeptical of climate change, including Heartland.Monica Heger, "[https://spectrum.ieee.org/exxonmobil-cuts-back-its-funding-for-climate-skeptics ExxonMobil Cuts Back Its Funding for Climate Skeptics] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001105551/https://spectrum.ieee.org/exxonmobil-cuts-back-its-funding-for-climate-skeptics |date=October 1, 2024 }}," IEEE Spectrum, July 2008 (Retrieved December 27, 2011)Davies, Kert, [http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/news-and-blogs/campaign-blog/exxon-continued-to-fund-climate-denial-in-200/blog/26100/ "Exxon continued to fund climate denial in 2009"], Greenpeace Blog, July 19, 2010. "[D]uring the same period where Exxon bent to the pressure on its campaign of denial and cut all funding to hard core deniers like the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Heartland Institute, the George C. Marshall Institute and others...." Retrieved December 27, 2011.{{failed verification|date=February 2018}} Institute president Bast argued that ExxonMobil was simply distancing itself from Heartland out of concern for its public image.{{cite news|work=The New York Times|title=Skeptics Dispute Climate Worries and Each Other|first=Andrew|last=Revkin|author-link=Andrew Revkin|date=March 8, 2009|access-date=February 23, 2018|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/science/earth/09climate.html|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001105552/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/science/earth/09climate.html|url-status=live}}

The institute has also received funding and support from tobacco companies Philip Morris,{{rp|234}} Altria and Reynolds American, and pharmaceutical industry firms GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Eli Lilly. State Farm Insurance, USAA and Diageo are former supporters.The Battle Over Climate Science [http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-06/battle-over-climate-change?single-page-view=true] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512034657/http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-06/battle-over-climate-change?single-page-view=true|date=May 12, 2013}} PopSci June 21, 2012 The Independent reported that Heartland's receipt of donations from Exxon and Philip Morris indicates a "direct link...between anti-global warming sceptics funded by the oil industry and the opponents of the scientific evidence showing that passive smoking can damage people's health."{{cite news|work=The Independent|title=Tobacco and oil pay for climate conference|first=Steve|last=Connor|date=March 3, 2008|access-date=February 23, 2018|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/tobacco-and-oil-pay-for-climate-conference-790474.html|archive-date=September 6, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110906051828/http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/tobacco-and-oil-pay-for-climate-conference-790474.html|url-status=live}} The institute opposes legislation on passive smoking as infringing on personal liberty and the rights of owners of bars and other establishments.{{cite web|title=Reply to Our Critics|url=http://heartland.org/reply-to-critics|website=Heartland Institute|access-date=February 23, 2018|archive-date=April 12, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412005532/https://www.heartland.org/reply-to-critics|url-status=dead}}

As of 2006, the Walton Family Foundation had contributed approximately $300,000 to Heartland. The institute published an op-ed in the Louisville Courier-Journal defending Wal-Mart against criticism over its treatment of workers.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}} The Walton Family Foundation donations were not disclosed in the op-ed, and the editor of the Courier-Journal stated that he was unaware of the connection and would probably not have published the op-ed had he known of it.{{cite news|work=St. Petersburg Times|title=Corporate spin can come in disguise|date=September 10, 2006|access-date=February 23, 2018|first=Bill|last=Adair|url=http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/10/Worldandnation/Corporate_spin_can_co.shtml}} The St. Petersburg Times described the institute as "particularly energetic defending Wal-Mart." Heartland has stated that its authors were not "paid to defend Wal-Mart" and did not receive funding from the corporation; it did not disclose the approximately $300,000 received from the Walton Family Foundation.

In 2010, MediaTransparency said that Heartland received funding from politically conservative foundations such as the Castle Rock Foundation, the Sarah Scaife Foundation, the John M. Olin Foundation, and the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.{{cite web|url=http://mediamattersaction.org/transparency/organization/Heartland_Institute |title=Heartland Institute Funding |publisher=MediaTransparency |access-date=February 23, 2018|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100804040339/http://mediamattersaction.org/transparency/organization/Heartland_Institute |archive-date=August 4, 2010 }} Between 2002 and 2010, Donors Trust, a nonprofit donor-advised fund, granted $13.5 million to the institute.{{cite news|title=How Donors Trust distributed millions to anti-climate groups|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/feb/14/donors-trust-funding-climate-denial-networks|access-date=February 23, 2018|newspaper=The Guardian|date=February 14, 2013|author-link=Suzanne Goldenberg|first=Suzanne|last=Goldenberg|archive-date=April 9, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150409165028/http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/feb/14/donors-trust-funding-climate-denial-networks|url-status=live}} In 2011, the institute received $25,000 from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation. The Charles Koch Foundation states that the contribution was "$25,000 to the Heartland Institute in 2011 for research in healthcare, not climate change, and this was the first and only donation the Foundation made to the institute in more than a decade".{{cite web|title=Foundation statement on Heartland Institute|url=http://www.charleskochfoundationfacts.org/2012/02/foundation-statement-on-heartland-institute/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220045706/http://www.charleskochfoundationfacts.org/2012/02/foundation-statement-on-heartland-institute/|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-02-20|publisher=Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation}}

