MixCollage-03-Apr-2026-10-36-AM-7165

The Globe Trotting Lifestyle Of Three Anti-Oil Activists Who Live ‘Like Royalty’

Climate Advocates

Climate Change

Louisiana

New Orleans

Oil companies

This piece is part of MI x DW, a collaboration that brings Daily Wire readers exclusive commentary and research from the Manhattan Institute’s world-class team of scholars.
In this piece, an exclusive excerpt from a forthcoming City Journal piece, Heather Mac Donald exposes the absurdity of climate litigation, showing how plaintiffs can blame companies around the world for alleged environmental distress. In addition to shining light on these pseudoscientific lawsuits, Mac Donald warns that allowing these cases to continue could seriously undermine the rule of law.
***
While the Trump administration has ended for now the federal regulatory war on traditional energy, a litigation war has quietly gathered force. Cities and states are suing American fossil fuel companies for the alleged climate harms those jurisdictions claim to suffer.
The first multibillion-dollar judgment against the industry could unleash a cascade of similar rulings. Leading climate litigator Benjamin Franta estimates that the potential liability runs into the trillions of dollars.
The effect on the American economy would be dire. But equally catastrophic, from a philosophical standpoint, would be the damage to rationality itself. The causal claims behind the climate-change lawsuits insult reason, repudiating the hard-won gains of the Western empirical tradition.
The plaintiffs in the more than three dozen climate suits filed in the United States read like an honor roll of progressive localities: San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Maine, Minnesota, and Massachusetts, among others. Their targets include some of the great industrial concerns of the modern age — ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, and Shell.
So far, the cases have turned on questions of jurisdiction. The defendant oil and gas companies have argued that the city and state plaintiffs are violating the constitutional limits on their power, since they are trying to regulate economic activity outside of their borders. For a while, this argument worked. Judges in Delaware, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and elsewhere tossed climate-change suits out of court on the grounds of federal preemption. But then the defensive wall was breached. Several federal appeals courts and the state supreme courts of Colorado and Hawaii ruled that the global warming suits could continue. Once those trials begin, the plaintiffs’ causal claims will come to the fore.
Every suit blames a particular set of companies for a particular set of climate harms in a particular locality. But one can accept the broad outlines of climate change theory and still reject the plaintiffs’ core causal claims.
Global warming allegedly results from a century and a half of cumulative CO₂ emissions from industrial activity. When trillions of CO₂ molecules accumulate in the upper atmosphere, they affect how heat escapes into space. That means the planet’s atmospheric energy balance is global, not set by any one city or state’s emissions. One CO₂ molecule is indistinguishable from another and cannot be traced to its point of origin.
Yet the climate suits are startlingly precise in pinning responsibility for a locality’s purported climate disasters. An international case provides an almost parodic version of the logic in climate litigation. In 2015, a farmer in the Peruvian Andes sued Germany’s largest electric utility provider for allegedly causing the glacier outside the farmer’s village to melt. We were meant to believe that CO₂ emitted from the utility’s German facilities could be identified and tied to a particular diminishing ice pack in Peru.
While a German court ultimately threw out the case on jurisdictional grounds, it allowed the causal illogic to stand, and it has since been widely replicated. In 2020, 16 Montana youths, aged five to 22, sued the state of Montana, claiming that it had destroyed their prospects for a normal adult life and had inflicted climate-related trauma on them.
Because Montana licensed fossil fuel operations without considering their global warming impacts, argued the plaintiffs, additional CO₂ was emitted in the state. That local incremental CO₂, in turn, caused global warming in Montana, which harmed the 16 children and young adults. In 2023, the judge in Held v. Montana found the state liable for the plaintiffs’ alleged injuries, which included, the judge declared, the increased risk of dying, chronic despair, damage to the liver and kidneys, impaired physical and cognitive development, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and broken bones.
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The causal claim in Held v. Montana is absurd. Global warming is not a local phenomenon. Moreover, even if the extra CO₂ purportedly generated by Montana’s regulatory negligence could be geotagged and traced to the state, it would be trivial compared with the cumulative emissions of every other global source over decades.
The climate bar has adopted an additional causal claim. Oil and gas companies allegedly concealed what they knew about climate change, the plaintiff cities and states assert, and that concealment — amounting to corporate fraud and deception — caused heat waves and forest fires in their jurisdictions.
An ongoing case in Hawaii, Honolulu v. Sunoco, illustrates the reasoning behind this consumer fraud gambit. According to the city and county of Honolulu, over a dozen fossil-fuel producers and marketers caused flooding and erosion in Honolulu by failing to disclose what they allegedly knew about climate change. “But for Defendants’ conduct” in withholding that knowledge, claim the plaintiffs, “the City would have suffered no or far fewer serious injuries and harms than it has endured.”
We will leave aside, for the moment, the truth of the claim that the defendants possessed secret knowledge about global warming. We will also set aside the suspension of disbelief required to accept the argument that a failure to communicate something was the “but-for cause” of rising sea levels. 
Even on its own terms, Honolulu’s argument is fantastical. Here, one must reintroduce the concealed causal link (CO₂) whose absence in the complaint is merely a verbal trick. Data on Honolulu’s energy-related greenhouse-gas emissions are not readily available, but Hawaii’s were about 18 million metric tons in 2021; Honolulu’s share would be maybe half that. The International Energy Agency estimates that fossil fuel combustion produced about 36.3 billion metric tons of CO₂ globally in 2021. Hawaii’s emissions thus represented about 0.05% of the global total; Honolulu’s, maybe 0.025% of the global total.
Yet we are to believe that a 0.025% reduction in global emissions — the result of a hypothetical cessation of Honolulu’s fossil fuel consumption — would have prevented the city’s alleged global warming injuries.
If the causal claims strain credulity, the factual premises are scarcely stronger. The consumer fraud suits now underway all assert that oil and gas companies possessed early, unique knowledge about climate change, which they concealed from an ignorant public and policymaking class for decades. Instead of warning the world about the dangers of fossil fuels, the firms stressed uncertainties in climate models and funded research that critically examined what the New York Times calls the “settled science of climate change.”
But the fuel industry had no monopoly on climate speculations. The federal government has been reporting on anthropogenic global warming since 1965. Since then, warnings in the media about CO₂ emissions have only grown more dire, without having the slightest effect on consumer behavior.
The use of smartphones and AI, jet travel to conferences and vacations, routine reliance on Amazon Prime and food delivery apps, heat in winter and air conditioning in summer, the near-universal consumption of bottled water — all these accoutrements of modern life show no sign of abating in Honolulu or in any of the other communities now suing the sources of their lavish consumer lifestyles.
The explosion of climate litigation is about expropriation and hatred. These lawsuits do nothing to advance the cause of arresting anthropogenic climate change. Sixteen of the top 20 CO₂ emitters in 2023 were state-owned foreign companies, with China dominating. Seven of the top 20 were coal companies — six of them Chinese, with the seventh in India. Private American oil and gas companies account for only a small share of global emissions.
The litigation war on the oil and gas industry reflects the parasitism, entitlement, and ingratitude that now characterize modern Western societies. The Rockefeller Brothers Fund is emblematic. Its billion-dollar philanthropic portfolio exists because of John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil. Rockefeller’s advances in refining, pipelines, transport engineering, and petroleum chemistry transformed the world. Yet today, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund bankrolls efforts to sue Standard Oil’s corporate descendants into submission, if not bankruptcy.
The alternatives to fossil fuels championed by climate litigators are not viable replacements today and will not be for the foreseeable future. Solar and wind power were largely irrelevant during the deadly snow and ice storm that struck a 2,000-mile swath of the United States in January 2026. Without coal, natural gas, and nuclear power, millions more Americans would have lost heat and running water. The crisis in the Strait of Hormuz is a reminder of how essential oil and gas are to nearly every aspect of the world economy.
The Western concept of impersonal causation once undergirded both experimental science and Anglo-American tort law. The belief that causation was regular and measurable enabled the rational control of nature. The legal requirement that a defendant’s unreasonable act actually caused a plaintiff’s injury restrained the human impulse toward vengeance. In the 20th century, however, tort law increasingly shifted from assigning liability for fault to extracting wealth for redistribution by loosening traditional causation standards and weakening the idea of personal responsibility.
Climate litigation takes that earlier erosion of causation to a new level. If judgments against Big Oil are allowed to stand, they will set precedents for wider assaults on private enterprise and the rule of law.
For now, the best hope for halting the raid on Big Oil’s social and economic capital lies in an appeal before the Supreme Court challenging a climate suit out of Boulder, Colorado. At the heart of every such climate case lies a philosophical travesty that reflects a deeper decline in rational thought.
Heather Mac Donald is the Thomas W. Smith Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a contributing editor of City Journal, and a New York Times bestselling author.

