Nearly a year after announcing sweeping new regulations based on federal contractors’ adherence to “green” energy standards, the Biden Administration is facing backlash for outsourcing a crucial part of the new rules to a foreign nongovernmental organization (NGO) with connections to far-left dark money networks.
According to Fox News, the controversy stems from the Biden White House’s announcement last year that the administration would implement new requirements for all federal contractors and potential contractors to disclose their rate of greenhouse gas emissions, set new targets for emissions reduction, and to share financial risks related to the climate.
However, these regulations will utilize criteria established by the U.K.-based Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTI). SBTI was founded in 2014, as part of an effort to dictate climate commitments within the private sector, though it only began the process of incorporating as a legal entity in June. The organization now claims that it accomplished the climate targets of over 1,100 different companies, financial institutions, and other entities in the year 2022 alone.
SBTI has numerous financial ties to far-left dark money groups, including the We Mean Business Coalition, which was one of several groups involved in the collaboration that led to the creation of SBTI. Up until last year, SBTI identified We Mean Business as one of its top donors, before scrubbing all references to We Mean Business from its website after it became associated with the Biden Administration. We Mean Business has been tied to various other left-wing organizations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wyss Foundation, and George Soros’ Foundation to Promote Open Society.
The choice of SBTI has elicited concerns from members of Congress, including Congressman Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.).
“The choice of SBTI is not the only concern this Committee has with this proposed rule, because of its poor drafting, it has multiple practical, financial, and national security issues,” said Obernolte, who is also chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee. “For instance, ceding this authority to a foreign entity means that we cannot verify that SBTI’s processes are based in sound science. We will have very little oversight of the decisions being made.”
Obernolte further claims that the Biden Administration did not carry out a competitive selection process upon announcing the initiative, instead simply choosing SBTI before any other groups could step up. The committee also revealed, via documents it recently received, that SBTI leaders met with representatives of Biden’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) just twice before being selected, and also failed to provide any sort of documentation before its selection.