Questioning fossil fuel companies is part of our mission, but each year the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) gets a chance to aim some choice words directly at corporate leaders during their annual shareholders’ meetings. At the end of May, I asked Chevron directors about a fake grassroots—or “astroturf”—group the company funded to the tune of $5.8 million last year to pump out disinformation about California’s energy policies. More and more shareholders have been pushing companies to stop funding these astroturf groups because of their role in the distraction, deception, and delay around climate change.
According to its most recent disclosure of trade association memberships, Chevron directed millions of dollars to a group named Californians for Energy Independence that characterizes itself as a coalition of 200,000 Californians but is actually funded by…
Read the full article originally published at blog.ucsusa.org.
