A globalist cabal of shadowy left-wing lobbying groups has gained outsized influence over major American corporations, in part by using pensioners’ retirement dollars.
Earlier this summer, the House Judiciary Committee released an interim report detailing “evidence that a ‘climate cartel’ of left-wing environmental activists and major financial institutions has colluded to force American companies to ‘decarbonize’ and reach ‘net zero.’” The members of this cartel have accomplished this goal “by weaponizing ever-escalating pressure tactics that start with negotiations with corporate management, continue to filing and ‘flagging’ stockholder proxy resolutions, and culminate with taking out the boards of directors at ‘recalcitrant companies.’”
As the report points out, the actions of this “climate cartel” are a violation of antitrust laws, raising costs and limiting choices for American consumers. The cartel’s goals also threaten key sectors like fossil fuels, aviation, and agriculture by pressuring these industries to reduce their carbon output. Along with creating higher prices for American consumers, this forced decarbonization will make the U.S. more reliant on imports from abroad, primarily from Communist China.
The key members of the cartel as the House committee describes it are proxy advisory firms such as Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis, activist asset managers, and left-wing activist groups like the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative, Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, and Climate Action 100+.
The report specifically singles out Climate Action 100+ as a key player in organizing the climate cartel. Founded in 2017, the group claims to represent more than 700 investors managing combined assets worth close to $68 trillion.
Those investors include some of the most prominent public sector unions in the country, including the New York State Common Retirement Fund, the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) and the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), which played a major role in starting Climate Action 100+. CalPERS alone manages some $485 billion in assets – all employee retirement dollars – which it is now using to advance left-wing climate goals that are detrimental to both retirees’ portfolios and the American economy more broadly.
One striking demonstration of the hostile tactics employed by Climate Action 100+ cited in the report was the intense pressure exerted on ExxonMobil, which included demands for extreme cuts in emissions, a coordinated vote against the directors who resisted, and the installation of board members who were aligned with the climate cartel’s political agenda. According to the report, Climate Action 100+ managed to replace three ExxonMobil board members with climate activists, backed by large pension funds, including CalPERS.
ExxonMobil and fellow fossil fuels producer Chevron were also specifically targeted by Climate Action 100+ member Arjuna, a private capital management fund with $372 billion in assets. In 2021, Arjuna targeted Chevron with a shareholder proposal to turn it into a “public benefit corporation,” which would have subjugated it to the climate cartel’s dictates. As the report points out, Arjuna routinely commits what appear to be violations of corporate law by putting a liberal political agenda ahead of maximizing returns for its investors.
Moreover, the committee’s report concludes that the members of the climate cartel, including Climate Action 100+, “are colluding toward a common goal: the ‘decarbonization’ of American industry, which necessarily reduces output and increases prices for American consumers.” By forcing companies to cut production of goods and services that Americans rely on for daily life, the cartel has “declared war on the American way of life” by “raising prices and reducing output for American consumers.”
While the Biden-Harris administration has thus far refused to follow up on the alarming claims brought forth by the House Judiciary Committee, the public scrutiny does appear to be taking its toll on Climate Action 100+. Between the time that the committee launched its investigation in 2022 and published its interim report, BlackRock, State Street, and J.P. Morgan Asset Management – three of the world’s five largest asset managers – withdrew from the group, taking their $14 trillion in assets with them. Dozens of other companies have followed suit.
The Judiciary Committee has pledged to continue its investigation in the months and years ahead – an effort that could receive a big boost if former President Donald Trump wins back the White House this November. Trump’s vice presidential pick, Ohio Senator JD Vance, has repeatedly criticized corporate executives for their commitments to woke ideology, including so-called “decarbonization” and “net zero” goals. As vice president, Vance would be in a prime position to force the members of the climate cartel to face accountability.
Ben Solis is the pen name of an international affairs journalist, historian, and researcher.