TOPSHOT-KENYA-CLIMATE-DEMO

The Climate Litigation Swindle

Heather Mac Donald

Lawsuit

MI x DW

Recent media coverage of rising gas prices reflects something more consequential than concern for energy affordability. It reveals a pattern of selective outrage and one meant to condition the American public to view any temporary cost associated with national security as politically unacceptable — especially under a Republican administration. This dynamic carries strategic consequences. It erodes trust, weakens institutional resilience, and reduces our country’s capacity to absorb short-term strain in pursuit of long-term stability.
During the Biden administration, gasoline prices <a href="https://www.wbur.org/npr/1084893419/gas-prices-surge-to-above-4-a-gallon-oil-russia-ukraine-antony-blinken">reached</a> historic and unsustainable levels, surpassing $5.00 per gallon in many parts of the country as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted global energy markets. The media’s coverage at the time was extensive, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/09/us/politics/fact-check-republicans-biden-gas.html">but they refused to blame then-President Biden</a> for foolishly tapping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in November 2021 ahead of the war. The dominant narrative emphasized structural forces, including global commodity markets, supply chain disruptions, and post-pandemic demand recovery outpacing supply. It was the former president’s climate policies, however, that inevitably invited energy insecurity.
Those explanations reflected the realities of energy economics. Energy markets respond to geopolitical shocks, and price volatility often follows disruptions to supply and transportation infrastructure. Public messaging from legacy media during that period <a href="https://time.com/6188569/gas-prices-oil/">emphasized patience while markets stabilized</a>.
Current coverage reflects a very different emphasis: It’s panicked, grim, and chaotic. The narrative is intended to guilt developed nations into <a href="https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-wars-renewable-energy-asia-4b5fe0693ce5816472c905db85f7da6e">abandoning</a> “warmongering” oil and gas for “<a href="https://time.com/7358460/renewable-energy-peace-democracy-venezuela/">peaceful</a>” renewable energy to fight a so-called climate crisis, despite much of the world now <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/magazine/climate-politics-us-world-paris-agreement.html">prioritizing</a> energy security. The United Nations claims wind and solar energy, unlike oil and gas, will withstand closures in the Strait of Hormuz. Much to the UN’s chagrin, energy-importing nations that have adopted 100% renewable energy targets are planning to purchase <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-19/after-qatar-lng-plant-outage-more-buyers-turn-to-us-suppliers">American liquefied natural gas (LNG)</a> or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/18/business/iran-war-lng-asia-japan.html">pivot back to coal</a> after Qatar’s LNG terminal closed down.
Price volatility is frequently presented as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/21/us/politics/gas-prices-republicans-affordability.html">evidence of policy failure</a> rather than as a predictable consequence of geopolitical risk. Rather than putting the temporary economic pressure as something that deserves perspective and patience, it is portrayed as a political liability that must be eliminated immediately. This framing amplifies anxiety while obscuring the strategic rationale behind national security decisions and the long-term expectation that energy prices will soon come back down. This isn’t 2022, with an administration that deliberately suppressed domestic energy production. The landscape is vastly different, and arguably more secure, with American energy dominance keeping prices relatively low here at home and coming to the rescue abroad.
That shift in emphasis by the media shapes public perception over time.
Research on public opinion during military operations <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1111/j.1468-2508.2007.00602.x">demonstrates</a> public support for national security decisions tracks the signals sent by major institutions.
Coverage that focuses primarily on risk, cost, and disruption encourages the public to conclude that action lacks justification. A sustained emphasis on negative consequences and downplaying the purpose and potential upsides contributes to declining confidence in leadership and reduced tolerance for continued engagement.
Over the long term, the media framing weakens our country and the public. A society that interprets every economic disruption as a disaster and evidence of fundamental failure becomes less willing to endure temporary hardship even when the alternative carries greater long-term risk and expense.
Trust declines gradually through accumulated inconsistency.
This erosion of trust carries implications beyond the current moment. A public conditioned to associate short-term economic disruption with failure will resist future decisions that require temporary sacrifice, regardless of the strategic stakes involved.
Public uncertainty about the necessity of current operations reflects an imbalance in how the rationale has been reinforced in public discourse. Policymakers have articulated the objective of degrading the capabilities of a regime that was developing advanced ballistic missile capabilities <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/iran-fires-missiles-remote-uk-us-base-claiming-long-range-capabilities-rcna264547">able to reach long distances</a>, unfettered <a href="https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2025/05/21/9-myths-about-irans-uranium-enrichment-program/?gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=23305160353&amp;gbraid=0AAAAADHXS9VYjLIExrfvz9Me63UlMpO7a&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwyYPOBhBxEiwAgpT8P611Ekse1TESk6d_oEGyl9DdHc8HDPOTawrLNLyStN8M33Drkse33BoCfyAQAvD_BwE">nuclear ambitions</a>, arms proxy forces <a href="https://www.cfr.org/articles/irans-regional-armed-network">across multiple theaters</a>, and uses <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/iran-chokes-strait-hormuz-reported-2m-tanker-toll-regime-threatens-global-oil-supply">instability</a> to influence global energy markets.
The strategic logic rests on deterrence. Restoring deterrence imposes short-term costs but reduces the likelihood of sustained instability and higher long-term economic disruption – specifically global energy prices.
Coverage that concentrates on immediate economic consequences without sustained attention to strategic necessity leaves the public with incomplete information. That informational gap encourages apprehension and weakens support for popular actions that serve long-term security interests.
The United States has historically maintained security and prosperity by accepting temporary hardship when the stakes were explained clearly and consistently. Wartime rationing, economic sanctions, and military mobilization all required short-term sacrifice in service of larger objectives.
Public resilience depends on coherent communication from institutions and a shared understanding of the relationship between cost and purpose. That resilience weakens when the information environment frames disruption as avoidable and treats temporary hardship as evidence of failure.
Leadership requires the willingness to act despite short-term discomfort and to explain the reasons for that action clearly. Public resilience requires the willingness to endure temporary strain when the strategic rationale is understood.
Americans facing higher gas prices deserve transparency for what they are being asked to pay and the strategic purpose behind this ask from the media without bias. Clear explanation strengthens trust, supports resilience, and preserves the capacity to act decisively when national security requires it.
* * *
Meaghan Mobbs is director of Independent Women’s Center for American Safety and Security.
Gabriella Hoffman is director of Independent Women’s Center for Energy and Conservation.

