LCFS + Environmental Justice
Are EJ groups speaking for the poor or starting to push policy for the rich?
(Note: no paywall for this article, it’s free for everyone)
EJ Advisory Committee (EJAC)
Through the passage of AB 32, California’s Global Warming Solution Act of 2006, the Environmental Justice Advisory Committee (EJAC) was created to advise the Board in developing the Scoping Plan to ensure the communities most impacted [by pollution] see improvements. EJAC is a "state body" as defined under the Bagley-Keene Act, Government Code section 11121(a) and (c). The current EJAC members were selected in early 2021 through an application process. New members included individuals from:
Communities for a Better Environment (2 members)
Little Manila Rising
Central Valley Air Quality Coalition
Valley Improvement Projects
California Environmental Justice Alliance
Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment
Returning members included individuals from:
Physicians for Social Responsibility - Los Angeles
Central California Asthma Collaborative
LEAP Institute
Comite Civico del Valle
IRS Form 990
EJAC member organizations are nonprofits and must submit an annual information return with the IRS known as Form 990. According the the IRS, organizations also use the Form 990 to share information with the public about their programs. Additionally, most states rely on the Form 990 to perform charitable and other regulatory oversight and to satisfy state income tax filing requirements for organizations claiming exemption from state income tax. Information on Form 990, known as 990s, includes annual revenue, expenses, assets, investments, liabilities, board members, and grants disbursed to other nonprofits.
The majority of the analysis in the remaining sections of this article has been conducted by investigating each nonprofit 990s over the past decade.
EJAC Revenue & Asset Growth
Not all EJAC member organizations report a 990 directly, some have fiscal agents. For those that do report directly have seen their assets grow by $23 million since 2011, with $20 million coming over 2020-2021, right before new members joined for the 2022 Scoping Plan.
Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (SEE), a nonprofit fiscal agent which handles money for certain Valley Improvement Projects and the Central Valley Air Quality Coalition for a fee has seen a similar phenomena - a dramatic increase of annual revenue and assets to the tune of $70+ million since 2011, most of which is seen in 2020-2021. SEE also has $3.3 million of publicly traded securities. Yes, nonprofits are allowed to buy and hold stocks & bonds.
Environmental Health Coalition, the nonprofit fiscal agent for the California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA), has also seen a rise in assets and revenue since 2018 in the millions. (more on this nonprofit later)
Between SEE, EHC and the EJAC members mentioned above combined annual revenue and assets have grown by $93 million and $98 million, respectively, in a decade. Where did this money come from? During the past informal + formal LCFS rulemaking, the amount of comment letters received by CARB have increased dramatically vs prior rulemaking periods, especially from nonprofits. Lets start there.
The Rise of Nonprofits Part I: Environmental Advocacy Groups
Environmental advocacy groups such as Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), EarthJustice, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), Friends of the Earth, Food & Water Watch, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Sierra Club, Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability (LCJA) have donated money to EJAC members via grants. These groups have also submitted multiple individual or joint comment letters. This group holds nearly $1 billion of investments, most of which are publicly traded securities.
2021 Revenue: $858 million (+$487 mill since 2011)
2021 Investments: $912 million (+$651 mill since 2011)
2021 Other Assets: $674 million (+$372 mill since 2011)
Total asset growth since 2011 for this group has climbed over $1 billion and a serious pop in assets in 2020 similar to EJAC member organizations and their respective fiscal agents.
The Rise of Nonprofits Part II: Research
International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) and Union of Concerned Scientists have written multiple comment letters as well. Both of these organizations are nonprofits and have seen the similar phenomena of rapid growth of annual revenue and assets. Union of Concerned Scientists held $59 million worth of investments at the end of 2021 according to their Form 990.
2021 Revenue: $64 million (+$28 mill since 2011)
2021 Investments: $59 million (+$32 mill since 2011)
2021 Other Assets: $24 million (+$4 mill since 2011)
Total asset growth since 2011 for this group has climbed over $36 million. Again, another pop in 2020.
The Rise of Nonprofits Part III: Media
Traditional media coverage of LCFS has been essentially non-existent up until recently. Nonprofit journalism from Grist Magazine, Mother Jones, Civil Eats, and Canary Media, often quoting many Environmental Advocacy Groups such as EarthJustice, Food & Water Watch, Sierra Club and CarbonPlan (a research based nonprofit which received money from FTX).
2021 Revenue: $34 million (+$22 mill since 2011)
2021 Investments: $3 million (+$3 mill since 2011)
2021 Other Assets: $17 million (+$13 mill since 2011)
Total asset growth since 2011 for this group has climbed over $15 million, not as drastic of a pop as other nonprofit groups.
