Tom Donohue’s Climate Hypocrisy
by Nolan George, February 9th, 2021
A still from Exploring LFL’s Youtube video
A hypocrite is a person who acts in contradiction to their stated beliefs. It is good practice for a leader of an organization to not be a hypocrite. However, just because someone is a leader, does not mean they cannot be a hypocrite. Take the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is the largest 501(c)(6) trade association in the United States. They have had the same CEO for over 20 years: Thomas J. Donohue. Over his career, Donohue has made statements and published writing with seemingly well-intentioned goals. But often his stated beliefs did not align with the Chamber’s actions.
In 2009, 12 years after Donohue took over as the Chamber’s CEO, he released a statement regarding climate change. In his statement, he claimed, “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce continues to support strong federal legislation and binding international agreements to reduce carbon emissions and address climate change.” This statement makes Donohue seem as if he is an environmental champion. Unfortunately, the organization he leads did not act in kind. Later that year, the EPA released a federal register document with proposed rules to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions. The Chamber responded by releasing a petition that attacked the EPA’s document and stood opposed to policy that would lower greenhouse gas emissions. In the petition, the Donohue-run Chamber even went as far as to say, “the Administrator has thus ignored analyses that show that a warming of even 3ºC in the next 100 years would, on balance, be beneficial to humans because the reduction of wintertime mortality/morbidity would be several times larger than the increase in summertime heat stress related mortality/morbidity.” (Emphasis added)
This statement is a jarring example of hypocrisy. In sum, Donohue claimed that the Chamber supported legislation to reduce carbon emissions. But when the EPA released a document to do just that, the Chamber released a petition trying to abolish the rules the EPA proposed. In other words, the organization headed by “environmental champion” Tom Donohue went against his word and displayed his true colors as a fossil-fuels advocate. Tragically for sustainable progress, sequences like the one described above did not stop in 2009.
The year is 2014. President Obama is trying to pass regulation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, Tom Donohue is leading the Chamber’s charge to stop sustainable policy. But one would never be able to guess as much by what Donohue says. In a very ironic paper about the rising cost of entitlement programs, Donohue states, “what’s more American than working to provide your children with a better life than you lived? The generational promise that the old would make sacrifices so the young can have greater opportunities is being threatened.” Donohue’s quote implicitly supports climate policy, since if individuals do not act, climate change will be the biggest problem for future generations. This seemingly aligns with his 2009 claim that the Chamber supports legislation to reduce carbon emissions. Unfortunately, the Chamber’s legal campaign to kill the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan was successful: in 2016, the Supreme Court put a stay on the plan.
Donohue’s statements would make one think that the Chamber would support all types of climate policy, as climate change is an issue that will affect future generations. But shortly after his 2014 statement, Donohue went against his words again by writing a blog on the Chamber’s website in support of coal. In his blog, Donohue stated, “coal must remain a vital part of our diverse energy mix.” The blog was published in 2015, but even back then, those familiar with the topic of climate change knew that coal production was not sustainable. These types of claims, in fact, are usually toted by individuals or vested interests that would profit from propelling the climate crisis. Donohue simply disregarded the obvious and widely-accepted logic that coal and increased carbon emissions were related, and he still took time to publish a blog about how coal is very important to U.S. energy. This may be true from the perspective of the coal industry, but the notion is vastly harmful for everyone else.
Donohue’s playbook has now become best-practice for modern climate deniers: mixing positive front-line statements with behind-the-scenes pro- fossil fuel lobbying. We at Change The Chamber are happy to see that Tom Donohue will be stepping down as the Chamber’s CEO this year. We hope that Suzanne Clark, his rumored successor, will support science-based climate policy. As America’s largest business lobbying group, it must stop aggressively lobbying against climate policy or it will likely lead to more than 3 °C global warming, which will lead to millions of refugees, mass extinction, and more conflict around the world.
A person who acts in contradiction to their stated beliefs is a hypocrite and should not be trusted. If a person or organization has a history of being hypocritical they should not be judged by their rhetoric but by their actions. Recently, the Chamber has begun releasing more blogs on climate related issues, such as this one from last month. However, due to their recent history obstructing climate policy, their new claims should not be trusted. Tom Donohue has made a career of strengthening the Chamber at the expense of his own merit in being truthful. We see you, Donohue, and the next generation bristles at your superficial greenwashed statements.