China's funding of U.S. climate initiatives mirrors the Russian funding of anti-fracking groups

A nonprofit with operations in Beijing reportedly funded a number of nonprofits in the United States fighting climate change and pushing for sustainable or "green" energy.

Tax filings obtained by Fox News showed funding from the Energy Foundation China, which is headquartered in San Francisco and has a majority of its operations in China. The group, which refers to itself in tax filings as “Energy Foundation China” contributed $3.8 million to initiatives to phase out coal use and expand the use of electric vehicles, according to Fox News.

The foundation's website says that its mission is to achieve for China "prosperity and a safe climate through sustainable energy. Our mission is to achieve greenhouse gas emissions neutrality, world-class air quality, energy access, and green growth through transforming energy and optimizing economic structure."

Steve Milloy, a senior legal fellow with the Energy and Environmental Legal Institute and publisher of JunkScience.com, told Just The News that the revelations that China is providing funding for green energy initiatives should come as no surprise.

Besides the fact the country has cornered global supplies in critical minerals and stands to profit from an expansion of wind and solar, it wouldn’t be the first time that foreign nations have used the environmental movement to influence U.S. energy policy.

In 2014, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization at the time, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, told The Guardian that Russia engaged actively with environmental organizations opposing hydraulic fracturing ("fracking"), an oil and gas technology that exponentially increased U.S. oil and gas production.

Rasmussen provided few details, but a NATO official told The Guardian that Russia was using a “mix of hard and soft power in its attempt to recreate a sphere of influence, including through a campaign of disinformation on many issues, including energy.” Environmental groups like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth blasted those allegations as “preposterous.”

In 2017, Reps. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, and Randy Weber, R-Texas, sent a letter to then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin repeating the accusations and offering up evidence of tens of millions of dollars being funneled to various environmental organizations in the U.S.

“If you connect the dots, it is clear that Russia is funding U.S. environmental groups in an effort to suppress our domestic oil and gas industry, specifically hydraulic fracking,” Smith wrote in the letter.

With regard to the Energy Foundation revelations, “I don’t think this is new. I think they’ve been doing it for a long time, and I think there are a lot of these green groups that are China-ing up in one way or another,” Milloy said.

Among the recipients of the Energy Foundation’s grants was Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), which produced a study earlier this year that claimed to find a link between gas stoves and asthma. Bloomberg referred to the study the month following its publication and interviewed Richard Trumka Jr., a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commissioner, about the possibility of a gas stove ban. Trumka said that a ban was an option, and the article set off the debate over a federal ban on gas stoves. The Biden administration later walked back Trumpka's comments, which were met with public ridicule, mostly from conservatives.

The RMI researchers used data from past studies to estimate rates of childhood asthma linked to exposure to gas stoves. The study has been criticized for failing to factor into its data a more comprehensive global study published in 2013 by the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood, which utilized data from 512,000 children in 47 different countries and found no evidence of any association between the use of gas stoves as asthma.

Despite the criticism of the RMI study, the Department of Energy proposed standards that would effectively ban many types of gas stoves in the U.S., and some states have banned natural gas appliances in new construction.

RMI, which has offices in Beijing, received a $900,000 grant from the Energy Foundation, according to Fox News. When asked about concerns over whether China was influencing American energy policy, Caroline Bennett, media director for RMI, told Just The News that the funds were used specifically to advance clean energy solutions in China.

“RMI works in China because reducing emissions in China is critical to addressing the climate challenge. We rely on grants from a variety of foundations and charities to support our mission of securing a clean, prosperous, zero-carbon future for all. All of them are subjected to a risk evaluation and screened to ensure they are mission-aligned,” Bennett said.

The Energy Foundation did not respond to requests for comment.

JunkScience's Milloy said that China is funding environmental organizations as a means to fight the U.S. without fighting. “If America can destroy itself with green laws and regulations, destroy our grid and make us dependent on China, well, they don’t need to use missiles or anything,” Milloy said.

The more the U.S. becomes dependent on China, Milloy said, the less likely the U.S. would be to respond with force should any disputes arise. “So let's say that China goes into Taiwan today. What can the US reasonably do? If we take any action at all, either the Chinese will just cut off our antibiotics or cellphones or green energy supplies,” Milloy said.

As an example, Milloy pointed to what happened when Australia supported an international inquiry into China’s handling of COVID-19. China retaliated by imposing heavy duties on Australian products, which had a crippling effect from which Australia is still trying to recover.

Chinese influence over U.S. policy, Milloy said, should be a major campaign issue in the 2024 presidential election. “Where are the Republicans on this? Trump should talk about this more. We are making ourselves more dependent on China every day, with every green mandate,” he said.