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Equation Campaign

Website:

www.equationcampaign.org/
Type:

Environmentalist Group
Founded:

2020
Executive Director:

Katie Redford

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The Equation Campaign is an environmentalist group that funded anti-fossil fuel agitation groups. Two great-great-grandchildren of Standard Oil Company founder John D. Rockefeller, Sr. founded the group.

The group works to reduce the supply of conventional fuels by funding anti-oil and gas groups. It funded a campaign to end fuel development including lawsuits, protest activities, social media campaigns, and legal support for arrested activists. 1

Left-of-center funders such as George Soros’s Open Society Foundations and the David Rockefeller Fund have funded the group. The Rockefeller Family Fund housed the group and served as the group’s fiscal sponsor. 2

Background

Two great-great grandchildren of Standard Oil Company founder John D. Rockefeller Sr., Rebecca Rockefeller Lambert and Peter Gill Case, founded the Equation Campaign in January 2020. They pledged $30 million of their personal wealth to the group. 3

The group took its name from the idea that reducing demand for conventional energy is only half of the “equation,” claiming the other half of the equation to combat global warming would be to cut off the supply. While the group opposes conventional fuel development, it focuses on stopping oil and gas drilling. 4

Funded Protest Movements

The Equation Campaign had a ten-year plan to fund protest and agitation movements fighting against oil and gas drilling. It funded all parts of the campaign to end this development including protest activities and legal support. 5

It donates to groups engaged in disruptive activism such as sit-ins and roadblocks because it claims that even if people dislike protest actions, they still raise awareness of the issue. Activists pointed to several climate change related policy victories that they claim were won as a result of disruptive activism such as the enactment of the 2022 climate change bill, a ban on private jets at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, and a ban on new natural gas hookups in new construction in Washington, D.C. 6

The group also planned to work to diversify the climate change movement by adding more Black, indigenous, and Hispanic people to the movement. 7

Line 3 Pipeline

The Equation Campaign funded opponents of the Line 3 Pipeline in Minnesota including a $400,000 grant to the Native American environmentalist group Honor the Earth. Honor the Earth had members arrested for trespassing while protesting the pipeline. The group claimed the arrested members were on public property. 8

The group also funded the Center for Protest Law and Litigation which supported Line 3 protesters. The Center for Protest Law and Litigation received a $160,000 founding grant in 2020 and received another $340,000 grant over two years in 2021. It also connected the Center for Protest Law and Litigation with the Hive Fund for Climate and Gender Justice who provided another $500,000 over three years. 9

Other Pipelines

The Equation Campaign provided grants to support groups fighting the Keystone XL Pipeline and the Dakota Access Pipeline. 10

Dispatches From the Frontlines

The Equation Campaign published “Dispatches From The Frontlines” in the left-of-center The Nation magazine. The reports were from climate changes activists the group funds. 11

Leadership

Rebecca Rockefeller Lambert co-founded the Equation Campaign. She is an heir to the Rockefeller family fortune created from the Standard Oil Company. She has sat on the boards of the Rockefeller Family Fund and the David Rockefeller Fund. 12

Peter Gill Case co-founded the Equation Campaign. He is also a Rockefeller heir. He was the co-founder and co-chair of BankFWD, a campaign to pressure banks to stop funding oil and gas projects, and has been a trustee of the Rockefeller Family Fund and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. 13

Katie Redford is the executive director. She previously was a co-founder and president of the left-of-center litigation nonprofit EarthRights International. 14

Finances

The Rockefeller Family Fund housed and fiscally sponsored the Equation Campaign. 15

It received $30 million from Rebecca Rockefeller Lambert and Peter Gill Case. It also received $5 million from George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, the 11th Hour Project at the Schmidt Family Foundation, and the Rockefeller Family Fund. 16

It expressed a goal to raise $100 million. 17

As of September 2023, it has provided over $23 million in funding to anti-oil and gas groups. It claimed non-whites or women led over 80 percent of the funded groups. 18

