A new report details how fossil fuel executives helped finance President Donald Trump’s 2024 election win, spending millions of dollars to influence the race in his favor.
The report from Climate Power, a progressive group dedicated to “winning the politics of climate,” suggests that Big Oil’s donations to Trump — coupled with hundreds of millions of dollars spent on lobbying Congress over the past year — will majorly increase profits for the industry.
“Big Oil’s total financial influence this election cycle amounts to an astounding $445 million,” the report states, noting that the oil and gas industries also donated to dark money groups in support of Republicans and Trump that make it “nearly impossible to understand the full scope of their impact” over the past year.
Of the money that has been disclosed, $96 million went directly to Trump’s presidential campaign. That’s about one-tenth of the amount Trump requested from Big Oil executives during a secretive meeting at his Mar-a-Lago estate in April, when he begged executives to give his campaign $1 billion and vowed to enact policies to increase their profits in return.
Another $80 million from oil and gas companies went to advertising to support Trump and Republicans, or toward positive advertisements for the industry during the election cycle. And a whopping $243 million was spent on lobbying members of Congress last year, the Climate Power report shows.
The investment from these companies is “likely to pay dividends” for them, the report suggests, in the form of deregulation of the industries and new drilling permits, among other actions by the administration.
“While Trump has deceptively claimed he is declaring an ’emergency’ to produce more energy and lower costs, his first actions actually aim to crush some of America’s most abundant energy supplies — because his agenda is geared toward maximizing oil industry profits rather than American energy production,” the report states. “The only way for the U.S. to truly become a global energy superpower is to free ourselves from Big Oil’s grip and invest in the clean energy of the future.”
In his first week in office, Trump has already issued numerous executive orders that favor the fossil fuel industry, including:
- Declaring a “national emergency” on energy, aimed at increasing domestic energy production;
- Rescinding Biden administration restrictions on drilling in Alaska, as well as off the east and west coasts;
- Restarting liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal approvals, which had been paused under the Biden White House;
- And rolling back Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emission standards.
Trump’s cabinet and advisory positions within the White House have also been stacked with Big Oil representatives and their allies.
Greenpeace’s Gujari Singh condemned Trump’s executive orders, noting that they “reveal everything we need to know about where his administration’s loyalties lie,” and that they “reflect the priorities of his major donors, not the American public.”
“During his campaign, Trump openly requested $1 billion from Big Oil. Executive orders like declaring a ‘national energy emergency’ and rubber stamping more [liquefied natural gas] exports are the prize — a quid pro quo — rewarding those who financed his political rise,” Singh wrote.
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We’ve borne witness to a chaotic first few months in Trump’s presidency.
Over the last months, each executive order has delivered shock and bewilderment — a core part of a strategy to make the right-wing turn feel inevitable and overwhelming. But, as organizer Sandra Avalos implored us to remember in Truthout last November, “Together, we are more powerful than Trump.”
Indeed, the Trump administration is pushing through executive orders, but — as we’ve reported at Truthout — many are in legal limbo and face court challenges from unions and civil rights groups. Efforts to quash anti-racist teaching and DEI programs are stalled by education faculty, staff, and students refusing to comply. And communities across the country are coming together to raise the alarm on ICE raids, inform neighbors of their civil rights, and protect each other in moving shows of solidarity.
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