New financial statements reveal that anti-energy activists, the groups that fund them, and the politicians whom the control all continue to profit from the very same industries they routinely demonize.
In 2014, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) – a backer of anti-Keystone XL pipeline and nationwide fossil fuel divestment campaigns – pledged to divest the majority of its assets from fossil fuels, citing “moral tension” between its investments and “charitable” donations. The rest or the story? The Rockefellers were about to bankroll a massive litigation and public relations campaign against oil and gas companies, and it could backfire if the nonprofits were still invested in the industry.
The Rockefeller foundations continued to double down publicly on their decision to divest, arguing in 2020 that “oil was bad not only for the environment but for the bottom line,” without mention that the Rockefellers themselves were spearheading the campaign to devalue oil and gas companies through litigation, activism, protest, and divestment.
Now, nearly 10 years later, recent reporting from the Washington Examiner shows that RBF still invests millions in a variety of companies that produce hydrocarbons, perhaps because these companies continue to be high-performing investments despite the Rockefellers’ best efforts. In many instances, the Rockefeller nonprofits are invested in the very same oil and natural gas companies that are the targets of Rockefeller-funded pressure campaigns. To wit:
“In 2022, the RBF held corporate stocks or bonds in the Marathon Petroleum Corporation, Enbridge, Halliburton, Pembina Pipeline, ENN Energy Holdings, and Valero, worth roughly $2.2 million combined, according to tax forms.”
RBF’s fossil fuel holdings are difficult to reconcile not only with the foundation’s divestment commitments, but also with the organization’s “philanthropic” efforts to kneecap energy companies through litigation and divestment campaigns.
Among RBF’s most notorious activities is its creation from whole cloth of the debunked #ExxonKnew campaign and its coordination with attorneys general across the country to gin up lawsuits against the energy industry. Since 2015, the family has spent tens of millions in known grants to fund law firms, environmental nonprofits, and public relations groups supporting targeted litigation against energy companies, including companies still in RBF’s investment portfolio such as Phillips 66 and Marathon Petroleum.
Additionally, since 2021, RBF has donated more than $1.4 million to the Equation Campaign, an initiative founded by Rockefeller heirs which has backed protest efforts to block Enbridge’s Line 3 and Line 5 pipelines and TC Energy’s Keystone XL pipeline, among other projects. The Rockefellers have also donated at least $1 million to 350.org, an environmental activist group co-founded by Bill McKibben that focuses on “stopping fossil fuels everywhere,” including in jurisdictions experiencing extreme energy poverty.
Predictably, the Rockefellers aren’t the only anti-energy activists that speak out of both sides of their investment portfolios when it comes to hydrocarbons. A Los Angeles Times article published on Saturday reveals that several California state legislators with anti-energy track records also hold significant investments in oil and natural gas companies – including those companies that the state of California is suing.
Bottom Line: The fact that even the most committed environmental advocates refuse to disengage from fossil fuel investments underscores the current indispensability of these energy sources. Rather than pursuing divestment and pitting environmental goals against the energy industry, environmentalists should adopt a collaborative approach and work with industry to promote sustainability and reduce emissions.
