The oil-funded Heritage Foundation has been one of the most outspoken opponents of responsible investing principles. They have also promoted an extreme anti-climate agenda that promotes fossil fuels while dismantling government agencies responsible for protecting the environment.
Extreme Leaders. In 2021, they hired failed Trump nominee Andrew Puzder as a Senior Visiting Fellow focusing “on the consequences of environmental, social and governance (ESG) activism.” Puzder, who called ESG investing “more insidious than communism or the Nazi’s,” has since helped craft two anti-responsible investing model bills for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Heritage Foundation President Kevin D. Roberts has said on record that he sees the Foundation’s role as “institutionalizing Trumpism.”
Coordinated Action. The Heritage Foundation is also leading a coalition of right-wing groups called Project 2025 that is aiming to prepare policies for the next Republican presidential administration. In July 2023, Politico reported that Project 2025’s plans “could decimate the federal government’s climate work, stymie the transition to clean energy and shift agencies toward nurturing the fossil fuel industry rather than regulating it.” The New York Times reported that the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 plan would dismantle “almost every clean energy program in the federal government” while “boosting the production of fossil fuels.” The Project 2025 manifesto also calls for the Department of Labor to “remove ESG considerations” from employer-managed retirement plans.
Misleading Campaigns. In 2023, Heritage Foundation in partnership with Heritage Action, the organization’s 501(c)(4) arm, also launched a digital campaign against responsible investing called “ESG Hurts.” Beyond producing commercials and press releases, the campaign provides a model for state legislation to ban ESG from state contracts, nodding to Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas as ideal archetypes.
Polluter Funding. The Heritage Foundation’s opposition to responsible investing and promotion of fossil fuels is unsurprising given that they have taken over $8 million from oil and gas interests. This includes $7.25 million from the foundations of Charles Koch, the owner of the dirty energy conglomerate Koch Industries ($6.25 million from 1986-2017 and $1.04 million from 2018-2021 according to Charles Koch Foundation and Charles Koch Institute IRS form 990s). Oil company ExxonMobil has also contributed $830,000 to the Heritage Foundation since 1998.
Fact: The majority of Americans say that the Government should do more to combat climate change, and 2/3ds of Americans believe that corporations aren’t doing enough to reduce climate change effects.