The Rise of Nonprofits Part IV: Institutes
World Resources Institute (WRI) has jumped into the LCFS game recently as they commented in the most recent CARB Board Meeting. WRI and Rocky Mountain have provided grants to International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT). Canary Media was launched by RMI in 2021 with help from AWS Power & Utilities, Black & Veatch, Hannon Armstrong, Schneider Electric and Uplight. WRI + RMI have also seen a dramatic rise in annual revenue and assets into the hundreds of millions in a decade. The two institutes combined have over $300 million of annual revenue and $545 million of assets.
2021 Revenue: $311 million (+$251 mill since 2011)
2021 Investments: $151 million (+$110 mill since 2011)
2021 Other Assets: $393 million (+$359 mill since 2011)
Total asset growth since 2011 for this group has climbed over $460 million. Again, a pop in 2020.
Where did all this money come from?
Collectively between EJAC, Environmental Advocacy Groups, Institutes, and Nonprofit Research + Media mentioned above dubbed as the ‘LCFS Nonprofit Collective’ pull in over $1.4 billion of revenue per year, have combined assets worth over $2.3 billion which include $1.1+ billion of investments (primarily publicly traded securities) and $1.2+ billion of other assets (primarily in cash, savings, short-term interest assets).
2021 Revenue: $1,375 million (+$882 mill since 2011)
2021 Investments: $1,133 million (+$803 mill since 2011)
2021 Other Assets: $1,209 million (+$840 mill since 2011)
The growth in graph form. A combined pop of $720 million in assets in 2020.
The Rise of Nonprofits Part V: Foundations & Funds
The growth of the ‘LCFS Nonprofit Collective’ is staggering as it has grown into a billion dollar industry receiving funding over the years into the hundreds of millions from Foundations primarily located in the SF Bay Area.
Benificus Foundation (San Carlos, CA)
Breakthrough Energy Foundation (Kirkland, WA)
Climate Imperative Foundation (San Francisco, CA)
ClimateWorks Foundation (San Francisco, CA)
Schmidt Family Foundation (Palo Alto, CA)
Silicon Valley Community Foundation (Mountain View, CA)
The Energy Foundation (San Francisco, CA)
Tides (San Francisco, CA)
US Energy Foundation (San Francisco, CA)
Waverley Street Foundation (Palo Alto, CA)
Windward Fund (Washington DC)
These foundations with over $37 billion assets are some of the primary donors to the ‘LCFS Nonprofit Collective’. Similar to the trend in asset growth seen amongst ‘LCFS Nonprofit Collective’, the assets at these foundations have grown in the past decade by over $26 billion.
An example of giving by a foundation via grants by Climate Imperative Foundation can be seen below for 2021. Grantmaking can be done to other foundations or directly to other nonprofits.
Climate Imperative Foundation
The Energy Foundation: $23 million
US Energy Foundation: $6.5 million
Sierra Club Foundation: $5.8 million
Tides Foundation: $2.3 million
ClimateWorks Foundation: $1.3 million
NRDC: $2.9 million
EDF: $1.2 million
Windward Fund: $400k
Environmental Health Coalition: $1.1 million
Rocky Mountain Institute: $1.1 million
Communities for a Better Environment: $300k
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability: $250k
Physicians for Social Responsibility - LA: $225k
International Council on Clean Transportation: $110k
Foundation/Fund Board Members, Donors, Staff
Current and former board members, donors, and staff at these foundations consist of the wealthiest people in America along with former top government officials at the state and federal levels. Board member overlap is common between these foundations and with some being part of ‘LCFS Nonprofit Collective’.