California Gas Prices

Two Hits At The Pump — And What The Media Wants You To Forget

Affordable

Coal

Energy

Joe Biden

Oil and Gas

Opinion

Solar Power

A University of Pennsylvania professor who was sanctioned by a court for acting in “bad faith” is set to teach a course on “misinformation” next year.
Michael Mann, a prominent climate activist and director of Penn’s Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media, announced that he will again co-teach a course on climate change communication alongside Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The course, previously offered at the University of Pennsylvania, focuses in part on combating what Mann describes as a “surplus of misinformation” surrounding climate change.
“The problem isn’t so much a deficit of information; it’s a surplus of misinformation,” Mann said at a journalism conference, arguing that outright climate denial is fading and being replaced by what he calls “doomism, division, deflection, and delaying action.”
Mann recently confirmed the course’s return on a university podcast, describing it as a “real pleasure” to collaborate across Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences and the Annenberg School for Communication.
But Mann’s role as an authority on misinformation should draw scrutiny given his own legal history. A District of Columbia judge previously sanctioned Mann and his legal team, finding “by clear and convincing evidence” that they had acted in bad faith by presenting erroneous evidence and making false representations related to damages claims.
“Here, the Court finds… that Dr. Mann… acted in bad faith when they presented erroneous evidence and made false representations to the jury and the Court,” the <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/yixcqfv4h1idp1xt5elo7/2025.03.12-Order-Granting-Def-s-Sanctions-Mots.pdf?rlkey=yqactvu9h9bpwlyp6q2taaj7h&amp;st=g53sry23&amp;dl=0">ruling stated</a>. The court ordered Mann to pay more than $28,000 in legal fees. The controversy adds to a broader pattern of inflammatory rhetoric and political activism from Mann, who has repeatedly targeted conservatives in public statements and on social media.
Mann has compared prominent figures such as Peter Thiel, Charles Koch, and Rupert Murdoch to the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks, and previously wrote that the Republican Party should be “destroyed.” He deleted the posts, but they were saved in screenshots.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Michael Mann has been trafficking in violence-justifying (wink wink) Tweets for a long time
He is celebrated and rewarded for it in the climate community
His latest won&#8217;t change that <a href="https://t.co/YMpnmxAdWX">pic.twitter.com/YMpnmxAdWX</a>
— The Honest Broker (@RogerPielkeJr) <a href="https://twitter.com/RogerPielkeJr/status/1966493707345019074?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 12, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
As reported by the <a href="https://freebeacon.com/campus/upenn-provost-resigns-after-boosting-social-media-post-likening-charlie-kirk-to-hitler-youth/">Washington Free Beacon</a>, Mann faced backlash for amplifying a social media post referring to conservative activist Charlie Kirk as “Hitler Youth,” a controversy that preceded his resignation as vice provost at Penn. He remains on faculty and continues to lead his research center.
The resignation came after Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA) <a href="https://x.com/SenMcCormickPA/status/1966307689023287332?s=20">called on the university</a> to take “immediate, decisive action.”
Mann has also drawn criticism for comments interpreted as invoking political violence, including a post referencing “second amendment territory” in relation to President Donald Trump, he has since deleted the post, but it was <a href="https://archive.is/dSu5A">digitally archived</a> to verify.
The course’s co-instructor, Jamieson, is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, which has itself <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gop-officials-demand-trump-admin-suspend-funding-of-science-org-over-climate-activism">faced scrutiny</a> over its handling of climate-related materials. Critics have pointed to the academy’s refusal to remove a controversial climate chapter from its judicial reference manual, even after the Federal Judicial Center declined to include it, citing concerns about bias.
Mann has also <a href="https://x.com/MichaelEMann/status/2034046926208045535?s=20">recently praised</a> the late biologist Paul Ehrlich, whose 1968 book &#8220;The Population Bomb&#8221; famously predicted mass starvation and societal collapse due to overpopulation — predictions that failed to materialize. Despite that track record, Mann continues to position himself as a leading voice on climate communication and misinformation.
The announcement of the course raises broader questions about credibility, academic standards, and whether individuals with documented histories of misleading claims should be tasked with defining “misinformation” for the next generation of students.

