John Kerry’s office, the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC), was involved in many discussions with left-wing groups that were concerned about climate. These conversations appear to have informed policymaking decisions.
According documents obtained by Protect the Public’s Trust and shared with Fox News Digital officials from the SPEC office wanted key agenda issues to be discussed with nongovernmental organizations like the United Nations Foundation and the Sierra Club.
These documents were obtained via an information request. They did not contain any similar conversations, meetings or discussions.
Meyer’s subject was “Zoom Information and Topics for Tomorrow’s G7 Discussion”. The email copied four SPEC officials whose identities are not disclosed, and 13 leaders of environmental groups. It also included several topics that Meyer intended to discuss at the virtual conference.
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Discussions between the officials covered a range of topics, including whether the U.S. would support a G7 agreement ending fossil fuel infrastructure financing, phaseing out the sale and usage of old gas-powered vehicles and eliminating coal power generation.
Participants were also going to discuss a “clean contraoffer” to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This is a massive infrastructure project that spans from China to Europe.
It is unclear how much policy discussions played a role in the decision. However, President Biden announced a $200B counter-to the BRI in May which prioritized climate change. Biden stated that the U.S. would sell at least half of all vehicles by 2030, and would also make a global methane pledge to the United Nations climate summit in November.
Jake Schmidt, managing Director of Natural Resources Defense Council’s (NRDC) international program, sent an email in December 2021 indicating that several environmental groups had been invited to a briefing by the SPEC Office (NSC) on overseas fossil fuel financing.
This email was sent to the Oxfam and Friends of the Earth leaders, as well as the Sierra Club and Oil Change International. The email also included the World Resources Institute and the Bank Information Center, RMI and the Center for International Environmental Law. These organizations all actively support a shift from fossil fuels towards renewable energy sources like solar and wind.
According documents shared with Fox News Digital a similar email wasn’t sent to industry groups who favor traditional forms power like oil and natural gas.
Email dumps revealed that SPEC likes to keep its employees’ identities private and that it has forged strong ties with environmental groups that were consulted by the office about policy.
The documents also showed that officials had discussed keeping some discussions off “paper” to avoid scrutiny.
