News & Updates

RFF Grantee, Center for Climate Integrity, Featured in The New York Times for its Plastics Report

Last month, California filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against ExxonMobil, the world’s largest producer of single-use plastic polymers, for plastic recycling fraud. ExxonMobil orchestrated a 50-year deceptive campaign that falsely promoted recycling as a solution to plastic waste, driving increased consumption of single-use plastics and fueling the global plastic pollution crisis. The...

Damning Report on the Fraud of Plastic Recycling

RFF grantee, the Center for Climate Integrity, released an explosive report revealing that Big Oil and the plastics industry have been deceiving the public about the recyclability of plastics for over 50 years and are responsible for the current plastic pollution crisis. From the outset, petrochemical companies knew that recycling single-use plastic was both physically and financially...

The Latest in Climate Accountability Cases

Last month, RFF-grantee, Earthrights, the organization representing the City and County of Boulder, Colorado in its climate lawsuit against ExxonMobil and two Suncor entities, successfully defeated the defendants’ motions to dismiss the lawsuit. This important ruling by the Boulder Court allows the lawsuit to proceed toward discovery and trial. You can find the full ruling ...

Bakeyah Nelson Pens Opinion Piece in Response to Houston Chronicle

RFF Senior Advisor Bakeyah Nelson refuted criticism of “virtue signaling” by organizations that decline investments from fossil fuel companies, writing in the Houston Chronicle: “The oil and gas industry is certainly aware of its negative public image amid ongoing revelations about its disinformation and climate-denial campaigns throughout the past 40 years. In response, these...

RFF Director Lee Wasserman Authors Guest Essay in The New York Times

RFF's climate work realized a breakthrough when Vermont passed the first climate superfund law in the nation to make polluters pay for the damage and adaptation costs caused by their greenhouse gas emissions. It is an important step to address environmental responsibility and could set a precedent for other states to follow suit.

RFF’s director authored this guest essay...

A Courageous Victory: Vermont Climate Superfund Bill Passes the House and Senate

After the Vermont House passed the Climate Superfund Act this week, it is the closest a bill like this has ever been to becoming law. This is a major victory for our grantee, Vermont Public Interest Group, that led a so-far successful legislative campaign. Now the bill goes back to the Senate for a final review before it is delivered to Governor Phil Scott. Governor Scott might veto it, in...

RFF’s Associate Director for Oil and Gas featured in The Hill

Sarah Brennan, RFF’s Associate Director for the Funder Collaborative on Oil and Gas, published an op-ed in The Hill on what the Biden administration needs to do to transition away from fossil fuels. She mentioned two key issues the Funder Collaborative is working on: gas exports and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).

Senate Hearing on Big Oil Deception: New Fossil Fuel Industry Documents and a Call for Climate Accountability

The Senate Budget Committee held a hearing to review a trove of new fossil fuel industry documents that blasted Big Oil for their decades of “climate denial, deception, and doublespeak” and revealed its evolving tactics to delay climate action. The documents provided another inside-look into the persistent greenwashing and propaganda that Big Oil continues to deploy to display a...

Bakeyah Nelson on Carbon Capture in Inside Philanthropy

Bakeyah Nelson, Senior Advisor for the Funder Collaborative on Oil and Gas, pens an Op-Ed in Inside Philanthropy urging donors to reject funding carbon capture and storage and instead prioritize funding for effective, reparative solutions that bring about a just energy transition. 

Will Lawmakers Sacrifice Our Health and Safety to Get a Debt Ceiling Deal?

Last May, RFF Associate Director Larry Shapiro and Dr. Robert Bullard co-authored an Op-Ed in The New York Times urging lawmakers to include environmental protections for marginalized communities in the debt ceiling deal. 

Dr. Robert D. Bullard, Ph.D. is founding director of the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice and distinguished professor of urban planning and...