Some of America's most prominent environmentalist groups are secretly investing in oil and natural gas, even as they publicly push groups to divest from fossil fuels. That's the takeaway from an explosive new report from NBC.
These organizations aren't merely hypocritical -- they're actively harming the environment. By urging others to deprive energy firms of capital, environmentalists are ironically delaying the transition away from less environmentally friendly coal-fired power plants towards cleaner, natural-gas powered ones.
Green groups have long trumpeted their supposed divestment from fossil fuels.
In a public statement released in December 2015, the World Wildlife Fund praised investors who join "the global chorus saying enough is enough when it comes to dirty energy."
The American Museum of Natural History in New York City, which boasts a $617 million endowment, has "formally requested that all of its investment managers take environmental and climate change issues into account when reviewing their current investments."
The museum has said it eliminated direct investments in fossil fuel companies and reduced its overall fossil fuel investment from 4 percent to less than 2 percent of its endowment.
The Paradise Papers, a cache of more than 13 million leaked documents detailing shady offshore finance activity, tell a different story. The museum was selling snake oil to its donors.
According to the papers, the museum's 2 percent figure fails to account for its $5 million pledge to private equity firm Denham Capital's "Fund V," which plowed money into fracking ventures in Ohio and Pennsylvania, as well as fossil-fuel projects abroad.
Who else has a significant position in Denham V? You guessed it -- the World Wildlife Fund.
It's no mystery why these environmentalist groups continue to invest in oil and natural gas. The price of oil is currently near a three and a half year high, which has sent oil stocks skyrocketing. Analysts expect major gains in earnings per share.
Thanks to improved drilling techniques such as fracking, the United States is now the world's largest producer of petroleum and natural gas. Oil and natural gas companies support 10.3 million American jobs and contributing $1.3 trillion to the U.S. economy.
In short, there's no way to reap the full benefits of investing in the American economy without at least dabbling in energy stocks. Even environmentalist institutions whose green bona fides require them to deny it.
The movement to disinvest from oil and natural gas firms -- or at least pretend to -- has been spreading. Under activist pressure, institutions from Harvard University to the Field Museum in Chicago have pledged to rid themselves of these assets.
The irony is that the oil and natural gas industry itself has been responsible for a massive reduction in carbon emissions in recent decades. Now that fracking has boosted natural gas production and driven down prices, it's far cheaper to build and operate power plants that run on natural gas instead of coal.
Natural gas produces nearly 50 percent fewer carbon emissions than coal. Thanks to the natural gas boom, overall U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are at their lowest level in 25 years.
This production boom is enriching everyday Americans. By 2025, the average household will save $3,500 per year as a result of lower natural gas prices.
The Paradise Papers have put the hypocrisy of green activists on full display. Americans shouldn't let these two-faced organizations falsely malign clean, affordable energy sources.
Drew Johnson is a Senior Scholar at the Taxpayers Protection Alliance. This piece originally ran in the Washington Examiner.
