The “green” corporations funding anti-climate groups

HEATED reached out to five companies with strong public climate commitments to find out why they're still funding major climate policy obstructors.

We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: We won’t be able to meaningfully reduce climate pollution in the U.S. until we do something about trade associations.

Organized business groups aligned with the fossil fuel industry collectively spend hundreds of millions each year to stymie climate and environmental policy. From 2008 to 2018, trade groups allied with Big Oil and other major climate polluters outspent clean energy trade groups 27 to 1.

Two of the most climate obstructionist trade associations that work on behalf of major polluters are the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable. The Chamber is “the number one obstruction in the path of a just transition to clean energy,” according to a 2023 report on the group’s long history of anti-climate lobbying. The group was a major voice against President Joe Biden’s signature climate law; it opposed pollution limits for power plants and transportation; and it worked to dismantle climate transparency rules for public corporations. Currently, the group is suing Vermont to stop its game-changing climate law that would hold corporations accountable for damage they do to the planet. 

And though the Business Roundtable insists it supports climate policy, the group has lobbied against many major efforts to reduce pollution. The association is currently calling on Congress to ban environment- and climate- focused shareholder proposals, which often seek to force companies to set more ambitious climate targets, such as Chevron shareholders’ successful 2021 proposal to reduce Scope 3 emissions. In 2021, the Business Roundtable also “spent millions of dollars to stop the Biden administration’s Build Back Better agenda, which included significant efforts to reduce carbon emissions and promote clean energy,” the Guardian reported.

These group’s anti-climate lobbying activities are only possible because of the millions they receive in annual membership payments from corporate members. And according to a new report, many of those corporate members claim to be climate champions themselves.

The “green” corporations funding climate obstruction

The advocacy group ClimateVoice released a scorecard last week calling out 20 companies for publicly championing climate action while quietly obstructing climate policy through dues payments to The Chamber and Business Roundtable. 

These companies “are telling the public that they have these green reputations and they're buying renewable energy,” said Jennifer Allyn, director of campaigns and programs for ClimateVoice. “And yet they belong to these organizations that are actively lobbying against it.”

Many of these companies pay hundreds of thousands in annual dues to these groups, according to those companies’ own reporting. Trade associations do not disclose dues payments, so the amount provided may not be exhaustive, ClimateVoice explained in its methodology. 

HEATED reached out to five corporations from the list that we believe have the strongest public climate commitments to get a sense of what is driving their membership in these anti-climate groups. 

Here’s who we reached out to, why we reached out to them, and what they said.

Microsoft: $250k+ annually to anti-climate groups

With its ambitious goal to be carbon negative by 2030, Microsoft is widely considered a climate leader in the tech world. 

To support that goal, the company in 2023 hired a new chief sustainability officer: Melanie Nakagawa, who was President Joe Biden’s senior director for climate and energy at the National Security Council. In a blog post earlier this year, Nakagawa touted Microsoft’s progress toward its 2030 goal, but noted that “our work is far from over, and that the path ahead has gotten harder.”

But one of the things making that path harder is climate obstructionist trade associations, which Microsoft is a part of. The company contributes $276,325 annually to the Chamber of Commerce while employing 57 paid lobbyists from the fossil fuel industry, according to ClimateVoice’s report. 

Microsoft has previously expressed concerns about the Chamber’s anti-climate advocacy, but has not changed its membership status.

The tech giant only responded to HEATED’s questions with “Microsoft has nothing to share at this time.”

Apple: Mystery $$ to anti-climate groups

Apple, another climate tech darling, clearly understands the importance of trade organizations to climate progress: The company left the Chamber of Commerce in 2009 over the Chamber’s opposition to the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. 

Yet the corporation is still a member of the Business Roundtable. (ClimateVoice did not list an annual dues amount for the company). Apple also employs 87 lobbyists from the fossil fuel industry, according to ClimateVoice’s report. 

Apple boasts of its carbon neutral products and its goal to bring carbon emissions to net zero for both its supply chain and products by 2030. The company has, to its credit, not backtracked on some of its climate goals compared to other corporations.

So why is Apple still a member of the Business Roundtable? We’re not sure; Apple did not respond to HEATED’s media inquiries.

