As Americans vote in an election that will redefine national climate priorities, the biggest U.S. companies—even those with ambitious green agendas—are throwing their support behind lawmakers who routinely stall climate legislation.
Bloomberg Green examined political donations by businesses in the S&P 100 and the U.S.-based members of the Climate Action 100, a group representing the world’s largest corporate contributors to climate change. For every dollar these corporations gave to one of the most climate-friendly members of Congress during this election cycle, they gave $1.84—nearly twice as much—to an ardent obstructionist of proactive climate policy.
This pattern of giving more to candidates who do less for the climate comes as polls show voters are more concerned about climate change than ever before, and it stands in contrast to the bold claims many of these companies make about themselves and their products.
In total, these companies’ affiliated political action committees have given about $68 million to incumbent House and Senate members’ campaign committees and leadership PACs since the 2018 midterms. About one-third of that went to candidates with a lifetime score of 5% or lower from the League of Conservation Voters, which tracks law-makers’ voting records on key climate-related bills. Nearly half went to candidates with scores of 10% or lower, while less than a third went to a similar number of incumbents with LCV scores of 90% or higher.
A score of 10% or lower means that a member has voted in favor of climate-related causes at most 10% of the time over the course of their congressional career—a category that includes 210 people, or 40% of the members of Congress. Of these, 206 are active candidates and have received campaign contributions from the corporate PACs analyzed. A slightly smaller number, 198 members, had scores above 90%.
All but 19 companies’ political arms have directed a disproportionate share of their campaign donations toward incumbents with dismal climate records. Alphabet Inc. was the biggest spender in the tech sector; in September its Google division pledged to power itself with 100% carbon-free energy by 2030, yet it gave about 9% more of its political contributions to candidates with LCV scores below 10% than it did to those with scores 90% or higher. Microsoft Corp. pledged in January to be carbon negative by 2030, but it gave about 14% more of its campaign donations to those with low LCV scores. NextEra Energy Inc., the world’s biggest provider of solar and wind energy, spent almost 17% more of its PAC funds on obstructionists.