Published December 13, 2024 (truthout.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n OP-ED<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Donors linked to fossil fuels have poured billions of tax-deductible donations into groups that deny climate science.By Chuck Collins<\/a> , TRUTHOUT<\/a>PublishedDecember 13, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n As we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation, <\/em>your support<\/em><\/a> is urgently needed. Please make a year-end gift to Truthout today.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n After the hottest summer in recorded human history<\/a> \u2014 along with Hurricanes Helene and Milton, flooding and wildfires \u2014 why isn\u2019t there a greater push for action on climate change?<\/p>\n\n\n\n One reason is that big oil, gas and coal companies \u2014 and their allies in Congress \u2014 block the urgent action that\u2019s required. They do this in part by denying basic climate science, and in many cases, they receive enormous, publicly subsidized<\/a> tax benefits<\/a> to do it. And in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, millions in charitable donations poured into policy development at the Heritage Foundation, producing the Project 2025 Blueprint for the incoming Trump administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s true. Wealthy donors and fossil fuel corporations regularly make \u201ccharitable\u201d donations to nonprofit organizations that deny science, sow doubt about the urgency of climate change and run out the clock for timely action. When they deduct those contributions from their tax bill, they\u2019re effectively being subsidized by you \u2014 the taxpayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many of these donors have built their fortunes in the oil, coal and gas industries or in the industries that support them, like banking and insurance. They have a vested interest in ensuring the world\u2019s ongoing dependence on fossil fuels. These include the Koch family of private energy giant Koch Industries, and the Scaife family, heirs to the Mellon oil and banking fortune.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s how it works,\u00a0according to a new report<\/a>\u00a0I\u2019ve co-authored for the Institute for Policy Studies and Climate Accountability Research Project: Through U.S. charitable giving tax laws, donors like the Kochs and Scaifes reduce their taxes when they give to qualified, tax-exempt nonprofit charities. The wealthier the donor, the greater the reduction in their tax bill. By\u00a0one estimate<\/a>, for every dollar a billionaire gives to charity, taxpayers chip in up to 74 cents in lost tax revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From 2020 to 2022, U.S. nonprofits that deny basic climate science received $5.8 billion in tax-deductible donations.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Our report identified 137 nonprofit tax-exempt organizations that actively spread climate disinformation, working effectively to confound public opinion and delay urgent action on climate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, the Competitive Enterprise Institute<\/a> (CEI) received $21 million in charitable contributions from 2020 to 2022. CEI boasts that it\u2019s been \u201cinstrumental\u201d in stalling climate action, both in blocking ratification of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol<\/a> and in pressuring former (and now incoming) President Donald Trump to withdraw from the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2013, Robert Brulle, a sociologist at Drexel University in Pennsylvania, predicted that $500<\/a> million was given to organizations devoted to undermining the science of climate change. We estimate that figure has risen into the billions: Over three years, from 2020 to 2022, U.S. nonprofits that deny basic climate science received $5.8 billion in tax-deductible donations. Some $219 million went to groups that primarily work on climate disinformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The rest went to multi-issue organizations that include climate denial as part of their work \u2014 groups like The Heritage Foundation, which developed the extremist Project 2025 blueprint that would, among other things, roll back environmental regulations and cancel billions of dollars\u2019 worth of investments in green jobs<\/a>. Other recommendations from Project 2025 include the elimination of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (OCAA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conservatively, we estimate that somewhere between $219 million and $1 billion flowed directly to climate disinformation, all subsidized by U.S. taxpayers, during our study period between 2020 and 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though these are effectively our tax dollars at work, we don\u2019t know the precise figure. That\u2019s because many donors give through vehicles called donor-advised funds (DAFs), which mask the identity of donors and their recipient organizations. Roughly 16 percent of all donations to climate disinformation groups come through DAFs. Many billions more may have come through private individual donations as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we want to save the planet, we need transparency reforms to reveal this web of secret donations.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The fossil fuel industry has harnessed our charitable system for their self-serving, harmful disinformation campaigns \u2014 and they do it largely in secret. We know the oil, gas and coal industry has been funding disinformation for almost half a century<\/a>, even as their own internal research documented the harms from carbon and methane emissions. So what can we do about it? One simple step is to improve transparency, so the public has more accurate information about where these taxpayer-subsidized donations are going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Currently, DAF sponsoring organizations \u2014 like Schwab Charitable or Fidelity Charitable \u2014 are only required to disclose total grants to nonprofits from their sponsoring fund, not from each DAF account, so we don\u2019t know the individual donor who gave the funds. Our report urges lawmakers to pass legislation to require grants from DAFs to be reported on an individual<\/em> account basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re also calling to close another DAF loophole. Private charitable foundations, which are required by law to distribute 5 percent of their assets each year, are increasingly giving funds to DAFs and counting that toward their payout requirements<\/a>. That loophole, which can conceal the actual grant recipients, should be closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n U.S. taxpayers are likely subsidizing billions of dollars of donations to climate misinformation organizations. If we want to save the planet, we need transparency reforms to reveal this web of secret donations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency \u2013 but so is Truthout<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he\u2019s promised to \u201claunch the largest deportation program in American history,\u201d roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a \u201cdrill, drill, drill\u201d approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Organizations like Truthout<\/em> are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the \u201cnonprofit killer bill\u201d that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a \u201cterrorist-supporting organization\u201d and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout<\/em> that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza are in the bill\u2019s crosshairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout<\/em>\u2019s preparations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we\u2019re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump\u2019s sycophants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re preparing right now for Trump\u2019s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump\u2019s destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we\u2019ll be able to do in 2025. We\u2019ve set two goals: to raise $130,000 in one-time donations and to add 1422 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, we\u2019re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation \u2013 as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump\u2019s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You\u2019re an essential part of our future \u2013 please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!<\/p>\n\n\n\n With gratitude and resolve,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy<\/p>\n\n\n\n about:blankThis article is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)<\/a>, and you are free to share and republish under the terms of the license.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Bluesky? We created a starter pack<\/a> to make it easy for you to follow Truthout folks there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CHUCK COLLINS<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Chuck Collins is the director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good<\/a> at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), where he co-edits Inequality.org<\/em><\/a>. He\u2019s the lead author of the new IPS and Climate Accountability Research Project report, \u201cFossil Fuel Philanthropy: How Taxpayer-Subsidized Charities Promote Climate Change Disinformation and Stall Urgent Action<\/a>.\u201d See an archive of Chuck\u2019s<\/a> writing, videos and commentaries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Millions of Taxpayer Dollars Have Subsidized Project 2025 and Climate Denial Donors linked to fossil fuels have poured billions of tax-deductible donations into groups that deny climate science. By\u00a0Chuck Collins\u00a0,\u00a0TRUTHOUT Published December 13, 2024 (truthout.org) OP-ED\u00a0 Donors linked to fossil fuels have poured billions of tax-deductible donations into groups that… Continue reading ![\"Oil](\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/12\/2024_1213-oil-1200x750.jpg\")
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HELP US PREPARE FOR TRUMP\u2019S DAY ONE<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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