Uber: $50k+ annually to anti-climate groups

Uber is big into climate-friendly marketing. In 2025, the company touted itself as the most widely available platform for zero-emissions rides. In 2024, the company released features to allow consumers to choose more sustainable transportation options and hosted an event in London to drive home its sustainability message. 

Despite these efforts, Uber is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where it pays annual dues between $50,000 and $75,000, according to ClimateVoice’s report. The company also has 133 paid lobbyists from the fossil fuel industry, the report said.

The Uber communications team responded to HEATED by listing the groups Uber works with to “advocate for pro-EV policies in DC,” such as Zero Emission Transportation Association, EVNoire, and Electrification Coalition Business Council. “Uber is committed to electrification and we’ve invested hundreds of millions of dollars to help drivers go electric through incentives, partnerships, and product enhancements,” the company said.

“While we don’t agree with the Chamber’s position on every issue, we’ll continue prioritizing this work and collaborating across both the public and private sectors for policies that expedite electrification,” Uber added.

Johnson and Johnson: $750k+ annually to anti-climate groups

Johnson and Johnson’s stated climate goal is to reach net zero emissions by 2045. The company has sponsored Climate Week NYC for 7 years in a row; it belongs to the Green Power Partnership, the EPA program that encourages businesses to buy electricity generated from renewable resources; and is part of the National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative on Decarbonizing the U.S. Health Sector. 

But behind the scenes, Johnson and Johnson is funding groups that push climate delay. The corporation is also contributing anywhere from $250,000 to $500,000 to Business Roundtable and $500,000 to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce annually, while hiring 28 lobbyists from the fossil fuel industry, according to ClimateVoice’s report.

Johnson and Johnson did not respond to HEATED’s questions.

Pfizer: $700k+ annually to anti-climate groups

In a LinkedIn post last year, Pfizer Chief Sustainability Officer Caroline Roan said the company is “operating with integrity” toward its climate goals. She shared the company’s net zero standard of 2040 and stated that 65 percent of suppliers are setting or committing to setting emissions reduction targets and other climate-related goals. 

Pfizer has previously stated that it does not agree with the Chamber’s anti-climate advocacy. “We attempted to influence them but they did not change their [climate] position,” Pfizer said in 2023.

The company remains a member of both groups. Pfizer is paying annual dues of $98,000 to the Business Roundtable and $608,300 to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, according to ClimateVoice’s report. It also has 72 paid lobbyists from the fossil fuel industry.

The pharmaceutical company did not respond to HEATED’s inquiries.

You can find all 20 corporations funding anti-climate groups on ClimateVoice’s scorecard.

Other stories we’re following:

• Climate scientists weigh in on deadly Texas floods. "This kind of record-shattering rain (caused by slow-moving torrential thunderstorms) event is precisely that which is increasing the fastest in a warming climate," climate scientist Daniel Swain told Common Dreams. "So it's not a question of whether climate change played a role—it's only a question of how much."
  

• Meteorologists say the National Weather Service did its job in Texas. Even though DOGE cut hundreds of jobs at the NWS, experts told WIRED that the agency accurately predicted the state's weekend flood risk.
  

• U.N. expert calls for criminalizing climate disinformation. Elisa Morgera, the UN special rapporteur on human rights and climate change, said states “must ban fossil fuel ads and lobbying, criminalize greenwashing (misinformation and misrepresentation) by the fossil fuel industry, media and advertising firms, and enforce harsh penalties for attacks on climate advocates who are facing a rise in malicious lawsuits, online harassment and physical violence,” the Guardian reports.
  

• In last-minute move, California budget including sweeping environmental rollbacks. Calmatters reports: “The new law exempts nine types of projects from environmental reviews: child care centers, health clinics, food banks, farmworker housing, broadband, wildfire prevention, water infrastructure, public parks or trails and, notably, advanced manufacturing.” Gov. Gavin Newsom reportedly forced the rollbacks, telling legislators that he would not approve the budget without them.
  

• Climate activists vow to continue the fight after Trump signs “Big, Beautiful Bill.” “We know that in the fight for clean air and clean water and a healthy environment that we can’t afford to stop fighting,” David Shadburn, the legislative director at the League of Conservation Voters, told Inside Climate News. “So we’re going to keep doing that, and we know that the public is on our side.”

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