Image 3

What’s Being Taught Behind Ivy League Doors? Inside Controversial ‘Misinformation’ Course

Education

Misinformation

U.S.

University of Pennsylvania

Over a dozen Republican attorneys general demanded Wednesday that the Trump administration suspend or yank funding for a taxpayer-funded scientific organization over politically biased climate change activism, according to a letter obtained by The Daily Wire.
Led by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, the GOP officials <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/1010506858/AG-Letter-To-DOT-DOW-And-DOE">said</a> that a chapter included in the “Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence: Fourth Edition” produced by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine failed to disclose links to climate litigation advocacy. Knudsen demanded that the Departments of Energy, War, and Transportation cut funding to the National Academies over the chapter in question. 
Knudsen <a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/MTAG/2026/03/10/file_attachments/3579240/2026-03-11%20AGs'%20Ltr%20to%20Agencies%20re%20NASEM_ex%20A.pdf">wrote</a> that the chapter “was designed to influence judges in multi-billion-dollar climate cases, was funded by climate litigation funders, was written by academics with little relevant scientific expertise and documented financial and institutional ties to climate litigation advocacy, and was shaped by a climate plaintiffs’ attorney.”
The letter was addressed to Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. The Pentagon declined to comment.
Knudsen said that the academies should be suspended or disbarred from “all federal contracts and grants across the executive branch.” The National Academies received tens of millions of dollars in grant money every year from the federal government. 
&#8220;Taxpayer dollars should not be used to fund efforts that impartially influence judges. Given multiple opportunities, NASEM and NSF still refuse to take responsibility for publishing a biased climate science manual violating their public commitments and legal obligations,” Knudsen told The Daily Wire. “The organizations producing these manuals and pushing their climate agendas on judges must be investigated and all funding to them should stop. As Attorney General, I will continue to sound the alarm until we put an end to their deception.”
The <a href="https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/26919/chapter/1">manual</a> was produced with the Federal Judicial Center to serve as a guide for federal judges. Last month, the judicial center <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/reference-manual-on-scientific-evidence-climate-science-elena-kagan-federal-judges-f8e8604a?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=AWEtsqenuW1BIeQcsljVCaPocCtWHummF76Pu_cnQ0KlguiQAeIUNm7GcmAXGmI1sSg%3D&amp;gaa_ts=6997208c&amp;gaa_sig=wVTzH3siKR3DaS1OsCzap4UGuaUWOHjVYeBgLh2Y2IVt5AfO9iotN2ZjJgaB3QunvcBEg3kfNQRJ2dCjybLV0Q%3D%3D">removed</a> the climate chapter from its version of the book after more than two dozen Republican attorneys general warned it could improperly influence their decisions. They <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/taxpayer-funded-science-org-faces-demands-from-gop-officials-over-climate-activism">urged</a> the National Academy in February to do the same. 
One issue raised by Knudsen regarding the flagged chapter was that the manual was funded in part by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has <a href="https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-activist-side-third-party-litigation-support/">reportedly</a> donated to the Collective Action Fund, a group that has <a href="https://freebeacon.com/latest-news/anti-energy-lawfare-congressional-investigation-uncovers-dark-money-fueling-climate-change-lawsuits-nationwide/">contributed money</a> to climate litigation firm Sher Edling. The attorneys general argue that this creates a conflict of interest and violates the terms of an $875,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to the National Academy to develop the manual. 
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation told The Daily Wire that it donated $100,000 to the Collective Action Fund in 2017 and hasn&#8217;t provided any more funds to the group since then.
&#8220;We were not involved in either the development or review of the final guide,&#8221; the foundation said. &#8220;As you have likely seen on our website, the focus of our environmental work is not climate-driven but instead focused on conservation of landscapes and seascapes.&#8221;
The attorneys general also pointed to the ties between the chapter’s authors and reviewers and climate change advocacy. Jessica Wentz, one of the authors, is a fellow at Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. She wrote in an <a href="https://climate.law.columbia.edu/sites/climate.law.columbia.edu/files/content/Willow%20amicus%20brief%20-%20FILED.pdf">amicus brief</a> opposing the development of an oil drilling project in Alaska that “the world needs to phase out fossil fuels as rapidly as possible in order to avert potentially catastrophic levels of global warming and climate change.”
The Sabin Center has <a href="https://climate.law.columbia.edu/content/support-us">received support</a> from the Rockefeller Family Fund, which has, in turn, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/05/28/nx-s1-4977572/rockefellers-profited-on-fossil-fuels-these-days-theyre-taking-aim-at-the-industry">reportedly</a> funded “a wave of litigation” against the fossil fuel industry. 
Radley Horton, another co-author of the chapter in question, is a professor at Columbia University’s Climate School. Horton, who has <a href="https://www.eli.org/vibrant-environment-blog/educating-judges-climate-litigation-today-and-tomorrow">previously</a> trained judges on climate litigation, has <a href="https://therealnews.com/rhorton1127climate">said</a> that “it’s absolutely critical that there be a global effort to do everything we can to dramatically draw down emissions.”
Columbia University’s Climate School, which has a Center for Sustainable Development <a href="https://ccsi.columbia.edu/donate/">funded</a> by the Rockefeller Brothers, a group that has also donated to the Collective Action Fund. 
Those acknowledged in the chapter included Michael Burger, who is representing Honolulu in litigation against energy companies, and Michael Gerrard, who has advocated for “decarbonization” through climate-related lawsuits. Burger serves as counsel for Sher Edling, the climate activist firm. 
In the initial stages of planning for the fourth edition of the manual, it was <a href="https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/26231/chapter/1">suggested</a> by the National Academies that the new manual would be “accessible to judges who might be more skeptical of climate science’s methods and conclusions.” Scientists skeptical of climate change theories were listed off as “not credible.” 
The attorneys general also say that no reviewers of the manual represented “materially different viewpoints on climate science,” which they said was a violation of the National Science Foundation grant. 
In light of these issues, the Republican officials say that the Trump administration should cut funding for the National Academies, which in 2024 received $84 million in contracts or grants from the Department of Transportation, $7 million from the Department of Energy, and $33 million from the Department of War. 
They also called for Congress to initiate an investigation into the development of the manual.
Other states that signed on include Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
The National Science Foundation declined to comment.

Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump Holds Rally In Bozeman, Montana

Top Science Org’s Taxpayer Lifeline In Jeopardy Over Climate Activism

Chris Wright

Department of Energy

Department of Transportation

Department of War

Montana

Pete Hegseth

Science

Sean Duffy

The U.S. Supreme Court <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/02/supreme-court-agrees-to-hear-case-on-colorado-dispute-over-climate-change/">announced</a> Monday that it will take up a major climate change lawsuit targeting the energy industry — a case that could determine the future of similar lawsuits filed by left-wing states and municipalities across the country.
The Court agreed to review Suncor Energy Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County. They granted the hearing after the Colorado Supreme Court allowed Boulder County’s state-law claims to proceed, rejecting arguments from energy producers that the lawsuit is preempted by federal law. 
The decision comes amid a wave of nearly three dozen lawsuits brought by leftist jurisdictions seeking to hold oil and gas companies financially liable for alleged climate change damages.
Boulder County’s lawsuit accuses energy companies of knowingly contributing to climate change and claims the resulting environmental effects have caused millions of dollars in damage to local property and residents. Energy producers have countered that such claims attempt to regulate interstate and global emissions through state tort law, an approach they argue is incompatible with the Constitution and federal environmental statutes.
Legal experts say the Supreme Court’s intervention signals concern about allowing state courts to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/woke-lawfare-is-the-latest-frontier-for-the-lefts-antidemocratic-attacks-report-says">set</a> national energy and climate policy.
Christopher Mills, a constitutional attorney and former law clerk to Clarence Thomas, said the Court is correctly recognizing the national stakes involved. “The Court&#8217;s action shows that it rightly recognizes that this is a national issue in need of an immediate national resolution,” Mills <a href="https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_8d590b75-5787-4f63-8784-8a722960477b.html">said</a>. “Letting these copycat lawsuits fester in state courts across the country is a recipe for uncertainty, undermining American energy production and harming consumers.”
Todd Zywicki, a law professor at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, described the case as a test of whether local governments can effectively impose national policy through litigation. “For years, trial lawyers and left-wing municipalities have used state law as a backdoor to impose their preferred energy policies on the entire country — without a vote, without Congress, and without accountability,” Zywicki said, adding that the Constitution does not permit such an end run around federal authority.
Former Bush administration official John Shu emphasized that greenhouse gas emissions, by definition, do not respect state borders, placing them squarely within Congress’s regulatory authority under the Commerce Clause and the Clean Air Act.
Boulder County, for its part, argued that Supreme Court review is premature because the case has not reached a final judgment. The justices nevertheless agreed to hear the dispute and directed the parties to address whether the Court has jurisdiction to review the case at this stage. 
The incentive for Boulder to resist Supreme Court review right now is that State and local governments have generally had more success keeping these climate lawsuits alive in friendly state courts, where judges have been willing to treat them as traditional nuisance or consumer-protection cases. Once the Supreme Court weighs in, especially on the federal preemption question, a ruling against Boulder could wipe out not just this case but dozens of similar lawsuits nationwide in one stroke.
Oral arguments are expected in the fall, with a decision likely in 2026, and one that could determine whether state courts may continue serving as battlegrounds for national climate policy or whether such questions must remain with Congress.

Supreme Court Releases Opinions

How The Left-Wing Climate Crusade May Be Nearing Its Breaking Point

Supreme Court Takes Up Case To Determine If States Can Sue Energy Companies Over Climate Change

