How Vivek Ramaswamy makes money from climate denial

At Wednesday's debate, Ramaswamy said he was the "only candidate who's not bought and paid for." That couldn't be further from the truth.

Vivek Ramaswamy calls climate change a "religion.” He also co-founded a fossil fuel investment fund focused on pushing for more drilling. Source: Maddie McGarvey/Washington Post via Getty Images

At the first Republican presidential debate last week, most of the candidates struggled to explain their position on human-caused climate change.

But 38-year-old Vivek Ramaswamy came prepared.

“I'm the only candidate on stage who isn't bought and paid for, so I can say this: The climate change agenda is a hoax,” he said.

“The anti-carbon agenda is the wet blanket on the economy,” he added. “And so the reality is, more people are dying of bad climate change policies than they are of actual climate change.”

These claims were, of course, baseless. As both The New York Times and Washington Post pointed out in fact checks, there is no data showing that people are dying from the transition to a renewable energy economy. (Asked by The New York Times to provide evidence for the claim, Ramaswamy sent a 2022 opinion article by prominent climate denier John Stossel.)

I’m not here today, though, to debunk Ramaswamy’s climate rhetoric. It is essentially just repackaged fossil fuel industry boosterism, which is a more sophisticated form of climate denial. 

I’m here to tell you why Ramaswamy is promoting fossil fuel boosterism. He’s hoping it will make him, and his billionaire friends, even more rich.

Ramaswamy’s push to end climate-conscious investing

Over the years, Ramaswamy has been known for many things: founding a biotech company called Roivant Sciences; becoming a near-billionaire; and performing libertarian-themed rap songs under the stage name "Da Vek."

But recently, he’s become best known as “the right’s most prominent crusader against climate-conscious investing.” His latest mission: ensure Republican-led states pull their money from big investment firms like BlackRock that are trying (or at least claiming) to make more climate-friendly decisions, and reallocate that money to his firm, Strive Asset Management, which explicitly promises not to invest with the climate in mind.

The fossil fuel industry has wanted someone to do this for many years. As we’ve previously reported, the anti-ESG movement—which pushes corporations to reject environmentally and socially conscious investing principles—was originally created by fossil fuel industry operatives to try to delay the renewable energy transition.

The movement fizzled in the early 2000s. But it was revived in 2022, when Ramaswamy launched Strive with the help of billionaire investors Peter Thiel and Bill Ackman, as well as the same fossil fuel industry-connected group that spearheaded the original movement.

Ramaswamy has reported more than $50 million in holdings in Strive, which to date, is mostly a fund to promote fossil fuel development. As Semafor reports, the largest fund at Strive—called DRLL—“ invests in U.S. energy companies and urges them to keep drilling for oil so long as it’s profitable.”

A chart shows the portion of fossil fuel assets in Strive’s ETFs. Source: Semafor

Though Semafor describes DRLL’s holdings as “energy,” the vast majority are fossil fuels. According to Strive’s own description, 93.6 percent of DRLL’s investments are in oil, gas, and pipeline companies. These companies rank among the world’s top climate polluters.

Strive’s DRLL fund is composed mostly of oil, gas, and pipelines. Source: Strive Asset Management

People would not invest in these companies—much less push them to drill as much oil as humanly profitable—if they accepted the science of climate change. They would not invest if they accepted that fossil fuels are causing catastrophic planetary damage. They would not invest if they accepted that this damage cannot be stemmed without rapidly transitioning away from fossil fuels.

That’s why Ramaswamy pushes rejection of the “climate change agenda.” He says it’s because he’s not “bought and paid for.”

The reality is the complete opposite.

As of Tuesday, Vivek Ramaswamy’s post-debate tweet claiming he’s not “bought and paid for” has more than 1.5 million views. Source: Twitter

Denying the need for fossil fuel reduction is climate denial

Ramaswamy’s style of fossil fuel boosterism, as described by the New Republic, is on the rise in Republican circles. So as we continue to hear it, it’s important to remember two things:

1. If someone says climate change does not pose a massive threat to human life, economies, and ecosystems, then they are denying the science of climate change.

2. If someone says climate change can be effectively managed without reducing the use of fossil fuels, then they are denying the science of climate change.

Ramaswamy didn’t flat-out say that climate change is a hoax. But in the debate and in follow-up interviews, Ramaswamy made clear he doesn’t believe climate change poses a massive threat to human life, and doesn’t believe that transitioning away from fossil fuels will help.

This is an opinion he is allowed to have. But it is a rejection of the vast majority of climate science. It should be characterized as such.

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Related reading: Averting dangerous warming requires “a substantial reduction in overall fossil fuel use," world’s leading climate scientists say.

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