Last week, energy journalist Robert Bryce analyzed the about-face by billionaire Bill Gates regarding climate catastrophism. In “A Tale of Two Bills,” written for Bryce’s eponymous, subscriber-supported Substack newsletter, he compared the newly rational take by Gates on climate and energy policy to the outrage against Gates shown by climate catastrophists such as Bill McKibben.
For those who missed the big Bill Gates news, Bryce summarized:
Last week, Gates published a 5,600-word essay, “A New Approach For the World’s Climate Strategy,” in which he declared that the “doomsday view of climate change” — Gates’ words, not mine — is “wrong.” He continued, saying that the doomsday outlook and claims that “cataclysmic climate change will decimate civilization” are misplaced because people will “be able to live and thrive in most places on Earth for the foreseeable future.”
Then, the kill shot: Gates said climate activists are putting too much focus “on near-term emissions goals” and that effort is “diverting resources from the most effective things we should be doing to improve life in a warming world.” Thus, Gates is saying that McKibben’s catastrophist narrative about climate change — the narrative McKibben has been peddling for decades — should be discarded, and that policymakers should adopt a humanist approach to energy and climate issues.
McKibben is the founder of anti-energy NGOs such as 350.org and Third Act. As Bryce recounted, McKibben was quick to return fire on Gates:
On Friday, McKibben wrote an indignant response to Gates’ essay in which he declared, “I feel quite strongly that we should pay less attention to billionaires” and that “It was wrong of him to write it because if his high-priced pr team didn’t anticipate the reaction, they should be fired.”
Anti-energy billionaires have been the critical allies that made the modern anti-energy climate movement into what it has become. Without billionaires, that movement ceases to exist in anything resembling its current size and influence. Cutting them off just doesn’t add up.
InfluenceWatch and the Capital Research Center have documented the donations and behavior of America’s anti-energy billionaires. In no particular order—and this list is far from complete—here are some examples of what is available:
Tom Steyer
InfluenceWatch profiles of Steyer, his private foundations and his advocacy nonprofits include the following: Tom Steyer, TomKat Charitable Trust, NextGen Climate Action, NextGen Education Fund, Steyer Network, and Advanced Energy Economy.
Capital Research Center profiles of Steyer include the following: Tom Steyer the Crusader, Creatures of the Green Lagoon: Tom Steyer and Tom Steyer, the New Paladin of the Left.
Fred Taylor
InfluenceWatch profiles: C. Frederick Taylor, the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund and the Sequoia Climate Foundation.
Profiles from the Capital Research Center: Fred Taylor’s world war against energy and The Sequoia Climate Foundation and America’s Secretive Climate Colonialist.
Michael Bloomberg
InfluenceWatch profiles: Michael Bloomberg and Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Profiles from the Capital Research Center: Investigating Bloomberg’s climate policy AGs and Bloomberg Philanthropies Tracks “Petrochemical Incidents” but Not Wind and Solar Accidents.
Fred Stanback
InfluenceWatch profiles: Fred Stanback and Foundation for the Carolinas.
Profiles from the Capital Research Center: Anti-Humanist Environmentalism and Amazon, GM, FedEx, and Household Names Helping Ban Gas Stoves.
Hansjorg Wyss
InfluenceWatch profiles: Hansjorg Wyss, the Wyss Foundation, Berger Action Fund, Wyss Campaign for Nature, and Amy Wyss.
Profiles from the Capital Research Center: The Hub Project: Hiding Ties to the Wyss Foundation.
Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott
InfluenceWatch profiles: Jeff Bezos, Bezos Earth Fund, Amazon and MacKenzie Scott.
Profiles from the Capital Research Center: Left-Wing Billionaire MacKenzie Scott and Amazon, GM, FedEx, and Household Names Helping Ban Gas Stoves.
Jeffrey Skoll
InfluenceWatch profiles: Jeffrey Skoll, Skoll Fund, Skoll Global Threats Fund, Skoll Foundation and Participant.
Profiles from the Capital Research Center: The Billionaire Dragging Hollywood Even Further Left, Hedge-Fund Millionaires Bring Eco-Hysteria to the Theater,
Heising-Simons Family
InfluenceWatch profiles: Mark Heising, Liz Simons, Heising-Simons Foundation, Heising-Simons Action Fund, Sea Change Foundation, James Simons, Nathaniel Simons, and Caitlin Heising.
Profiles from the Capital Research Center: Creatures of the Green Lagoon: San Francisco Mega-Foundations Bankrolling Eco-Activism.
Christopher Hohn
InfluenceWatch profiles: Christopher Hohn and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation.
Profiles from the Capital Research Center: Shareholder Activism: Woke Capitalism from the Inside and Activist Groups Pushing Government Climate Change Lawsuits.
Michael Polsky
InfluenceWatch profiles: Michael P. Polsky.
Profiles from the Capital Research Center: Invenergy: Billionaire Michael Polsky’s Wind Power Colossus and RIP IRA: The Inflation Reduction Act’s final anniversary.
John Doerr
InfluenceWatch profiles: Benificus Foundation, John Doerr and Ann Doerr.
Profiles from the Capital Research Center: Climate Alarmist Blockade Operation Hoovers Up Corporate Welfare for Insincere Solutions.
Reuben Munger
Profiles from the Capital Research Center: Climate Alarmist Blockade Operation Hoovers Up Corporate Welfare for Insincere Solutions.
Jeremy Grantham
InfluenceWatch profiles: Jeremy Grantham, Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust, Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment, Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment
Profiles from the Capital Research Center: Climate Alarmist Blockade Operation Hoovers Up Corporate Welfare for Insincere Solutions and Amazon, GM, FedEx, and Household Names Helping Ban Gas Stoves.
Dead Money
In addition to funding from live billionaires, six-to-eight figure donations flow to the anti-energy movement from foundations with multi-billion-dollar endowments that were capitalized by the earnings of long-since-deceased billionaires. Some of the InfluenceWatch profiles of the dead money, anti-energy donors include the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Gordon E. and Betty I. Moore Foundation, the Ford Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