Breakthrough Energy Foundation
Bill Gates
Climate Imperative Foundation
Laurene Powell Jobs
John Doerr (Google Board member)
George Pavlov (Bayshore Global Management LLC, $30 Billion in Assets)
Anita Bekenstein (wife of Josh Bekenstein, Bain Capital)
Margo Oge (former EPA OTAQ Director)
Hal Harvey (founder of Energy Foundation, ClimateWorks Foundation)
ClimateWorks Foundation
John Podesta (former White House Chief of Staff)
Franklin “Lynn” Orr, Jr (Chair ) (Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability)
Larry Kramer (President, William + Flora Hewlett Foundation)
Kristian Parker (Vice-Chair, Oak Foundation)
Caio Koch-Weser (Chair, European Climate Foundation)
Antha Williams (Bloomberg Philanthropies)
Margo Oge (former EPA OTAQ Director)
Anthony Eggert (former CARB Senior Advisor, CEC Commissioner, CalEPA Deputy Secretary)
Energy Foundation
Gina McCarthy (former EPA Administrator)
Heather McTeer Toney (EDF, former EPA Regional Administrator)
Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)
Stanley Druckenmiller
Joshua Bekenstein (Bain Capital)
Thomas Kean (Chair of 9/11 Commission)
Kathryn Murdoch (wife of James Murdoch)
Heather McTeer Toney (former EPA Regional Administrator)
European Climate Foundation
Jonathan Pershing (Vice-Chair, William + Flora Hewlett Foundation)
Antha Williams (Bloomberg Philanthropies)
Douglas Griffiths (President of Oak Foundation)
Christie Ulman (President of Sequoia Climate Foundation)
International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT)
Margo Oge (former EPA OTAQ Director)
Anand Gopal (William + Flora Hewlett Foundation)
Anthony Eggert (former CARB Senior Advisor, CEC Commissioner, CalEPA Deputy Secretary)
Patty Monahan (Adviser and current CEC Commissioner)
Schmidt Family Foundation
Eric Schmidt (former CEO & Chairman of Google)
Sergey Brin Foundation
Sergey Brin (Co-founder of Google)
Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)
Mark Zuckerberg
Dustin Moskovitz (Co-Founder of Facebook)
Jack Dorsey (Co-founder of Twitter, Square)
Reed Hastings (Founder of Netflix)
Union of Concerned Scientists
Margo Oge (former EPA OTAQ Director)
Waverley Street Foundation
Laurene Powell Jobs
Lisa Jackson (former EPA Administrator)
Jared Blumenfeld (former head of CalEPA)
Windward Fund
Eric Kessler (Founder of Arabella Advisors - associated funds donated $1.2 billion in 2020 election cycle)
World Resources Institute
Stephen Ross (Owner of the Miami Dolphins)
David Blood (Al Gore business partner)
Pamela Matson (Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability)
Foundation/Fund Money: Setup Other Foundations in America + Europe
During the pandemic, foundations became more climate conscious and started to develop other foundations geared towards climate change such as Climate Imperative Foundation which received over $100 million from Waverley Street Foundation, SVCF, Breakthrough Energy, Benificus Foundation, Fidelity, and the Chicago Community Trust.
The European Climate Foundation, a nonprofit in Europe, has also received over $35 million from ClimateWorks Foundation along with money from William + Flora Hewlett Foundation and Climate Imperative Foundation. The European Climate Foundation has over 249 million euros in assets.
The European Climate Foundation funds work in Europe for ICCT, World Resources Institute, and the European Federation for Transport & Environment - which research appeared on slides for the joint EJAC/CARB Board meeting in September.
European Federation for Transport & Environment, better known as T&E, largest funders are Climate Imperative Foundation, European Climate Foundation, Breakthrough Energy, ClimateWorks Foundation, Hewlett Foundation.
Foundation/Fund Money: Rewiring America & Australia
The ‘Electrify Everything’ movement spread across the nation in 2021 after ‘MacArthur Genius’ Saul Griffith published his book laying out an action plan to electrify everything from your car to household appliances. Rewiring America, co-founded by Saul Griffith and based in San Francisco, received funding through Windward Fund as a project. The book and movement is known through Rewiring America in which the Windward Fund received over $50 million from Waverley Street Foundation, Tides, Sequoia Climate, David & Lucile Packard Foundation, William + Flora Hewlett Foundation, Sergey Brin Foundation.
Saul Griffith has since moved (back) to Australia, starting the ‘Electrify Everything’ movement in the Land Down Under.
Foundation/Fund Money: Public & Private Universities
Representatives from Stanford University and UC Davis have made presentations during LCFS Workshops this year. John Doerr, a Climate Imperative Foundation board member, donated $1.1 billion to Stanford to setup the Doerr School of Sustainability of which includes the Woods Institute.
UC Davis has also received over $2.7 million from ClimateWorks Foundation on top of donations from the Energy Foundation.
Both individuals have have called for a cap on lipid based biofuels in line with EJAC along with many from the ‘LCFS Nonprofit Collective’.
Foundation/Fund Money: CARB Board Member
Diane Takvorian, a CARB Board public member, is the Executive Director of the nonprofit Environmental Health Coalition (EHC). After being appointed by Governor Newsom in 2018, her nonprofit also saw a jump in revenue and assets. EHC has received millions in the aggregate from Climate Imperative Foundation, US Energy Foundation, Schmidt Family Foundation, SVCF, and NRDC. EHC then provides grants into the millions in the aggregate to EJAC members such as Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), CRPE, Physicians for Social Responsibility - LA, along with Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability (LCJA) and the California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA). EHC holds over $4.7 million in publicly traded securities, an increase of over $4 million since 2018 when Diane Takvorian became a CARB Board Member. It is unclear whether these investments are regulated by CARB.
2021 Revenue: $7.4 million (+$4.8 mill since 2011)
2021 Investments: $4.7 million (+$4.0 mill since 2011)
2021 Other Assets: $2.8 million (+$1.6 mill since 2011)
EJAC Organization: Board Members + Networks
EJAC boards and networks mirror what is seen within foundations - many overlapping board members within the ‘LCFS Nonprofit Collective’ along with many with deep pockets. Below is a summary with monetary values reflecting the latest total assets reported for each respective nonprofits’ 990.
