Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) is an environmentalist think tank based in Colorado. It was established in 1982 by activist Amory Lovins. It has $42 million in annual operations and employs 180 full-time employees.
RMI merged with Carbon War Room in 2014, expanding its presence worldwide. RMI’s initiatives aim to transform the global energy market to sources like solar and wind, while reducing the use of conventional energy. [1]
Background
The Rocky Mountain Institute aims to replace fossil fuel usage with environmentalist-approved energy sources, intending to create economic growth. RMI uses its own research and analysis in support of implementing these changes. [2]
Funding
In 2017, Rocky Mountain Institute raised nearly $42 million. [3] Among the top donors are major left-of-center organizations like the Bloomberg Family Foundation, which donated upwards of $100 million to similar environmental organizations like the Sierra Club to oppose conventional energy sources. [4] In 2016, the left-leaning Oak Foundation awarded RMI $1.4 million in grants to support climate change activism and push global warming policies. [5] RMI receives substantial grants from the ClimateWorks Foundation, a left-of-center “pass-through” funding entity that takes donations from wealthy left-wing foundations. [6]
People
Amory Lovins is the co-founder and chief scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute. He is the author of Reinventing Fire: Bold Business Solutions for the New Energy Era. [7]
Fred Stanback is a major benefactor of the Rocky Mountain Institute, having donated over $1 million as of 2012 [8]
Edward “Ted” White, is the board chair of RMI and managing partner of Fahr LLC, a company formerly directed by Tom Steyer, a left-wing, hedge-fund billionaire turned climate-change activist. [9]
Jean Oelwang is the compensation committee chair of RMI and the president of Virgin Unite, a non-profit founded by airline magnate and environmentalist activist Richard Branson in 2004. In 2009, Branson co-founded Carbon War Room (CWR), a non-profit that promised business solutions to climate change. [10] Branson failed to invest a promised $3 billion towards developing a low carbon fuel, and the low carbon alternatives he was exploring have been widely discredited as viable alternatives to conventional fuels, because of their climate change impacts and increases to the cost of food. [11] Carbon War Room merged with RMI in 2014.
RMI trustee Todd Stern was the U.S. Special Envoy on Climate Change under the Obama administration, appointed by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. [12] Stern has a long history of contributing to Democratic political candidates and to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). [13]
Coalition Memberships
Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) (Non-profit)
Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN) (Non-profit)
Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA) (Non-profit)
Associated Organizations
Ameresco (For-profit)
Business Renewables Center (BRC) (Non-profit)
Black Bear Energy (For-profit)
Carbon War Room (Non-profit)
City of Denver
Collective Sun (For-profit)
Duke Energy (For-profit)
E Source (For-profit)
Energy Web Foundation (EWF) (Non-profit)
The Good Traveler (Non-profit)
Holy Cross Energy (For-profit)
Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) (For-profit)
MobilityData (Non-profit)
WattTime (Non-profit)
Donor Organizations
Airport Cooperative Research Program (Government Agencies)
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (Nonprofit)
Aria Foundation (Non-profit)
Aspen Community Office for Resource Efficiency (CORE) (Non-profit)
Bloomberg Family Foundation (Bloomberg Philanthropies) (Non-profit)
Caldera Foundation (Non-profit)
City of Boulder, Boulder Energy Challenge (Government Agencies)
ClimateWorks Foundation (Non-profit)
Clinton Climate Initiative (Non-profit)
Craigslist Charitable Fund (Non-profit)
David and Lucile Packard Foundation (Non-profit)
Denver Foundation (Non-profit)
Department of Energy (Government Agency)
Dutch Postcode Lottery
Educational Foundation of America (Non-profit)
The Environment Foundation (Aspen) (Non-profit)
Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund (Non-profit)
Flora Family Foundation (Non-profit)
Foundation for the Carolinas (FFTC) (Non-profit)
Gates Family Foundation (Non-profit)
Global Environment Facility (For-profit)
Google Foundation (Non-profit)
Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment (Non-profit)
Smith Richardson Charitable Trust (Non-profit)
Heising-Simons Foundation (Non-profit)
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (Non-profit)
Kettering Family Foundation (Non-profit)
Luther College (Non-profit)
Mertz Gilmore Foundation (Non-profit)
Nathan Cummings Foundation (Non-profit)
New Belgium Family Foundation (Non-profit)
Oak Foundation USA (Non-profit)
Robertson Foundation (Non-profit)
Rockefeller Brothers Fund (Non-profit)
Rudy and Alice Ramsey Foundation (Non-profit)
Sandler Foundation (Non-profit)
Virgin Unite (Non-profit)
Walton Family Foundation (Non-profit)
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (Non-profit)
Board of Trustees
Edward “Ted” White, Board Chair of RMI, Managing Partner of Fahr LLC
Thomas Dinwoodie, Lead Independent Trustee and Executive Committee Chair of RMI, Founder and CTO of SunPower Corporation System
David Allen, Principal and Executive Vice President of McKinstry
Roy Bedlow, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Low Carbon
Mark Ferron, former COO of the Global Markets Division of Deutsche Bank in London, 2001-2009
José Maria Figueres Olsen, former President of the Carbon War Room, former President of Costa Rica, Co-Founder Ocean Unite
Michael Haas, Founder and CEO of Orion Renewable Energy Group LLC, Co-Founder of RDC Developments Ltd., and Founder of Alliance for Climate Education (ACE)
Maria van der Hoeven, Finance Committee Chair of RMI, former Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, 2011-2015
Jules Kortenhorst, Chief Executive Officer of RMI, former CEO of Topell Energy BV, founding CEO of the European Climate Foundation
Rachel Kyte, CEO of the Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for SEforALL
Amory B. Lovins, Co-founder RMI, Chief Scientist of RMI and Chairman Emeritus
Dennis McGinn, former Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations and Environment, 2013-2017
Reuben Munger, Founder and Managing Partner of Vision Ridge Partners, LLC, Co-founder and CEO of Bright Automotive
Jean Oelwang, Compensation Committee Chair of RMI, CEO of Virgin Unite, former joint CEO of Virgin Mobile
Martha C. Pickett, Managing Director, and General Counsel of RMI
George Polk, Programs & Strategy Committee Chair of RMI, Managing Partner of Tulum Trust
Mary Powell, President and CEO of Green Mountain Power (GMP)
Elizabeth Sall, Development Committee Chair of RMI, Founder and President of UrbanLabs LLC
Todd Stern, former U.S. Special Envoy on Climate Change