Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce was the victim of a hoax by a satirical group that staged a phony announcement saying the business organization had flip-flopped on climate change.

The Yes Men, a New York group that pulls pranks on corporations, issued a fake press release and the text of a purported speech by Chamber President Thomas Donohue under the chamber’s letterhead yesterday, said Jacques Servin, a Yes Men member. The imposters also held a news conference at the National Press Club with ersatz chamber officials.

The chamber, the largest U.S. business organization, has been criticized by some environmental groups that say it has obstructed efforts by Congress and President Barack Obama to adopt climate-change policies. Several companies, including PG&E Corp. and Apple Inc., quit the chamber, citing its stance on efforts to combat global warming.

“Public relations hoaxes undermine the genuine effort to find solutions on the challenge of climate change,” Donohue said in a statement indicating he would ask law enforcement agencies to investigate the stunt. “These irresponsible tactics are a foolish distraction from the serious effort by our nation to reduce greenhouse gases.”

Eric Wohlschlegel, executive director of communications at the chamber, went to the press club in downtown Washington and broke up the fake news conference there, according to Donna Leinwand, club president. Staff of the press club learned of the hoax and also sought to stop the event, Leinwand said.

Chamber Critics

The Chamber of Commerce has said action proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency and House-passed climate legislation would hurt U.S. businesses and consumers. Donohue told reporters Oct. 8 that the chamber favors passing climate- change legislation, and that it had no preference on whether a cap-and-trade system or a carbon tax is a better approach to curbing greenhouse gases tied to global warming.

The bogus announcement said the chamber was switching positions and now favors a tax on carbon emissions.

The fictional Donohue said in the speech, “We at the Chamber have tried to keep climate science from interfering with business. But without a stable climate, there will be no business. We need business more than we need relentlessly higher returns.”

Fake Spokesman

The fake press release the group issued cited a fictional chamber spokesman, Hingo Sembra, a name Servin said he used as an alias. Donohue’s name was misspelled as Donahue in the release.

Reuters and CNBC reported the phony story and issued corrections after the chamber said it was false.

The Yes Men have said they often pose as spokesmen for “corporations we don’t like.” The political pranksters have targeted Exxon Mobil Corp., Dow Chemical Co. and Halliburton Co. in previous spoofs.

The Yes Men requested a refund of the money paid to use the press club because the mock news conference was broken up, Leinwand said. The club won’t honor the request, she said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Whitten in Washington at dwhitten2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 20, 2009 00:00 EDT