Astroturf Alert: $2 Billion in Foreign Cash Behind America’s “Grassroots” Climate Movement

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For years, climate skeptics have been told they are nothing more than the paid mouthpieces of “Big Oil.” The accusation has been repeated so often that it has hardened into something resembling doctrine. Any challenge to prevailing climate narratives is brushed aside with a knowing smirk and the word “funded.” The implication is clear: dissent is artificial. Manufactured. Astroturf.

And yet, the latest development out of Montana suggests that the truly industrial-scale astroturf operation may be sitting on the other side of the political aisle.

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, joined by 18 other state attorneys general, has formally urged the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate more than 150 U.S.-based climate organizations for potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The request follows a report detailing nearly $2 billion in funding from five foreign climate foundations flowing into American activist networks over roughly the past decade.

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The foundations named include the Oak Foundation (Switzerland), the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (United Kingdom), the Quadrature Climate Foundation (United Kingdom), the KR Foundation (Denmark), and the Laudes Foundation (Switzerland). According to the report cited by the attorneys general, these entities have collectively poured extraordinary sums into U.S. groups engaged in litigation, regulatory advocacy, public relations campaigns, and organized pressure efforts aimed at reshaping American energy policy.

FARA exists for a reason. It requires individuals or entities acting “for or in the interest of” foreign principals in a political capacity to disclose that relationship. Transparency is not optional under the statute. If organizations are advancing policy goals aligned with foreign funders, the public has a right to know.

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