GOP House committee launches investigation into China-connected, US-based green energy nonprofit

A House Committee on Energy and Commerce has launched an investigation into a China-connected nonprofit that has provided grants for green energy initiatives in the United States.

Reps. Cathy Rodgers, R-Wash., chair of the Committee on Energy and Commerce — along with Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and Bruce Westerman, R-Ark. — wrote to the president and CEO of Energy Foundation China (EFC), seeking more information about its connections to China and funding to anti-fossil fuel nonprofits in the U.S.

In December, Fox News obtained tax filings that showed EFC, which is headquartered in San Francisco and has a majority of its operations in China, contributed $3.8 million to groups advocating for an energy transition to wind and solar.

Rodgers and her colleagues pointed to a number of grants the organization made to these organizations. In 2021, according to the group’s Form 990 nonprofit tax filing, the EFC provided $195,000 to the Natural Resources Defense Council “to support education, analysis and outreach to build a clean energy future.”

Also in 2021, EFC provided $820,000 to the Rocky Mountain Institute, which produced a study linking asthma to the use of gas stoves in the home. The Department of Energy cited the study in its proposed energy efficiency standards, which in their original form would have banned about 50% of gas stoves on the market. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm also shared the study on X.

According to the letter to EFC, the group provided further funding to these organizations in 2022.
The letter explains that EFC has “concerning ties to China.” The group has been working in China since 1999, according to its website, to further China’s sustainable energy development.

Its China office is registered with the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau and supervised by the National Development and Reform Commission of China, as per its website.

The EFC also employs staff, according to Fox, with significant ties to the Chinese government. For example, EFC’s president and CEO, Zi Chou, served as Deputy Director General of China’s National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation, under the Chinese government’s National Development and Reform Commission.

Rodgers and her colleagues are concerned about China funding green energy in the U.S., their letter explains, because China dominates the global renewable energy supply chains, including those for batteries, solar panels, and components to make hydrogen. By promoting wind, solar, and electrification, China improves its economic and geopolitical position, the letter states.

Citing a study by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the letter warns that the dominance of these markets allows China to influence U.S. policy, as the intelligence study found it has previously done.

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce asked EFC to provide documentation for all grants and financial assistance it has provided to U.S. organizations since 2019, as well as all communications it’s had with those organizations in that period.

The EFC previously operated jointly with another public charity, the United States Energy Foundation, and the committee asked for more information about EFC’s relationship to the charity.