A pair of former United States senators received six-figure payments to support greenwashing campaigns, according to a report from HEATED.
What's happening?
In 2022, Heidi Heitkamp, a former senator of North Dakota, and Mary Landrieu, a former senator of Louisiana, began making public appearances representing the methane gas lobbying group Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future.
"It's clear we have an existential threat to the planet," Heitkamp said in a December 2022 commercial. "We should be doing everything that we can to help other countries do what we did, which is dramatically reduce our CO2 emissions by using natural gas."
Landrieu did a commercial early in 2022, stating that natural gas is "part of the solution to our climate goals." While she acknowledged that clean, renewable energy such as wind and solar were "big," "growing" parts of the solution, she said: "You need a partner for renewables. We cannot run the economy of the United States on wind power and solar alone."
For their ads, Heitkamp received more than $185,266, and Landrieu was paid more than $210,690, according to tax documents in HEATED's report.
Why is greenwashing concerning?
Through greenwashing, companies advertise activities, policies, or products as more environmentally friendly or less damaging than they actually are.
Data shows that methane — the main component in natural gas — is significantly more efficient than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere, and the amount of it in our atmosphere has more than doubled over the last 200 years, according to NASA.
"It's not every day we get to see the price tag of a former U.S. senator's advocacy," Charlie Spatz, a senior Energy and Policy Institute researcher, told HEATED. "It's sending a message to current senators that maybe you shouldn't be so harsh on the fossil fuel industry, if they're going to take care of you after you finish."
What can you do about greenwashing?
Greenwashing is a severe threat to our political system's ability to pass climate change legislation. The most significant impact you can have is with your vote and by supporting candidates who understand the climate crisis and are willing to take action.
Some change has already begun.
California's anti-greenwashing law for voluntary carbon offsets, one of the first in the U.S., went into effect at the beginning of the year. In 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission began requiring that 80% of U.S. investment funds' portfolios match what they advertise.
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