Pew Environment Group is a left-of-center research and advocacy organization that focuses on environmental issues such as the problems with marine fisheries, wilderness ecosystems, and changes to the earth’s physical and biological systems. It is a division of the Pew Charitable Trusts, ¹ a public charity formed in 2003 from the merger of seven foundations created by the sons and daughters of the Sun Oil Company founder Joseph Newton Pew. ²

Overview

Pew Environment Group was founded in 2007 as the new “green team” of the Pew Charitable Trusts and was created by merging the staff and operations of Pew’s Environment Program and the National Environmental Trust. At the time of this merger, the new Pew Environment Group had a domestic and international staff of more than 80 people and an annual operating revenue of approximately $70 million. It had an initial presence across the United States, Europe, Latin America, Australia, the Western Pacific, and the Indian Ocean. ³ As of 2022, it employs more than 100 scientists, economists, communication professionals, and public policy specialists across these regions. ⁴

Activity and Partnerships

Pew Environment Group runs various research programs such as the Ocean Science division, a group that focuses on problems relating to the world’s oceans. The organization also runs the Sea Around Us project, which studies the effects of fishing on the world’s marine ecosystems. ⁵ This research initiative is held at the University of British Columbia (located at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, formerly Fisheries Centre) and was founded in 1999 in collaboration with the Pew Charitable Trusts. ⁶ The initiative is partnered with various organizations such as Vulcan Inc., ⁷ a left-of-center private investment company based in Seattle that conducts a variety of projects related to art, science, real estate, technology, and public policy. It also provides funding toward environmental research and climate change policy efforts. ⁸

Pew Environment Group also partnered with Oak Foundation ⁹ (and its U.S. affiliate Oak Foundation USA), a left-of-center environmentalist grantmaking foundation based in Geneva that funds climate-change related litigation and environmentalist advocacy groups in the U.S., Europe, and Canada. ¹⁰ The Pew Environment Group also runs the Lenfest Ocean Program, ¹¹ which funds research projects about living marine ecosystems. ¹² This program was established in 2004 by the Lenfest Foundation. ¹³

Pew Environmental Group also lobbies policy makers regarding issues relating to the environment. The organization designs environmental policies for regional, national, and international governments. It promotes the adoption and enforcement of these policies through targeted advocacy campaigns. These campaigns are managed either exclusively by the Pew Environmental Group or involve partnerships with other nonprofit organizations. For example, the Pew Environmental Group recently launched the European Marine Programme to regulate fishing and conserving the world’s oceans through its previously established methods. ¹⁴

In 2009, the Pew Environment Group, released documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request showing that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) faulted three Chilean salmon farming companies for using drugs not approved by the U.S government. The group applauded the FDA stance but still criticized the FDA for failure to enforce these standards abroad, referencing China in particular. ¹⁵ In 2010, the organization and 30 other major environmental groups sent a letter to Congress demanding passage of a climate bill before summer recess. ¹⁶

People

Joshua Reichert is the director of the Pew Environment Group and has directed Pew’s Environment program since 1990. ¹⁷ He is also an executive vice president and strategic advisor for the Pew Charitable Trusts. Before becoming a part of the Pew Charitable Trusts’ staff in 1990, he worked for government and nongovernmental organizations in various positions. He worked as the executive director of the National Security Archive in Washington, D.C. He also worked as the vice president for conversation at Conservation International, ¹⁸ a left-of-center environmentalist organization that lobbies for environmentalist policies and promotes private investment in conservationist projects. ¹⁹ He was a special assistant to the chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations of the U.S. House of Representatives. He also worked as a regional representative of the Inter-American Foundation. Reichert is involved with various environmental entities such as Oceana, ²⁰ a left-of-center non-profit organization founded that focuses on environmental issues impacting oceans and its legal arm, the Ocean Law Project. ^{21 22}

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