Duh. Behind Cracked Greenwash Paint, US Chamber $ And Lobbying All Fossil Fuels, All The Time
A new campaign targeting the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over its lobbying on climate change issues published a report today criticizing the pro-business lobbying and advocacy group for continuing to push for pro-fossil fuel policies despite recognizing that climate change is real. For years, the Chamber opposed action to slow climate change, prompting activists to dub the organization the “Chamber of Carbon.” But in 2019, the Chamber generated headlines in the environmental press by adding a section to its website titled “Climate Change: The Path Forward.” “Our climate is changing and humans are contributing to these changes,” the website says. “Inaction is simply not an option.”
The new report, authored by the Change the Chamber campaign, finds that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has since lobbied on both sides of the issue, reporting 57 separate lobbying efforts from 2019 to summer 2020 that relate to energy and the environment. The organization's efforts were successful on a dozen of those items — all of which, the report says, “were pro-fossil fuel outcomes.”
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It may be little surprise that the Chamber’s pro-fossil fuel advocacy has found a receptive audience in the Trump administration, but Change the Chamber, a young adult–led coalition, asserts that the business lobbying group's endorsement of pro-climate goals was relatively passive compared to its active advocacy on its pro-fossil fuel goals. It also suggests that the Chamber has sought to preserve the Republican majority in the Senate, pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into supporting Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Cory Gardner in Colorado, Thom Tillis in North Carolina, Joni Ernst in Iowa, and Roger Marshall in Kansas.
The new report also faults the Chamber for its legal advocacy on climate. “The Chamber was involved in 14 energy and environment lawsuits in 2020 alone, either as a plaintiff or as an amicus curiae [friend of the court],” the report, titled “The Chamber and Climate 2019-2020,” says. “The Chamber supported the interests of the fossil fuel industry in nine cases, those of the petrochemical industry in one, and industrial polluters in four.” “We are disappointed to report that the evidence overwhelmingly shows that the Chamber continues to promote fossil fuel interests over science-based climate action,” the report concludes. “Its recent pivot on climate is, so far, cosmetic.”
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https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/09/29/change-us-chamber-commerce-fossil-fuels-climate