The Trojan Horse:
How Energy Foundation China Smuggled Beijing’s Agenda Into America’s Climate Debate.
They told us they were saving the planet. They wrote op-eds about “frontline communities” from glass towers in San Francisco. They marched against U.S. mining in Nevada while their own checks were signed in Beijing. That “nonprofit”? Energy Foundation China (EFC). On the surface, it’s philanthropy. In reality, it’s a conduit for the Chinese Communist Party — a Trojan Horse smuggling Beijing’s agenda into America’s policies, campuses, and classrooms.
Founded in the 1990s with money from U.S. mega-donors like Hewlett, Packard, Bloomberg, and MacArthur, EFC presents itself as a “climate grantmaker.” But here’s the kicker: it’s headquartered in Beijing, openly partners with the Chinese government’s National Development and Reform Commission, and calls itself a “strategic partner” to CCP ministries. Translation? Western money flows in. Chinese influence flows out.
Senator Ted Cruz made a fellow Texan proud in a 2023 Senate hearing because Cruz didn’t sugarcoat it:
He warned that U.S. climate policy was being warped by foreign-funded NGOs happy to kneecap American mining while ignoring China’s dirty empire. 【U.S. Senate EPW Hearing, 2023】
I know you’re dying to know who got paid… because the EFC isn’t just sprinkling pocket change. It’s strategically investing in the places that shape America’s laws and its minds, here’s just a few:
- Harvard University – pumping out “just transition” studies that sound like they were faxed straight from Beijing. Those reports don’t just sit on shelves — they become talking points in Congress.
- UC Berkeley & UCLA – where students are taught that U.S. mineral independence is “colonialism.” This isn’t education. It’s indoctrination. The next generation of policymakers are being trained to hate the very idea of American strength.
- Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) – flush with EFC-linked funding, RMI doesn’t just write papers — it advises the White House. Think about that: Beijing’s favorite laundromat is echoing in Oval Office decisions.
- Harvard University – pumping out “just transition” studies that sound like they were faxed straight from Beijing. Those reports don’t just sit on shelves — they become talking points in Congress.
Here’s the dead giveaway: The ones flushed with Energy Foundation China’s cash, constantly rage against U.S. mining but have always and will always stay silent on Beijing’s atrocities.
- No outrage over child labor in Congo’s cobalt pits.
- No glossy reports on toxic rare earth sludge lakes in Inner Mongolia.
- No Berkeley sit-ins over deforestation in Indonesian nickel.
- No Harvard conferences on acid runoff from Chinese graphite mines.
- No outrage over child labor in Congo’s cobalt pits.
Because that’s not what the money was for.
Here’s The Playbook:
- Fund U.S. elites. Harvard, Berkeley, UCLA, UMD, RMI, NRDC, ICCT, ITDP.
- Shape the narrative. Flood classrooms, reports, and op-eds with buzzwords like “eco-racism” and “extractive capitalism.”
- Target America. Sue to block Nevada lithium and Arizona Copper, lobby Congress, stall permits.
- Protect Beijing. Say nothing about China’s mining abuses.
- Capture a generation. Brainwash students and professors into parroting the CCP-approved script.
This isn’t just policy sabotage. It’s a cultural capture. Every time a permit is stalled, Beijing wins. Every time a Berkeley student chants that American mining is “colonial,” Beijing laughs. Every time a White House advisor from RMI whispers “slow down” on U.S. minerals, Beijing tightens its chokehold. This is the genius of the Trojan Horse: it doesn’t just buy policies, it buys people. It doesn’t just influence lawmakers, it infiltrates the minds of our youth, our educators, our journalists, our advisors.
Still not convinced this Trojan Horse is real? Let’s talk names. Meet Sarah Ladislaw. She was inside the White House as Senior Director for Climate and Energy on the National Security Council — literally shaping national security strategy at the highest levels. But before that? She worked at the Rocky Mountain Institute — remember them? One of the biggest Energy Foundation China–linked groups. And then? In September 2024, she walked straight back to RMI. How is that even allowed? Who thought it was a good idea for someone to go from cashing checks at an NGO bankrolled by Beijing’s favorite green laundromat… to writing the rules in the West Wing… and then march right back into RMI with all of that insider intel? Maybe she was nudged out when Trump came back swinging. Maybe she saw the writing on the wall and bailed. Either way, the message is clear: this revolving door doesn’t blur the line between influence and policy — it erases it.
They call it philanthropy. We call it sabotage. The Energy Foundation China (EFC) isn’t a charity. It’s a Trojan Horse. A CCP-funded influence operation disguised in green that has captured America’s climate debate. So the next time you see a Harvard report, a Berkeley protest, or a White House talking point about the “dangers” of U.S. mining, remember:
They’re not just shaping policy. They’re shaping an entire generation.
And the only question that matters is: Who signed their check?
Sources / Receipts
- U.S. Senate EPW Committee Minority Report (2023): “The Influence of Chinese and Russian-Backed NGOs on U.S. Energy Policy” 👉 PDF
- Ted Cruz, Senate Hearing (2023): Senate EPW Committee on Foreign NGO Influence.
- Hoover Institution (2018): “China’s Influence & American NGOs” 👉 Hoover Report
- Energy Foundation China Annual Reports 👉 EFC Reports
- Rocky Mountain Institute: Advises U.S. federal energy transition policy 👉 RMI.org