Colorado

SCOTUS

Supreme Court

A coalition of more than a dozen Republican attorneys general is demanding that a taxpayer-funded scientific organization scrub a politically biased climate change chapter from its official manual, according to a letter obtained by The Daily Wire. 
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen sent a <a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/MTAG/2026/02/19/file_attachments/3559530/2026-02-19%20AGs%27%20Ltr%20to%20NAS%20FINAL.pdf">letter</a> to the National Academy of Sciences President Marcia McNutt on Thursday demanding that she “take action” to remove a section on “climate science” from the “Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence: Fourth Edition.” Knudsen notes that the chapter was authored by two leftist activists who have advocated ending the use of fossil fuels. 
“This partisanship is especially troubling since taxpayer money provided by the federal government is the largest source—more than $200 million—of the National Academies’ budget,” the attorneys general wrote. “Taxpayer money should not be used for political causes, particularly by an entity that Congress created to provide independent and objective scientific reports.”
The letter was also sent to the incoming president of the National Academy of Sciences, Neil Shubin.
McNutt <a href="https://www.nationalacademies.org/index.php/governing-board">chairs</a> the governing board of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which co-produced the <a href="https://www.nationalacademies.org/publications/26919">manual</a> with the Federal Judicial Center as a handbook for federal judges. Earlier this month, the judicial center <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/reference-manual-on-scientific-evidence-climate-science-elena-kagan-federal-judges-f8e8604a?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=AWEtsqenuW1BIeQcsljVCaPocCtWHummF76Pu_cnQ0KlguiQAeIUNm7GcmAXGmI1sSg%3D&amp;gaa_ts=6997208c&amp;gaa_sig=wVTzH3siKR3DaS1OsCzap4UGuaUWOHjVYeBgLh2Y2IVt5AfO9iotN2ZjJgaB3QunvcBEg3kfNQRJ2dCjybLV0Q%3D%3D">removed</a> the climate chapter from its version of the book after more than two dozen Republican attorneys general warned it could improperly influence their decisions.  
“Like the Federal Judicial Center, the National Academies should immediately remove the climate science chapter from all available versions of the Fourth Edition to stop any continued claims of ‘political pamphleteering,&#8217;” they wrote. 
Knudsen told The Daily Wire he expected answers on the climate chapter.
&#8220;It is unacceptable that the National Academies continue to allow the climate science chapter to remain in circulation, especially when taxpayer dollars are used to support their work,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I expect a clear explanation for why it has not been withdrawn and how they plan to prevent biased ideologies in future editions.&#8221;
The chapter in question was co-authored in part by Jessica Wentz, a fellow at Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. In an <a href="https://climate.law.columbia.edu/sites/climate.law.columbia.edu/files/content/Willow%20amicus%20brief%20-%20FILED.pdf">amicus brief</a> opposing the development of an oil drilling project in Alaska, Wentz wrote that “the world needs to phase out fossil fuels as rapidly as possible in order to avert potentially catastrophic levels of global warming and climate change.”
The other co-author of the chapter is Radley Horton, a professor at Columbia University’s Climate School. Horton, who has <a href="https://www.eli.org/vibrant-environment-blog/educating-judges-climate-litigation-today-and-tomorrow">previously</a> trained judges on climate litigation, has <a href="https://therealnews.com/rhorton1127climate">said</a> that “it’s absolutely critical that there be a global effort to do everything we can to dramatically draw down emissions.”
Those acknowledged in the chapter included Michael Burger, who is representing Honolulu in litigation against energy companies, and Michael Gerrard, who has advocated for “decarbonization” through climate-related lawsuits. 
In 2020, Gerrard <a href="https://www.amacad.org/sites/default/files/publication/downloads/Fa20_Daedalus_06_Gerrard.pdf">wrote</a> that “litigation” was needed to advance climate action. 
“Until and unless elections bring to power a president, a Congress, and local officials who will take the necessary measures, litigation is needed to inhibit those who will try to move backwards, spur on those with good intentions, help implement the policies set by wise Congresses past, and continue the quest for redress for victims,” he wrote. 
Both Gerrard and Burger are part of Columbia’s climate change law center. 
The Republican attorneys general argued that the views of the authors and reviewers skewed the chapter in one direction. 
“Not surprisingly given the strong biases of its authors, reviewers, and sources, the climate science chapter presents as settled the very methodologies that plaintiffs rely on to impose liability on fossil-fuel defendants. The chapter presents this science as authoritative without acknowledging contrary views or disclosing the many conflicts of the authors, reviewers, and sources. Ethics experts have noted that these issues raise serious ethics concerns,” they wrote.  
The National Academy of Sciences was <a href="https://www.usaspending.gov/recipient/bf13c3e1-3402-03ba-44d3-2349f4a792b0-P/latest">allocated</a> $133 million in federal funding for fiscal year 2025 and has been awarded $13.9 million so far this fiscal year. It frequently receives grants from the Department of Transportation, the Pentagon, and the National Science Foundation.
Other states that signed onto the letter included Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
The effort was also backed by American Energy CEO Jason Isaac and Will Hild of Consumers’ Research. 
“Judicial education must explain scientific method, not normalize litigation strategies or launder contested theories as settled fact,” Isaac told The Daily Wire. “When taxpayer-funded institutions elevate one side of active lawsuits without disclosing conflicts, that undermines confidence in the courts and the rule of law.”
Hild said the academy should “pull this biased climate chapter and stop using taxpayer resources to push a radical political agenda.”

MixCollage-19-Feb-2026-09-13-AM-371

GOP AGs Accuse Taxpayer-Funded Science Body Of Pushing Leftist Climate Agenda

President Donald Trump commented on the record cold forecast to hit more than 35 states following a massive winter storm over the next few days, asking on Friday, &#8220;WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING???&#8221;
The massive storm is <a href="https://www.foxweather.com/weather-news/rare-potentially-historic-major-winter-storm-wallop-millions-from-south-east-coast">expected</a> to sweep through much of the Great Plains, Southeast, Midwest, and most of the Eastern part of the United States on Saturday and Sunday. Following the storm, a polar vortex will bring Arctic air to many states, according to the forecast.
&#8220;Record Cold Wave expected to hit 40 States. Rarely seen anything like it before,&#8221; Trump wrote on Truth Social. &#8220;Could the Environmental Insurrectionists please explain — WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING???&#8221;
Environmental activists argue that global warming is a continuing problem and point to recent <a href="https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-temperature">increases</a> in the average global surface temperature. Many climate alarmists will also point to major weather events, such as hurricanes and floods, as evidence that global warming is the single biggest threat facing the world.
Unusually cold weather has also been tied to climate change. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration <a href="https://cpo.noaa.gov/research-links-extreme-cold-weather-in-the-united-states-to-arctic-warming/#:~:text=Accelerated%20Arctic%20warming%2C%20known%20as,cold%20air%20can%20dip%20south.">cited</a> a 2021 study that found climate change increases Arctic polar vortices, which can bring record cold temperatures to the southern United States.
Trump has blasted the climate change and global warming narrative on numerous occasions. Last year, while speaking at the United Nations, Trump called the climate change narrative &#8220;the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.&#8221;
&#8220;You know, it used to be global cooling. If you look back years ago in the 1920s and the 1930s they said global cooling will kill the world. We have to do something,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7Y8_0zAzXc">said</a>. &#8220;Then, they said global warming will kill the world, but then it started getting cooler, so now they just call it climate change &#8230; because if it goes higher or lower, whatever the hell happens there&#8217;s climate change.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion,&#8221; he added.
The global average surface temperature has risen by about 2.32 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average. Worldwide temperature records began around 1850, making comparisons to worldwide temperatures before the mid-19th century nearly impossible.
At least 14 states have declared emergencies ahead of the weekend&#8217;s winter storm, fearing that large accumulations of ice could knock out power and heat for millions of people. States that have declared emergencies include Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

