Campaign Contributions from Oil, Gas and Coal Companies

Submitted by larryf13 on Tue, 07/21/2015 - 12:07pm

Prompt bold action will be required by our next president to meet the internationally agreed goal of 2 degrees Celsius. Additionally, we need to keep a high percentage of fossil fuels underground. This is a huge task for the incoming president considering all of the other critical agenda items that will face the new president. Taking aggressive steps to control climate change becomes much harder considering oil, gas and coal companies contribute millions of dollars to the candidates. The oil, gas and coal companies certainly expect appreciation for their contributions not sanctions.

In our political system, if you dig deep and follow the money rule you can find who is assisting a candidates' nomination. In the past, tobacco companies were noted for large contributions to presidential campaigns. The majority of politicians steer away from taking money from these organizations today as they are known cause of major health issues. Today, even Pope Francis has been quoted as saying that we are pushing our civilization toward unprecedented destruction of the ecosystem. It seems to make sense that if a candidate is serious about climate change, they would think very carefully about taking money from fossil fuel companies so they would not have to repay any fossil favors.

The candidates have been asked by a major global climate change movement to sign a pledge that states they will neither solicit nor accept campaign contributions from any oil, gas, or coal company. As of this writing, only Martin O Malley, Bernie Sanders and Green candidate Jill Stein have signed the pledge.  Many of the candidates have taken a political position of total silence on the request.  It will be an interesting segment to watch.

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GENI is a co-founder of the MSCI Global Climate 100 Index (GC100). The GC100 includes 100 equally weighted companies that operate in three key areas, clean technology, renewable energy and future fuels. We believe this index will provide above average long term returns while being socially responsible with the constituents it includes.http://www.msci.com/resources/factsheets/index_fact_sheet/msci-global-climate-index.pdf

Larry Fontaine