Asian Pacific Environmental Network
Common Counsel Foundation: $96 million
San Francisco Foundation: $1.6 billion
California Pan-Ethnic Health Network: $10 million
Skyline Foundation: $899 million
Urban Habitat: $6 million
Californians for Pesticide Control
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation: $11 million
Center for Race, Poverty & the Environment: $5 million
Physicians for Social Responsibility - LA: $2.6 million
California Rural Legal Assistance
EarthJustice: $276 million
Center for Race, Poverty & the Environment (CRPE)
Natural Resources Defense Council: $602 million
Communities for a Better Environment
EarthJustice: $276 million
Center for Race, Poverty & the Environment: $5 million
California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA)
Asian Pacific Environmental Network: $12.6 million
Center for Race, Poverty & the Environment: $5 million
Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice: $548k
Communities for a Better Environment: $5.9 million
Environmental Health Coalition: $7.5 million
Leadership Counsel for Justice & Accountability: $11 million
Physicians for Social Responsibility - LA: $2.6 million
Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE): $7.5 million
Cancelling Mary Nichols
Mary Nichols, the former Chair of CARB, was considered to be President Biden’s top pick to head the EPA up until the Biden-Harris transition team received a letter from 70+ environmental justice groups spearheaded by the Environmental Justice Advisory Committee. An analysis of the Form 990s shows these groups have received at least $25 million in the aggregate from Climate Imperative Foundation, ClimateWorks Foundation, Schmidt Family Foundation, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Tides Foundation, United States Energy Foundation, and the Windward Fund.
Current CARB + CEQA Lawsuits
Environmental justice groups in California have gone on a lawsuit spree as of late.
Central California Environmental Justice Network vs CARB
Center for Biological Diversity + Communities for a Better Environment vs Marathon
Center for Biological Diversity + Communities for a Better Environment vs P66
Central California Environmental Justice Network fiscal agent is also Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (SEE), which has received $8+ million from NRDC, SVCF, Union of Concerned Scientists, EarthJustice, US Energy Foundation, Tides Foundation, and ClimateWorks Foundation.
Communities for a Better Environment, an EJAC member, along with Center for Biological Diversity have received $6+ million in the aggregate from Climate Imperative Foundation, ClimateWorks Foundation, Schmidt Family Foundation, US Energy Foundation, Windward Fund, and the Environmental Health Coalition.
A Failed Plan….Now Working
ClimateWorks Foundation was primarily set up by Hewlett Foundation and the Packard Foundation as both put in $500 million along with money from the Oak Foundation, Energy Foundation, and others. ClimateWorks took on a “Design to Win” approach with ambitions to raise another $12+ billion by 2030 and to decarbonize vehicle fuels.
“Donors and foundations can help fund research on the lifecycles of the various fuel blends, explain the tradeoffs to the public, translate findings for policymakers and develop pragmatic implementation schedules.”
The plan failed. Hal Harvey, now the President of Climate Imperative, laid out the struggles blaming the failure on bored millionaires/billionaires wanting control.
“They wanted to direct strategy. They wanted to sit in on strategy sessions. They wanted to help….Too much help is toxic. We had five teams of consultants hired by the funders to help us. Not hired by us. We had evaluators, a communications firm, somebody to help us facilitate meetings, McKinsey to do the business plan. That wasn’t our idea; the funders selected McKinsey. And you spend all your time feeding consultants—they demand a lot of your time. We had a full-time evaluation staff, and when you have that that’s what you do. You wake up in the morning and try to figure out what they need…We were told who to hire and who to fire; funders had CWF staff reporting directly to them. They inserted and removed key elements from our strategy. It was an endless adjustment. Ultimately the funders’ need for control cost CWF 14 of its top 15 staff…”
Since the failure of ClimateWorks 1.0, ClimateWorks and other foundations have successfully setup other climate change foundations, hired multiple former heads of CalEPA and EPA, raised money from the wealthiest Americans, spread money in the US and abroad into a wide array of nonprofits at different levels: law firms (NRDC, EDF, EarthJustice, Center for Biological Diversity, Animal Legal Defense Fund, Leadership Counsel for Justice & Accountability), institutes (World Resources Institute, Rocky Mountain Institute), media (Grist, Canary, Mother Jones), Research (International Council on Clean Transportation, Union of Concerned Scientists, Transport & Environment), along with public and private universities (UC system, Stanford, American University, UPenn), as originally planned in “Design to Win”.
Makes you wonder: as EJ groups take money from these foundations are they (EJ groups) really speaking for the poor and most impacted by pollution like they claim or are they speaking on behalf of their $2.3 billion in assets, deep pocketed board members, while pushing policy for the wealthiest and most politically connected Californians in the name of “Environmental Justice”?