Donald Trump

‘Whatever Happened To Global Warming?’: Trump Trolls Climate Alarmists As U.S. Braces For Winter Storm

Global Warming

Winter storm

Former vice president and failed presidential hopeful Kamala Harris may have just proved she doesn’t believe her own rhetoric.
According to multiple reports, Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, recently purchased an $8.15 million home in Point Dume, an exclusive oceanside neighborhood in Malibu. The purchase is raising eyebrows after Harris spent years as a senator and vice president warning the public about climate change and coastline erosion.
The 4,000-square-foot property includes four bedrooms and six bathrooms situated on about three-quarters of an acre, per <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/01/13/real-estate/kamala-harris-buys-8m-mansion-in-malibus-celeb-packed-pt-dume/">the New York Post</a>. One real estate listing describes the home as “perched in a prime coastal location” with “breathtaking ocean views.” The house is located near Point Dume State Beach, a ritzy area that was identified as having a high risk for flooding and erosion.
A climate model previously endorsed by the Biden-Harris administration projected that Point Dume State Beach <a href="https://coast.noaa.gov/slr/#/layer/slr/1/-13224965.709481182/4029006.643276096/16.000/satellite/none/0.8/2050/interHigh/noAccretion/NOS_Minor">could suffer significant damage</a> from rising sea levels. That model was discontinued in June 2025 under the Trump administration, as noted by The Free Beacon. Also, a 2023 Interior Department study <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2022JF006936">concluded</a> that up to 75 percent of California’s beaches could be eroded by the year 2100.
The Point Dume area also suffered significant damage during the 2018 Woolsey Fire and some damage during the 2025 Palisades Fire.
Harris has been sounding the alarm on climate change for years. “Glaciers are melting. Sea levels are rising. Climate change is real and we must act before it&#8217;s too late. That’s why I support a Green New Deal,” she tweeted in 2019. The same year, Harris sponsored the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1730">Living Shorelines Act</a>, which called for $50 million annually in federal funding to help address rising sea levels.
While serving as vice president, Harris was named the administration’s lead spokeswoman for the Climate-Ready Coasts initiative, a multibillion-dollar federal program. In April 2023, she announced $562 million in grants to benefit communities “on the front lines of the climate crisis.”
&#8220;The climate crisis represents a profound threat &#8212; as we all know &#8212; to our nation and to the world,” she said during a <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2023/04/21/vice-president-kamala-harris-climate-change-florida-sargassum/6561682032174/#">speech</a> at the University of Miami, claiming that &#8220;we still have time to make a difference.&#8221;
The home reportedly purchased by Harris and Emhoff includes features that the Biden-Harris administration found problematic, including a gas stove and fireplace, plus a tankless water heater. While serving as vice president, Harris advocated for <a href="https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO05/20230718/116246/HHRG-118-GO05-Transcript-20230718.pdf">energy efficiency regulations</a> that would have restricted certain gas stoves and tankless water heater models.
Point Dume is one of Malibu’s most exclusive neighborhoods, known for its privacy and gated access to Little Dume Beach. The area has attracted celebrities and tech moguls including Sean Penn, Gerard Butler, and Julia Roberts, as the New York Post noted.

Kamala Harris

Kamala ‘Climate Change Crisis’ Harris Just Bought Beachfront Property In Malibu

Kamala 'Climate Change Crisis' Harris Just Bought Beachfront Property In Malibu

California

General

Politics

Real estate

The United States withdrew from dozens of left-leaning international organizations on Wednesday, including groups focused on climate and gender activism. 
President Donald Trump signed an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/01/withdrawing-the-united-states-from-international-organizations-conventions-and-treaties-that-are-contrary-to-the-interests-of-the-united-states/">executive order</a> on Wednesday officially pulling the United States out of 66 groups, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Compact. The withdrawals come after Trump, in February, directed a full review of the international organizations the United States was involved with. 
“These withdrawals keep a key promise President Trump made to Americans — we will stop subsidizing globalist bureaucrats who act against our interests,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio <a href="https://x.com/SecRubio/status/2009059107819671646">said</a>. “The Trump Administration will always put America and Americans first.”
The State Department said the organizations identified on the list were determined to be &#8220;wasteful, ineffective, and harmful&#8221; to American interests.
As a result of the executive order, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the United States would withdraw from the Green Climate Fund, a group established by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change that pushes climate activism in developing countries. 
“Our nation will no longer fund radical organizations like the GCF whose goals run contrary to the fact that affordable, reliable energy is fundamental to economic growth and poverty reduction,” Bessent <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0352">said</a>. 
The move to get out of the UN Climate groups was praised by critics of climate activism. 
&#8220;This action is a long overdue course correction that puts American sovereignty, economic strength, and energy security back first,” said American Energy Institute CEO Jason Isaac. “Withdrawing from international organizations that undermine U.S. interests frees our nation from unelected global bureaucracies that have used climate and ESG agendas to weaken American industry and raise costs for families.”
Other groups that the United States will no longer be involved in include the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, Global Forum on Migration and Development, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the International Solar Alliance, and many more. 
The review of international organizations is still ongoing, according to the White House. Under Trump, the United States has already left groups like the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Human Rights Council. 
“We will not continue expending resources, diplomatic capital, and the legitimizing weight of our participation in institutions that are irrelevant to or in conflict with our interests,” the State Department said. “We reject inertia and ideology in favor of prudence and purpose. We seek cooperation where it serves our people and will stand firm where it does not.”

