(Attorney General’s Press Release, February 19, 2026)
BOISE, ID — Attorney General Raúl Labrador joined a 19-state coalition urging the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate over 150 American climate activist organizations suspected of violating federal law by taking nearly $2 billion from foreign entities to influence U.S. energy policy without registering as foreign agents.
“Foreign entities have poured nearly $2 billion in dark money into American nonprofit groups to fund climate litigation, lobbying, protests, and media campaigns designed to shut down oil and gas production in the United States,” said Attorney General Labrador. “Federal law requires anyone acting as an agent of a foreign entity to disclose that relationship. These groups haven’t. Americans deserve to know when the organizations pushing to eliminate fossil fuels, kill energy jobs, and drive up costs are being funded and directed by foreign interests. We’re asking the Department of Justice to investigate and enforce the law.”
The coalition sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg requesting an investigation into potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). FARA requires any organization or individual collecting money and operating in the interests of a foreign entity to register with the Department of Justice and disclose that relationship.
According to an October 2025 report from Americans for Public Trust, five foreign-based organizations have sent nearly $2 billion to over 150 U.S.-based climate groups over the past decade. The five foreign funders are Oak Foundation (Switzerland), Quadrature Climate Foundation (United Kingdom), Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (United Kingdom), KR Foundation (Denmark), and Laudes Foundation (Switzerland). At least one, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, maintains documented ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
The 150 American groups receiving this foreign money engage in climate litigation funding, federal and state lobbying campaigns, protest coordination, research to support policy advocacy, and media campaigns, all aimed at restricting or eliminating fossil fuel production in the United States. Among the largest recipients are ClimateWorks Foundation ($344 million), Energy Foundation China ($88 million), Grantham Foundation ($80 million), New Venture Fund ($67 million), and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors ($130 million).
The letter cites substantial evidence that these organizations have acted as unregistered agents of foreign principals, including grant agreements with ongoing reporting requirements, performance reviews, and monitoring provisions that demonstrate the foreign entities’ direction and control over the American groups’ activities.
Attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and West Virginia also joined the letter.
Read the letter here.
