One of the principal grantmakers steering the wealth of the Rockefeller family holds major oil and gas industry investments despite the deep-pocketed foundation's work to promote the green energy agenda, financial disclosures show.
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund, a private foundation founded in 1940 by the descendants of billionaire oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, has come under fire in recent years from free market-allied groups for fueling climate litigation and supporting the Equation Campaign, an environmental group trying "to block new oil and gas infrastructure." But the nonprofit organization appears to be relying financially on the same companies it seeks to punish: The RBF is invested, to the tune of millions of dollars combined, in major fossil fuel companies operating in the United States and China.
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These holdings, which the New York-based group detailed on 2022 tax forms filed in November, underscore how left-wing activist hubs referring to climate change as an existential "crisis" are raking in cash thanks to the oil and gas industry. In 2014, the group said it would divest its investment portfolio from fossil fuels, according to documents. The private foundation's green energy initiatives include "purchasing 100% wind-generated electricity, using sustainable cleaning products and energy-star rated appliances, eliminating single-use service wares like plastic cups and coffee stirrers, and a recycling program," the organization's website states.
"Whether it’s private jets to go to elitist junkets or keeping their gas stove while trying to seize ours, hypocrisy continues to be a central tenet of the climate movement," spokesman Larry Behrens of Power the Future, an energy advocacy group, told the Washington Examiner. "Seeing some of the world's biggest oil companies on these sheets might be surprising to some, but for those who are familiar with the lies of the environmental Left, they are nothing new."
The RBF, which reported a staggering $1.65 billion in year-end assets in 2022, dished out various climate-related grants last year, including to entities such as the Partnership for Southern Equity, Trustees of Columbia University, and the Sierra Club Foundation. Over the years, the organization has wired cash to entities backing climate liability lawsuits through litigation, research, and activism, according to multiple reports.
A Washington Examiner review of the organization's investments, however, paints a different picture of its stated commitment not to associate with fossil fuels. In 2022, the RBF held corporate stocks or bonds in the Marathon Petroleum Corporation, Enbridge, Halliburton, Pembina Pipeline, ENN Energy Holdings, and Valero, worth roughly $2.2 million combined, according to tax forms.
The RBF also reported on these documents that it held a $111,000 bond in TransCanada Pipelines Limited, now known as TC Energy, the sole owner of the Keystone pipeline. In 2021, the Keystone pipeline came under the national spotlight when President Joe Biden revoked a key permit for its planned Keystone XL project, which would have boosted the U.S. GDP by $3.4 billion and created tens of thousands of jobs, according to estimates.
Moreover, the RBF reported corporate stock shares in TC Energy worth more than $46,000 and $2,400 in China Oilfield Services, a subsidiary of the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. China National Offshore Oil prides itself as the "largest producer of offshore crude oil and natural gas in China and one of the largest independent oil and gas exploration and production companies in the world," according to its website.
"The Rockefeller Brothers Fund is beyond parody," Tom Jones, president of the conservative watchdog group American Accountability Foundation, told the Washington Examiner. "It must be embarrassing to run a foundation dedicated to killing off oil and gas that is funded by profits from oil and gas."
Jones pointed to how the RBF also reported on 2022 tax forms that it held $126,566 in corporate stock of Zhengzhou Coal Mining Machinery Group, which the China Chamber of Commerce calls a "government company" on its website. Zhengzhou "enjoys a total market share of over 45% in China and its clients include the biggest names out of coal companies in China," according to the China Chamber of Commerce.
Another company that the RBF held corporate stock shares in was S-Oil Corporation, a South Korea-based petroleum company, tax forms show. In 2015, the single largest shareholder of S-Oil became the state-owned Saudi Aramco, the second-largest company in the world by revenue, according to Fortune.
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Saudi Aramco is the national oil company of Saudi Arabia.
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund did not return a request for comment.