President Trump Holds News Conference After US Captures Venezuelan President Maduro

Trump Pulls U.S. Out Of Dozens Of ‘Wasteful’ And ‘Radical’ International Organizations

Mass Exit: U.S. Leaves Dozens Of 'Wasteful' And 'Wasteful' International Organizations

Marco Rubio

State Department

Trump Administration

United Nations

Over a dozen Republican attorneys general warned a leftist climate group that it may be illegally attempting to eliminate fossil fuels from the American economy, according to a letter obtained by The Daily Wire. 
Led by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, 17 attorneys general sent a letter on Tuesday to the group As You Sow, raising questions about its climate activism. As You Sow is a nonprofit that <a href="https://www.asyousow.org/about-us">works</a> “to change corporations from the inside out” and move the economy away from fossil fuels through shareholder advocacy. 
“As You Sow, a little-known but influential member of the climate cartel, is attempting to eliminate the fossil-fuel industry, which will have a devastating impact on Montanans, especially in the winter when we need fossil fuels to heat our homes,” Knudsen told The Daily Wire. “Their efforts to push their green, woke agenda and box out the fossil-fuel industry appear to be a violation of antitrust and Montana consumer protection laws.”
As You Sow wants to “transition” the economy from being based on “fossil-fuel based energy to clean energy sources” and <a href="https://www.asyousow.org/about-us">wants</a> to “promote environmental and social corporate responsibility through shareholder advocacy.”
“As You Sow&#8217;s efforts to eliminate fossil fuels and transform the American economy are an assault on American families and businesses. It must stop,” the Republican officials wrote in their <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Ag-Letter-to-As-You-Sow.pdf">letter</a>. “As You Sow demands artificial transformations of entire markets and sectors, inevitably impacting the output and quality of the goods and services produced by those sectors. Moreover, As You Sow seeks change that uniformly aligns with its predetermined policy agenda.”
One of the As You Sow initiatives scrutinized by the Republican officials included its “Invest Your Values” <a href="https://www.asyousow.org/invest-your-values">tool</a>. This tool “analyzes the climate and social impact” of mutual funds and 401(k)s. 
The Invest Your Values tool <a href="https://investyourvalues.org/action-center/faqs">says</a> that some retirement funds should “exclude ESG risky companies” like fossil fuels companies and gun manufacturers while incorporating “a gender-lens investment lens.”
The letter was also signed by the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. 
“As Attorneys General, we have a duty to protect the citizens of our States from unlawful business practices, and we are prepared to enforce antitrust laws if necessary to stop any illegal conduct by As You Sow,” they said. 
The letter also raised questions about the relationship between As You Sow and As You Know, a company that <a href="https://asyouknow.com/our-story/">says</a> it harnesses “the power of shareholders to create lasting change and align investments with values.” As You Sow <a href="https://asyouknow.com/disclaimer/">is</a> the majority shareholder of As You Know and has an exclusive license to the ESG data gathered by As You Sow. 
“If companies do what As You Sow demands, they will score more favorably on As You Know’s benchmarks sold to them and to investors, which in turn influence investments and proxy voting,” the officials wrote in their letter. 
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The letter was supported by Will Hild, the executive director of the group Consumers’ Research. 
“For years, activist organization, As You Sow, has been pressuring companies and organizations to adopt a radical climate agenda that would drive up costs, destroy reliable energy, and make things more expensive for consumers,” Hild told The Daily Wire. “Instead of focusing on things like lower energy costs or strengthening the American economy, As You Sow’s only priority is to reshape the energy sector to meet senseless net-zero benchmarks.”

House Homeland Security Committee

Republican Officials Warn Climate Group To Stop Its ‘Assault’ On American Economy

Republican Officials Warn Climate Group To Stop Its 'Assault' On American Economy

Economy

President Donald Trump took aim at two major financial firms he said were pushing racial quotas and climate activism onto American companies in an executive order on Thursday. 
The executive order accused the proxy advisor firms of Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis of pushing leftist politics into the shareholder voting process. Both companies control over 90% of the market for proxy advising in the United States and advise powerful clients on how to vote on shareholder proposals on things ranging from climate policy to board composition. 
“These proxy advisors regularly use their substantial power to advance and prioritize radical politically-motivated agendas — like ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ and ‘environmental, social, and governance’ — even though investor returns should be the only priority,” Trump wrote in his <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/12/protecting-american-investors-from-foreign-owned-and-politically-motivated-proxy-advisors/">executive order</a>. “For example, these proxy advisors have supported shareholder proposals requiring American companies to conduct racial equity audits and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and one continues to provide guidance based on the racial or ethnic diversity of corporate boards.”
Glass Lewis has provided <a href="https://perma.cc/9JFW-HKEM">guidelines</a> recommending against boards with fewer than one member of “an underrepresented community.” It defines “underrepresented” as non-white people or sexual minorities. It will also generally recommend against a board “that fails to provide explicit disclosure concerning the board’s role in overseeing [climate change] issues.”
ISS has adopted similar <a href="https://perma.cc/N9TG-B7X9">guidelines</a>, noting that it will generally vote against companies with no women on the board, against boards with no racial or ethnic diversity, and vote against companies it says have not taken “minimum steps” to address “climate change” risks. 
“Their practices also raise significant concerns about conflicts of interest and the quality of their recommendations, among other concerns,” Trump wrote. “The United States must therefore increase oversight of and take action to restore public confidence in the proxy advisor industry, including by promoting accountability, transparency, and competition.”
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The executive order directed the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission to review all regulations related to proxy advisors and DEI mandates and directed the chair of the Federal Trade Commission to join state investigations into whether proxy advisors were violating unfair trade practices. It also calls for the attorney general and the secretary of labor to investigate the influence of proxy advising. 
Last month, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-florida-sues-major-financial-firms-over-dei-and-esg-push">filed a lawsuit</a> against ISS and Glass Lewis, accusing them of violating Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and state antitrust laws. Both firms <a href="https://www.wsj.com/finance/regulation/proxy-advisers-iss-and-glass-lewis-are-facing-antitrust-probes-22f0ff38?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=AWEtsqc1i9ZlMDA8f3aZJiR2l7fRxLMEzpcyYRtsfyc4o8X1sQlk3u_hSRE9vvDqiKE%3D&amp;gaa_ts=691f1ec8&amp;gaa_sig=xwAM0c1b63ROAM2TrL-DyCp8Kzu_81NHpUXhlHCKKdp1uc0l_r4sb2vXNv1yUslNLkGqWHiK6ScdxjQHeJ7Tgw%3D%3D">are currently</a> under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission over how they direct clients on social and climate issues. 
In August 2023, the House Judiciary Committee launched an <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/letters.pdf">investigation</a> into ISS and Glass Lewis, probing their partnerships with climate activist groups and their push to “decarbonize” corporations.

US-POLITICS-TRUMP

Trump Targets Two Financial Firms Over DEI And ESG Push

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

finance

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