In 2012, a large number of sponsors withdrew funding due to the 2012 documents incident and the controversy over their billboard campaign. The institute lost an estimated $825,000, or one third of planned corporate fundraising for the year.

In 2022, ProPublica reported that Steve Baer had said Barre Seid was "the major patron" for the Heartland Institute.{{cite web |last1=Kroll |first1=Andy |last2=Elliott |first2=Justin |last3=Perez |first3=Andrew |title=How a Billionaire's "Attack Philanthropy" Secretly Funded Climate Denialism and Right-Wing Causes |url=https://www.propublica.org/article/barre-seid-heartland-institute-hillsdale-college-gmu |website=propublica.org |date=September 6, 2022 |publisher=ProPublica |access-date=20 October 2022 |archive-date=October 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221021165313/https://www.propublica.org/article/barre-seid-heartland-institute-hillsdale-college-gmu |url-status=live }}

{{anchor|February 2012 document misappropriation}}

On February 14, 2012, the global warming blog DeSmogBlog published more than one hundred pages of documents said to be from the institute. Heartland acknowledged that some internal documents had been stolen, but said that one, the "Climate Strategy memo", was forged to discredit Heartland.{{cite news |author-link=Suzanne Goldenberg |last=Goldenberg |first=Suzanne |title=Heartland Institute 'fights back' over publication of confidential documents |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/feb/16/heartland-institute-fundraising-drive-leaked |access-date=February 23, 2018 |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |date=February 16, 2012 |archive-date=October 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001105551/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/feb/16/heartland-institute-fundraising-drive-leaked |url-status=live }}{{cite press release |first=Jim |last=Lakely |title=Leaked: Heartland Institute Responds to Stolen and Fake Documents |url=http://heartland.org/press-releases/2012/02/15/heartland-institute-responds-stolen-and-fake-documents |publisher=Heartland Institute |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224122553/http://heartland.org/press-releases/2012/02/15/heartland-institute-responds-stolen-and-fake-documents |archive-date=February 24, 2012|df=mdy-all}}{{cite magazine |first=Megan |last=McArdle |author-link=Megan McArdle |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/02/peter-gleick-confesses-to-obtaining-heartland-documents-under-false-pretenses/253395/ |title=Peter Gleick Confesses to Obtaining Heartland Documents Under False Pretenses |magazine=The Atlantic |date=February 21, 2011 |access-date=February 23, 2018 |archive-date=November 27, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121127025152/http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/02/peter-gleick-confesses-to-obtaining-heartland-documents-under-false-pretenses/253395/ |url-status=live }}

The documents were initially anonymously sourced, but later found to have been obtained by climate scientist Peter Gleick.{{cite news |title=Heartland Institute Exposed: Internal Documents Unmask Heart of Climate Denial Machine |first=Brendan |last=DeMelle |date=February 14, 2012 |access-date=February 23, 2018 |url=http://www.desmogblog.com/heartland-institute-exposed-internal-documents-unmask-heart-climate-denial-machine |publisher=DeSmogBlog |archive-date=January 27, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170127205124/https://www.desmogblog.com/heartland-institute-exposed-internal-documents-unmask-heart-climate-denial-machine |url-status=live }} The documents included a fundraising plan, board of directors meeting minutes, and the organization's 2012 budget.{{cite web|title=Confidential Memo: 2012 Heartland Climate Strategy|url=http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/2012%20Climate%20Strategy%20%283%29.pdf|website=DeSmogBlog|access-date=February 23, 2018|archive-date=July 29, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729140401/https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/2012%20Climate%20Strategy%20%283%29.pdf|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|title=Heartland Institute documents published|url=http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/02/18/Heartland-Institute-documents-published/UPI-57751329549148/?spt=hs&or=tn|access-date=February 23, 2018|work=UPI |date=February 18, 2012}} The documents were analyzed by major media, including The New York Times, The Guardian, United Press International and the Associated Press. Donors to the institute included the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, Microsoft, General Motors, Comcast, Reynolds American, Philip Morris, Amgen, Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Eli Lilly, liquor companies, and an anonymous donor who had given $13 million over the past five years.

