The most prominent academic members were US scientists known for denial of global warming and the relationship between Chloro Fluoro Carbon or CFCs and the ozone depletion.
In 1998 the Academic Members of ESEF included Bruce Ames, Sallie Baliunas, Robert Balling, Jack Barrett, C.J.F.
Böttcher, Peter Dietze, Tor Ragnar Gerholm, Gerhard Gerlich, Sherwood Idso, Helmut Metzner, Patrick J. Michaels, William Mitchell, Harry N.A.
Priem, Michel Salomon, S. Fred Singer, Willie Soon, Wolfgang Thüne, and Gerd-Rainer Weber, while Richard S. Courtney and Michael Gough were Business Members.
According to Bate, the "vast majority" of the organizations' funding came from the May and Stanley Smith Charitable Trust and the Marit and Hans Rausing Foundation.