Alternate Solutions Institute

Background

The Alternate Solutions Institute describes itself as the “first free market think tank of Pakistan,” and as a registered, non-profit, “non-political, non-governmental, educational and research organization.” It was established in April, 2003 in Lahore, Pakistan.¹

The group states that its goal is “changing the climate of opinion in Pakistan so that there is an improved understanding of the benefits of limited government, rule of law, protection of property rights, market economy, individual freedom and private initiative.” Its official mission is to “promote a limited responsible government in Pakistan under the rule of law protecting life, liberty, and property of all of its individual citizens without any discrimination.”² ³

The Alternate Solutions Institute has been a regular sponsor of the Heartland Institute’s International Conference on Climate Change, an event that attracts climate change skeptics from across the country.

Stance on Climate Change

“The earth’s climate has always been susceptible to changes caused by natural factors over which human beings have no control. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change uses its monopoly power in the dissemination of its own politically edited version of climate science to advance the hypothesis that climate change is caused by fossil-fuel use.”⁴

Funding

The Alternate Solutions Institute does not publicly list their funding information.

In 2008, the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, a group SourceWatch describes as the “Johnny Appleseed” of anti-regulation groups, gave the Alternate Solutions Institute a $100,000 grant that would be distributed over three years. The grant was part of the Atlas foundation’s Dorian and Antony Fisher Venture grants program.⁵ ⁶

Key People

As of November, 2015 the following people were listed on the Alternate Solutions Institute website:⁷

Staff (2015)

Dr. Raza Ullah — President
Dr. Khalil Ahmad — Executive Director (Past President)⁸
Javed Baluch — Office Assistant

Board of Advisors (2015)

Dr. Sajid Ali
Zaffarullah Khan

Actions

May 21–23, 2012

The Alternate Solutions Institute is listed as a “silver sponsor” of the Heartland Institute’s Seventh International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC7).⁹

June 30–July 1, 2011

The Alternate Solutions Institute was a co-sponsor of the Heartland Institute‘s Sixth International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC6) in Washington, DC.¹⁰

DeSmog found that 17 of the 43 sponsors of the Heartland Institute’s Sixth International Conference on Climate Change, including the Heartland Institute itself, had collectively received over $46 million from either Scaife Foundations, Koch Foundations, or ExxonMobil.¹¹

September 1, 2010

The Alternate Solutions Institute was one of a group of think-tanks that published “Seven Myths About Green Jobs,” which “concludes that Green Jobs are not that Green as is being claimed by the Green politicians and advocates.”¹²

May 16–18, 2010

The Alternate Solutions Institute was a co-sponsor of the Heartland Institute’s Fourth International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC4) in Chicago, IL.¹³ DeSmog investigated sponsors behind the conference, and found that they had collectively received over $40 million in funding since 1985 from ExxonMobil, and/or Koch Industries, and/or Scaife family foundations.¹⁴

June 2, 2009

The Alternate Solutions Institute was a co-sponsor of the Heartland Institute’s Second International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC2) in Washington, DC.¹⁵ ¹⁶

March 2009

The Alternate Solutions Institute was a co-sponsor of the Heartland Institute’s 2009 International Conference on Climate Change.¹⁷

DeSmog researched the funding behind Heartland’s Second International Conference on Climate Change, and found that sponsor organizations had received over $47 million in funding from energy companies and right-wing foundations, with 78% of that total coming from Scaife Family foundations.¹⁸

January 25, 2007

In advance of the release of a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Alternate Solutions Institute was one of a number of organizations to form a “global coalition” entitled the Civil Society Coalition on Climate Change. The goal of the coalition was to challenge the IPCC report. According to an Alternate Solutions Institute release, “The CSCCC aims at challenging the unjustified alarmism and promote rational debate.”¹⁹