References

  1. Parks, Dan. “Rockefeller Heirs Launch Campaign to Curb Oil and Gas Growth.” AP News, May 6, 2021. https://apnews.com/article/business-ab064f622cd4fa261b4530be3bca0886.
  2. Parks, Dan. “Rockefeller Heirs Launch Campaign to Curb Oil and Gas Growth.” AP News, May 6, 2021. https://apnews.com/article/business-ab064f622cd4fa261b4530be3bca0886.
  3. Parks, Dan. “Rockefeller Heirs Launch Campaign to Curb Oil and Gas Growth.” AP News, May 6, 2021. https://apnews.com/article/business-ab064f622cd4fa261b4530be3bca0886.
  4. Parks, Dan. “Rockefeller Heirs Launch Campaign to Curb Oil and Gas Growth.” AP News, May 6, 2021. https://apnews.com/article/business-ab064f622cd4fa261b4530be3bca0886.
  5. “Rockefeller Family Pledges $30 Million to Fight Fossil Fuels.” Philanthropy News Digest, May 10, 2021. https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/rockefeller-family-pledges-30-million-to-fight-fossil-fuels.
  6. Salamon, Margaret Klein. “Opinion | Coco Gauff Won. so Did Climate-Change Protestors.” Chronicle of Philanthropy, September 12, 2023. https://www.philanthropy.com/article/coco-gauff-won-so-did-climate-change-protestors.
  7. “Rockefeller Family Pledges $30 Million to Fight Fossil Fuels.” Philanthropy News Digest, May 10, 2021. https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/rockefeller-family-pledges-30-million-to-fight-fossil-fuels
  8. Buckley, Cara. “These Groups Want Disruptive Climate Protests. Oil Heirs Are Funding Them.” The New York Times, August 10, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/10/climate/climate-protesters-paid-activists.html.
  9. Parks, Dan. “Rockefeller Heirs Launch Campaign to Curb Oil and Gas Growth.” AP News, May 6, 2021. https://apnews.com/article/business-ab064f622cd4fa261b4530be3bca0886.
  10. Parks, Dan. “Rockefeller Heirs Launch Campaign to Curb Oil and Gas Growth.” AP News, May 6, 2021. https://apnews.com/article/business-ab064f622cd4fa261b4530be3bca0886.
  11. Romanko, Svitlana. “The War on My Homeland Offers a Real Chance to Save the Planet.” The Nation, May 26, 2022. https://www.thenation.com/article/environment/ukraine-war-climate-fossil-fuel/.
  12. Getty, Aileen, and Rebecca Rockefeller Lambert. “Fossil Fuels Made Our Families Rich. Now We Want This Industry to End.” The Guardian, November 6, 2021. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/06/fossil-fuels-made-our-families-rich-now-we-want-this-industry-to-end.
  13. “About Us.” BankFWD. Accessed September 24, 2023. https://bankfwd.org/about-us/.
  14. “Katie Redford.” Equation Campaign. Accessed September 24, 2023. https://www.equationcampaign.org/team/katie-redford.
  15. Parks, Dan. “Rockefeller Heirs Launch Campaign to Curb Oil and Gas Growth.” AP News, May 6, 2021. https://apnews.com/article/business-ab064f622cd4fa261b4530be3bca0886.
  16. [1]“Rockefeller Family Pledges $30 Million to Fight Fossil Fuels.” Philanthropy News Digest, May 10, 2021. https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/rockefeller-family-pledges-30-million-to-fight-fossil-fuels
  17. Parks, Dan. “Rockefeller Heirs Launch Campaign to Curb Oil and Gas Growth.” AP News, May 6, 2021. https://apnews.com/article/business-ab064f622cd4fa261b4530be3bca0886.
  18. “About Us.” Equation Campaign. Accessed September 24, 2023. https://www.equationcampaign.org/about-us.
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