The high-profile departures from the US Chamber because of its extremist stance on climate, the strong criticism from its own former members and the Chamber’s tone-deaf response to the situation are contributing to reputational damage that is hurting the organization’s credibility.

But don’t take my word for it. Others are making the same observation. 

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Fortune Magazine Contributing Editor Marc Gunther noted in a piece called “The U.S. Chamber’s climate blunders” that:

“What matters is that the chamber can’t any longer pretend to be the voice of  business on the climate change issue-the biggest business controversy of the decade. Now that’s embarassing.”

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A sentiment which was echoed today by Business Week, which asked the question: “Does the U.S. Chamber Speak for Big Business?“, and then answered it with the sub-headline:

“The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s aggressive opposition to climate change legislation is costing it credibility, clout-and members.”

Now PRWeek has weighed in with “Resignations create reputation issues for Chamber,” and offers the following quote from Michael Kempner, President and CEO of highly-respected pr firm MWW Group:

“No one denies [the US Chamber] the right to their viewpoint and their pro-business agenda,” noted Kempner. “But, when their pro-business agenda begins to line up with the fringe of the Republican Party versus the mainstream of the Republican Party, they put themselves in the position of becoming irrelevant.”

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Earlier today, Mr. Donohue told reporters he doesn’t mind being attacked. “Bring ’em on!” he says. Given that this has largely been a saga of self-inflicted wounds (Mr. Donohue’s attempts to blame a vast environmental conspiracy notwithstanding), it’ll be interesting to see what the Chamber does to itself next.

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Running tab of the Chamber’s climate credibility crisis:

Quit US Chamber over climate:  Apple, Exelon, PNM Resources, PG&E, PSEG, Levi Strauss & Co.

Quit US Chamber Board over climate: Nike.

Say Chamber doesn’t represent their views on climate: Johnson&Johnson, General Electric, San Jose Chamber of Commerce, Alcoa, Duke, Entergy, Microsoft.

Learn more at WhoDoestheChamberRepresent.org?

This post first appeared at Pete’s Switchboard blog.