Instituto Juan de Mariana (IJM)

Background

The Instituto Juan de Mariana (IJM) is a private nonprofit group founded in 2005 by Gabriel Calzada, a climate change skeptic with connections to other conservative think tanks including the Ludwig von Mises Institute, Centre for the New Europe, and the Libertarian Alliance.¹ ²

The Institute launched with a seminar opposing the Kyoto Protocol, attended by Christopher Horner of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Calzada previously represented the Center for New Europe in Spain, a free-market Brussels think-tank that had received funding from ExxonMobil. In 2009, Calzada authored a report that claimed spending on green energy had destroyed 2.2 million jobs in a report commissioned by the US Institute for Energy Research (IER) — a group that had received over $300,000 in funding from ExxonMobil as well as funding from Koch Industries.³

The Institute is named after the Spanish philosopher Juan de Mariana, who defended private property and encouraged limits on government.⁴

The Institute’s original mission is “to investigate and make known to the public Spanish, European and Latin American, the benefits provided to the general interests of private property, free enterprise and limited scope of public authorities.” It claims no political affiliation. The Institute’s revised mission statement is “Deploying the Network of Freedom” through a “Freedom Network,” “Knowledge Network,” and “Broadcast Network.”⁵ ⁶

Stance on Climate Change

According to Gabriel Calzada, founder and president of IJM, there is no direct relation between CO2 emissions and “supposed global warming.” He believes Humans have no capacity to cause climate change.⁷

Funding

According to their website, “The Juan de Mariana Institute is a private non-profit organization without any political affiliation finances its activities thanks to the aid it receives from individuals, foundations and private institutions that share its objectives. The Institute does not accept grants or aid to political parties or government agencies.”⁸

A 2010 investigation (PDF) by Corporate Europe Observatory reports that Juan de Mariana has been shown to operate with money connected to Koch Industries.⁹

In 2009, Mother Jones magazine reported that Institute Juan de Mariana received more than $100,000 from the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, a group which has funded a large number of other groups skeptical of climate change.¹⁰

Key People

As of October, 2015, Instituto Juan de Mariana listed the following “Team” members:¹¹

Gabriel Calzada — President of the Instituto Juan de Mariana
Juan Ramón Rallo — Director
Raquel Merino Jara — IJM deputy director and director of strategy
Ji Castillo — Academic Director of IJM
Inés Calzada Alvarez — Project Coordinator
Luis Alberto Iglesias — Training Coordinator
José Augusto Domínguez — Communications Coordinator
Ignasi Bolto — Audiovisual coordinator

Contributors

IJM listed the following “Contributors” on their website, as of October, 2015:¹²

María Blanco
José Antonio Baonza Díaz
Antonio José Chinchetru
Fernando Díaz Villanueva
Albert Esplugas Boter
León Gómez Rivas
Fernando Herrera
Alberto Illán Oviedo
Adolfo D. Lozano
Ángel Martín Oro
Pablo Martínez Bernal
Gonzalo Melián
Ignacio Moncada
Francisco Moreno
Juan Morillo Bentué
Adrià Pérez Martí
Daniel Rodríguez Herrera
Miquel Rosselló
Diego Sánchez De La Cruz
David Sanz
Domingo Soriano
Luis Torras

Actions

October 1, 2015

Instituto Juan de Mariana’s president, Gabriel Calzada, is regularly involved with Atlas Network events. For example, on October 1, 2015, he spoke on “financial and political threats to the United States, highlighting the role of the Chinese economy, and immigration from Latin America.”¹³

November 2010

Instituto Juan de Mariana got $10,000 from the Atlas Foundation as an award for their “Green Jobs and Green Energy Campaign,” reports the Corporate Europe Observatory (PDF). Atlas, who has received funding from Koch Industries and other corporate groups, supports lots of think tanks all over the world. ¹⁴

May 2010

The Instituto Juan de Mariana was a co-sponsor (PDF) of the Heartland Institute’s Fourth International Conference on Climate Change in Chicago.¹⁵

DeSmog found that 19 of the conference’s 65 sponsors had received over $40 million from ExxonMobil since 1985.¹⁶

June 2, 2009

Instituto Juan de Mariana was a co-sponsor of the Heartland Institute’s Third International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC3) in Washington, DC.¹⁷

March 8-10, 2009

Instituto Juan de Mariana was a co-sponsor of the Heartland Institute’s Second International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC2) in New York.¹⁸

DeSmogBlog found that sponsors behind the conference had received a total of over $47 million in funding from energy companies and right-wing foundations, with 78% of that total coming from Scaife Family Foundations.¹⁹

September 2009

Shortly after President Obama cited Spain’s success at creating green jobs, Republicans brought in Gabriel Calzada, president of Institute Juan de Mariana to present a study that claimed each green job in Spain destroyed 2.2 jobs as a result. The study bore the letterhead of the University of Rey Juan Carlos where Calzada is Associate Professor, but was co-commissioned by the Instituto Juan de Mariana.