The documents contained details of payments to support climate change deniers and their programs, namely the founder of the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, Craig Idso ($11,600 per month), physicist Fred Singer ($5,000 plus expenses per month), geologist Robert M. Carter ($1,667 per month) and $90,000 to blogger and former meteorologist Anthony Watts. The documents also revealed the institute's plan to develop curriculum materials to be provided to teachers in the United States to promote climate skepticism, plans confirmed by the Associated Press.{{cite news|last1=Gillis|first1=Justin|last2=Kaufman|first2=Leslie|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/16/science/earth/in-heartland-institute-leak-a-plan-to-discredit-climate-teaching.html?ref=science|title=Leak Offers Glimpse of Campaign Against Climate Science|newspaper=The New York Times|date=February 16, 2012|access-date=February 23, 2018|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001105557/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/16/science/earth/in-heartland-institute-leak-a-plan-to-discredit-climate-teaching.html?ref=science|url-status=live}}{{cite news|author-link=Suzanne Goldenberg|last=Goldenberg|first=Suzanne|title=Leak exposes how Heartland Institute works to undermine climate science|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/feb/15/leak-exposes-heartland-institute-climate|access-date=February 23, 2018|newspaper=The Guardian|date=February 15, 2012|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001110558/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/feb/15/leak-exposes-heartland-institute-climate|url-status=live}}{{cite web|work=Scientific American|title=Leaked: Conservative Group Plans Anti-Climate Education Program|url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=leaked-conservative-group|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216082938/http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=leaked-conservative-group|archive-date=February 16, 2012|df=mdy-all}}{{cite news|title=Documents reveal Koch-funded group's plot to undermine climate science|first=Stephanie|last=Pappas|date=February 15, 2012|access-date=February 23, 2018|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0215/Documents-reveal-Koch-funded-group-s-plot-to-undermine-climate-science|newspaper=The Christian Science Monitor}}{{cite news|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=The Boston Globe|title=INFLUENCE GAME: Leaks show group's climate efforts|first=Seth|last=Borenstein|date=February 16, 2012|access-date=February 23, 2018|url=https://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2012/02/16/influence_game_leaks_show_groups_climate_efforts/|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304081420/http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2012/02/16/influence_game_leaks_show_groups_climate_efforts/|url-status=live}} The documents also disclosed Heartland's $612,000 plan to support Wisconsin Act 10 and to influence the Wisconsin's recall elections called "Operation Angry Badger."{{cite news|title=Leaked documents detail 'Operation Angry Badger'|first=Bill|last=Glauber|newspaper=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel|date=February 16, 2012|url=http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/leaked-documents-detail-operation-angry-badger-u447pp9-139483133.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407104218/http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/leaked-documents-detail-operation-angry-badger-u447pp9-139483133.html|archive-date=April 7, 2015|df=mdy-all}} Carter and Watts confirmed receiving payments.

Microsoft said its donation had taken the form of gratis software licenses, which it was issuing to all nonprofits, and Glaxo said their donation was for "a healthcare initiative" and they did not support Heartland's views on climate change.{{cite news |first1=Suzanne |last1=Goldenberg |first2=Dominic |last2=Rushe |date=16 Feb 2012 |title=Climate science attack machine took donations from major corporations |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/feb/15/heartland-institute-microsoft-gm-money |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=December 13, 2016 |archive-date=October 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001110607/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/feb/15/heartland-institute-microsoft-gm-money |url-status=live }} Several environmental organizations called on General Motors and Microsoft to sever their ties with Heartland.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}} Climate scientists called on Heartland to "recognise how its attacks on science and scientists have poisoned the debate about climate change policy."{{cite news|last=Goldenberg|first=Suzanne|title=Heartland Institute faces fresh scrutiny over tax status|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/feb/17/heartland-institute-fresh-scrutiny-tax|access-date=February 23, 2018|newspaper=The Guardian|date=February 17, 2012|archive-date=October 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001110605/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/feb/17/heartland-institute-fresh-scrutiny-tax|url-status=live}}

