On Extinction Rebellion we think Gail Bradbrook is a name that needs further investigation, she is a co-founder of Extinction Rebellion and worked as a government lobbyist for 14 years.
But yes, the model JSO seems to follow is that CEF publishes articles about how their funding of the activism produces a better ROI than traditional lobbying, of course it's swathed in 'emancipatory' fight the power language but ultimately it's capitalist profit seeking. Some of it might be legitimately motivated by capitalists that believe in capitalism seeking ways to turn capitalism into a solution to the climate crisis, to create a profit method of fighting it. But I am extremely cynical of whether their motives are sincere.
I've considered writing this up a few times but can't connect all the dots the way I want to. There are interesting examples of this model appearing elsewhere. For example Peter Buffett funds 'radical' groups in the US.
This "Why Activism" page for CEF explains several things about the model pretty explicitly: https://www.climateemergencyfund.org/why-activism
There's also Berkshire Hathaway who has been heavily investing into Occidental Petroleum company, which itself is also focusing heavily on 'net zero oil' and carbon capture and storage technology
The US and the world have immense storage capacity for CCS that could last thousands of years. But CCS costs are high and will require a carbon-pricing mechanism to promote their application.
If fossil energy companies continue to over-produce oil, gas, and coal (vis-à-vis the production gap), an enormous new industry for CCS will have to be created — at least as large as the present oil and gas industry and, by some estimates, twice as large.
Fossil fuel production and a new CCS industry together will be too cumbersome and expensive for fossil energy firms to manage when compared to renewable energies.
...
the US Department of Energy have recently been tasked with setting up joint initiatives with oil and gas industry to reduce GHG emissions, and this may make companies like Occidental more profitable by lowering their direct expenses or indirectly providing tax breaks.
I think understanding the philanthrocapitalism model is essential to understanding what the new activist groups are and what they're actually doing. Understanding how Bill Gates gave so much of his money away years ago and somehow made significantly more of it back in dividends. This Peter Buffett video talks about a similar dynamic, where Peter Buffets foundation is funding radical groups in America, but at the same time using these groups as a trojan horse for gentrification.
Most of this was all done for the sake of trying to figure out what the fuck these people are doing and then try to push more awareness of it out through Greenandpleasant, but because we can't connect the dots up in a way that makes this a neat package it's sort of sitting around half-finished work. I do not mind if someone else picks up any of this information and uses it elsewhere, everything that educates people on what this actually is will probably be a good thing. Right now most people are in a "so do we support this orrrrrr?????" mindset of indecision on the topic and I think that mostly stems from really not understanding what these groups are doing. The issue is communicating it in a neat way while not looking like kooks.
I honestly think JT / Second Thought probably has the best presentation and style to handle this, a video can probably handle it better than a written article.
One of the major things you absolutely have to explain to people within this topic is also why this is not a good method, liberals will say "oh that's a clever way to get people to do good", and they already think bill gates is doing good. That needs to resolved within this otherwise they will go away with the idea that it's good. I have been hung up on how to do this for a long time, it needs someone much more eloquent than me to go at it.
That's really interesting. I'll give the links a proper read a bit later when I'm not on the go, but I definitely think it's worth being explained and more widely understood. Especially given that ESG and activist investing isn't just so prominent but increasingly contentious at the moment, not just with investors but the right seems to have picked up ESG as their recent 'globalist plot' buzzword.
On Extinction Rebellion we think Gail Bradbrook is a name that needs further investigation, she is a co-founder of Extinction Rebellion and worked as a government lobbyist for 14 years.
But yes, the model JSO seems to follow is that CEF publishes articles about how their funding of the activism produces a better ROI than traditional lobbying, of course it's swathed in 'emancipatory' fight the power language but ultimately it's capitalist profit seeking. Some of it might be legitimately motivated by capitalists that believe in capitalism seeking ways to turn capitalism into a solution to the climate crisis, to create a profit method of fighting it. But I am extremely cynical of whether their motives are sincere.
Not altogether dissimilar from the way Chris Hohn funds XR while making a killing through his 'activist' hedge fund TCI then.
Are you working on an article or something similar then?
I've considered writing this up a few times but can't connect all the dots the way I want to. There are interesting examples of this model appearing elsewhere. For example Peter Buffett funds 'radical' groups in the US.
This "Why Activism" page for CEF explains several things about the model pretty explicitly: https://www.climateemergencyfund.org/why-activism
There's also Berkshire Hathaway who has been heavily investing into Occidental Petroleum company, which itself is also focusing heavily on 'net zero oil' and carbon capture and storage technology
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ianpalmer/2022/07/25/warren-buffets-big-money-bet-on-occidental-petroleum-company/?sh=373ec86743ab
...
I think understanding the philanthrocapitalism model is essential to understanding what the new activist groups are and what they're actually doing. Understanding how Bill Gates gave so much of his money away years ago and somehow made significantly more of it back in dividends. This Peter Buffett video talks about a similar dynamic, where Peter Buffets foundation is funding radical groups in America, but at the same time using these groups as a trojan horse for gentrification.
Most of this was all done for the sake of trying to figure out what the fuck these people are doing and then try to push more awareness of it out through Greenandpleasant, but because we can't connect the dots up in a way that makes this a neat package it's sort of sitting around half-finished work. I do not mind if someone else picks up any of this information and uses it elsewhere, everything that educates people on what this actually is will probably be a good thing. Right now most people are in a "so do we support this orrrrrr?????" mindset of indecision on the topic and I think that mostly stems from really not understanding what these groups are doing. The issue is communicating it in a neat way while not looking like kooks.
I honestly think JT / Second Thought probably has the best presentation and style to handle this, a video can probably handle it better than a written article.
One of the major things you absolutely have to explain to people within this topic is also why this is not a good method, liberals will say "oh that's a clever way to get people to do good", and they already think bill gates is doing good. That needs to resolved within this otherwise they will go away with the idea that it's good. I have been hung up on how to do this for a long time, it needs someone much more eloquent than me to go at it.
That's really interesting. I'll give the links a proper read a bit later when I'm not on the go, but I definitely think it's worth being explained and more widely understood. Especially given that ESG and activist investing isn't just so prominent but increasingly contentious at the moment, not just with investors but the right seems to have picked up ESG as their recent 'globalist plot' buzzword.