According to the study, “the Spanish/EU-style ‘green jobs’ agenda now being promoted in the U.S. in fact destroys jobs. […] The study’s results demonstrate how such ‘green jobs’ policy clearly hinders Spain’s way out of the current economic crisis, even while U.S. politicians insist that rushing into such a scheme will ease their own emergence from the turmoil.”

Calzada testified before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence, stating that “Europe’s experience actually suggests that this is precisely the wrong approach.” The study that Calzada referenced was debunked by the Spanish Government. Gabriel Calzada also appeared on Fox News to promote his study.²⁰ ²¹ ²²

2005

When the IJM was launched in 2005, it began with a seminar against the Kyoto Protocol that was attended by climate change skeptic Christopher Horner from the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Gabriel Calzada, the founder of IJM previously represented the Center for the New Europe in Spain.

The seminar which examined Kyoto and the Spanish Economy attracted Alberto Recarte, president of Liberty Digital, who said that Spain would be the country to “Pay Kyoto in absolute terms.” IJM arranged the conference in collaboration with the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the University of Rey Juyan Carlos. Juan Jose Toribio, President of IESE in Madrid and former IMF Executive Director was also a speaker.²³

Institute Juan de Mariana Contact & Location

As of June 2016, Instituto Juan de Mariana listed the following contact information on their website:²⁴

Institute Juan de Mariana
Calle del Ángel, 2, 28005 (Madrid)
91 221 9824

The Acton Institute previously offered Juan de Mariana Scholarships for citizens of a “country with an economy deemed by the Acton Institute to be developing or transitioning.”²⁵

@juandemariana on Twitter.
“Instituto Juan de Mariana” on LinkedIn.

Other Resources

“Instituto Juan de Mariana,” Wikipedia.

Resources

1
“The Institute” (Translated from Spanish via Google), Institute Juan de Mariana. Archived April 22, 2013. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/kLPC6
2
“Gabrial Calzada,” SourceWatch profile.
3
“Concealing their sources – who funds Europe’s climate change deniers?” (PDF), Corporate Europe Observatory, December 2010. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
4
“Juan de Mariana,” Instituto Juan de Mariana. Archived December 26, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/BATBP
5
“Mission and objectives“(Translated from Spanish via Google), Institute Juan de Mariana. Archived January 5, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/TCRRY
6
“Mission, Vision and Values“ (Translated from Spanish via Google), Institute Juan de Mariana. Archived December 26, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/ebm1u
7
“Concealing their sources – who funds Europe’s climate change deniers?” (PDF), Corporate Europe Observatory, December 2010. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
8
“Become a Member” (translated from Spanish using Google Translate), Instituto Juan de Mariana. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/5YyJz
9
“Concealing their sources – who funds Europe’s climate change deniers?” (PDF), Corporate Europe Observatory, December 2010. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
10
Josh Harkinson. “Climate Change Deniers Without Borders,” Mother Jones, December 22, 2009. Archived October 24, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/MBcon
11
“Team,” Instituto Juan de Mariana. Archived December 26, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/tXLZw
12
“Contributors,” Instituto Juan de Mariana. Archived December 26, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/cm0Bm
13
“Luncheon with Dr. Gabriel Calzada on Threats to the U.S.,” Atlas Network. Archived October 24, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/EPAYr
14
“Concealing their sources – who funds Europe’s climate change deniers?” (PDF), Corporate Europe Observatory, December 2010. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
15
4th International Conference on Climate Change Conference Program (PDF), The Heartland Institute.
16
Brendan DeMelle. “Denial-a-palooza Round 4: ‘International Conference on Climate Change’ Groups Funded by Exxon, Koch Industries,” DeSmog, May 13, 2010.
17
“Co-Sponsors,” Third International Conference on Climate Change. Archived July 14, 2010.
18
“Co-Sponsors,” The 2009 International Conference on Climate Change. Archived April 28, 2011.
19
“Heartland Institute’s 2009 Climate Conference in New York: funding history of the sponsors,” DeSmog.
20
Josh Harkinson. “Climate Change Deniers Without Borders,” Mother Jones, December 22, 2009. Archived October 24, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/MBcon
21
PERE RUSIÑOL. “The neoliberal lobby PP Spain in the U.S. boycotts” (Translated from Spanish via Google), Publico.es, July 18, 2009. Archived October 24, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/aqanB
22
Jill Fitzsimmons. “Fox Hosts Author Of Discredited Study To Bash Green Jobs,” Media Matters for America, September 1, 2011. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/iLss9
23
“Kyoto and the Spanish economy,” LibertadDigital. Archived April 21, 2005. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/ccLkD
24
“TÚ,” Instituto Juan de Mariana. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog. WebCite URL: http://www.webcitation.org/6icMHppDs
25
“Scholarships,” Action Institute. Archived October 24, 215. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/tb4z5

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