Gleick described his actions in obtaining the documents as "a serious lapse of my own and professional judgment and ethics" and said that he "deeply regret[ted his] own actions in this case". He stated that "My judgment was blinded by my frustration with the ongoing efforts—often anonymous, well-funded, and coordinated—to attack climate science and scientists and prevent this debate, and by the lack of transparency of the organizations involved."[https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/science/earth/activist-says-heartland-climate-papers-obtained-by-deceit.html "Activist Says He Lied to Obtain Climate Papers"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001110608/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/science/earth/activist-says-heartland-climate-papers-obtained-by-deceit.html |date=October 1, 2024 }}, The New York Times, published February 20, 2012. On February 24, he wrote to the board of the Pacific Institute requesting a "temporary short-term leave of absence" from the institute.{{cite news | last = Goldenberg | first = Suzanne | title = Peter Gleick on leave from Pacific Institute over Heartland leak | date = 2012-02-25 | url = https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/feb/25/peter-gleick-leave-pacific-institute-heartland-leak | work = The Guardian | access-date = February 23, 2018 | archive-date = October 1, 2024 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20241001110609/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/feb/25/peter-gleick-leave-pacific-institute-heartland-leak | url-status = live }}[http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_20040326 "Peter Gleick requests short-term leave of absence from Oakland's Pacific Institute"], San Jose Mercury News, February 24, 2012 The board of directors stated it was "deeply concerned regarding recent events" involving Gleick and the Heartland documents, and appointed a new Acting Executive Director on February 27.[http://www.pacinst.org/press_center/press_releases/statement.html Pacific Institute Board of Directors statement] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180224053245/http://www.pacinst.org/press_center/press_releases/statement.html |date=February 24, 2018 }}, February 27, 2012. The board statement posted on February 22, 2012 stated it was "deeply concerned and is actively reviewing information about the recent events" involving Gleick and the Heartland documents. It was subsequently replaced on February 27, 2012 statement. Gleick was later reinstated to the Pacific Institute after an investigation found Gleick did not forge any documents, and he apologized for using deception to acquire the documents.{{cite news

| work = The Guardian

| title = Peter Gleick cleared of forging documents in Heartland expose

| url = https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/may/21/peter-gleick-cleared-heartland

| date = May 21, 2012

| first = Suzanne

| last = Goldenberg

| access-date = December 13, 2016

| archive-date = October 1, 2024

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20241001110601/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/may/21/peter-gleick-cleared-heartland

| url-status = live

}}{{citation

| title = Pacific Institute Board of Directors Statement

| url = http://pacinst.org/news/379/

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170214214940/http://pacinst.org/news/379/

|archive-date = 14 February 2017

|url-status=dead

| date = June 6, 2012

}}

;Books

• {{cite book|last1=Bast|first1=Joseph L.|author-link=Joseph Bast|title=Please Don't Poop in My Salad|year=2006|location=Chicago|isbn=978-0978695903}}
• {{cite book|title=The Patriot's Toolbox: Eighty Principles for Restoring Our Freedom and Prosperity|first1=Joseph L.|last1=Bast|author-link1=Joseph Bast|first2=George|last2=Gilder|author-link2=George Gilder|first3=Leonard|last3=Gilroy|first4=Matthew|last4=Glans|first5=Hance|last5=Haney|first6=Eli|last6=Lehrer|first7=Adrian|last7=Moore|author-link7=A. W. Moore (philosopher)|first8=Steve|last8=Stanek|first9=Richard|last9=Vedder|author-link9=Richard Vedder|first10=Herbert J.|last10=Walberg|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_1934791334|isbn=978-1934791332|year=2010|publisher=Heartland Institute |url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book |last1=Idso |first1=Craig Douglas |author-link1=Craig D. Idso |first2=S. Fred |last2=Singer |author-link2=Fred Singer |title=Climate change reconsidered: 2009 report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change |year=2009 |publisher=Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change |isbn=978-1934791288}}
• {{cite book |last=Singer |first=S. Fred |author-link=Fred Singer |title=Nature, not human activity, rules the climate |year=2008 |publisher=Heartland Institute |isbn=978-1934791011}}
• {{cite book |last=Watts |first=Anthony |author-link=Anthony Watts (blogger) |title=Is the US surface temperature record reliable? |year=2009 |publisher=Heartland Institute |isbn=978-1934791295}}

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• [https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=9486 Profile] from Charity Navigator
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