Analysis Finds Lobbyists for Fossil Fuel Firms Also Represent 300 Local Governments Seeking Climate Funds
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 25
Analysis Finds Lobbyists for Fossil Fuel Firms Also Represent 300 Local Governments Seeking Climate Funds
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 25
Summary
More than 300 local governments seeking climate-damage funding shared congressional lobbyists with fossil fuel firms in the first quarter of 2026, according to a new analysis by F Minus and Make Polluters Pay.
Another 568 local governments hired fossil fuel-linked lobbyists on other issues, the report found, raising conflict concerns because the same firms also work for clients such as ExxonMobil and the American Petroleum Institute.
Greenberg Traurig was cited as one example: it lobbied for API, ConocoPhillips and a California petroleum group while also representing Miami-Dade, Westchester County and Rochester on climate-related or adjacent matters.
The findings land as climate superfund laws spread beyond New York and Vermont, with 13 states considering similar bills this year and organizers reporting heavy industry lobbying helped derail some measures.
F Minus also launched a new database of congressional lobbyists with dual fossil fuel and local-government clients, while a Brown University report said public testimony often favored superfund bills even as registered lobbyists opposed them.
Are local governments unknowingly funding their own opposition by hiring lobbyists who also protect major fossil fuel companies from climate liability?