How Big Tech Is Helping Elect Climate Deniers to Congress
Big tech companies have given climate deniers half a million dollars this election cycle
Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Facebook have all taken bold action to address climate change.
The four companies are some of the largest corporate buyers of solar and wind power globally. Recently, the tech giants have bet big on carbon-free nuclear energy. They are the biggest supporters of nascent climate technologies like enhanced geothermal and carbon removal.
But this year, all four companies have donated to Congressional candidates who openly deny that humans cause climate change. Many of these candidates have pledged to rollback some of America’s most important clean energy policies like the Inflation Reduction Act.
I analyzed each company’s political donations this election cycle. I found that Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Facebook have donated a combined $521,100 to 74 candidates who deny that humans are the leading cause of climate change1.
“Is [the climate] changing because we drive SUVs?”
Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Facebook have given a combined $35,000 to Representative Mike Johnson, the Republican Speaker of the House who has pledged to roll back much of the Inflation Reduction Act if his party takes control of both chambers of Congress this November.
Johnson explained his views on climate change to The Shreveport Times like this:
“The climate is changing, but the question is, is it being caused by natural cycles in the atmosphere over the span of the Earth’s history? Or is it changing because we drive SUVs? I don’t believe in the latter. I don’t think that’s the primary driver.”
By burning fossil fuels, SUVs do cause climate change. 99.9% of climate scientists agree that humans are the primary driver of climate change.
Big tech is getting involved in close races
Campaign contribution data also shows that big tech companies are spending money to elect climate deniers in some of the most consequential races in the country.
Oregon’s House District 5 is one of the country’s toss-up races that will determine who controls Congress. Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft have all donated to the campaign of incumbent Republican Lori Chavez-Deremer.
In 2022, Chavez-Deremer told Oregon Live, “The climate has been changing for thousands and thousands of years. We can’t predict when the climate’s going to change.”
This common myth has been widely debunked. Climate models have been remarkably accurate for decades. “How much warming we are having today is pretty much right on where models have predicted,” Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist who reviewed past climate models’ accuracy in 2019, told Science.
In a recent debate, Chavez-Deremer touted her climate record by highlighting the fact that she is a member of the Conservative Climate Caucus. All members of the Republican group in Congress voted against the Inflation Reduction Act and have repeatedly blocked federal climate policies.
When Chavez-Deremer joined the caucus, she listed her work pushing through a natural gas pipeline as an example of her climate advocacy. The pipeline was widely opposed by environmental groups and elected officials like U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and Washington Governor Jay Inslee due to its negative environmental impact.
The Democratic challenger in Oregon’s District 5, Janelle Bynum, has sponsored climate bills in Oregon’s state legislature and promised to act on climate if elected to Congress. None of the three tech companies that supported Chavez-Deremer have contributed to Bynum’s campaign.
Corporate PACs “shouldn’t exist”
One tech company that is notably missing from the list above is Apple, which has been the world’s most valuable company for much of this year.
Apple spends millions each year lobbying state and federal politicians—sometimes in opposition to policies like “right to repair” laws that would help the environment. But the company doesn’t spend any money on elections. Unlike virtually all Fortune 500 companies, Apple doesn’t have a corporate PAC.
“I refuse to have [a PAC] because it shouldn't exist,” Apple CEO, Tim Cook, said in 2019. “I think the people that should be able to donate are the people that can vote.”
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To do the analysis, I used campaign contribution data from OpenSecrets to find donations from each company’s corporate PAC. Then I cross referenced that with The Center for American Progress’ database of climate deniers in Congress.