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global witness
Small Investment, Big Reward: Oil Giants Dumped $19 Million Into Trump's Inaugural Fund
"Every month that Donald Trump has been in power, we've seen a raft of anti-climate measures come out which are music to the fossil fuel industry's ears," said one investigator.
Jul 09, 2025
Oil, gas, and coal companies and individuals linked to the climate-wrecking fossil fuel industry contributed more than $19 million to U.S. President Donald Trump's second inaugural fund, an analysis by a leading international environmental and human rights group revealed Wednesday.
Scouring itemized U.S Federal Election Commission data, Global Witness identified 47 individual donations to the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee between November 2024 and January 2025 totaling $19,151,933. Using an artificial intelligence tool developed by Global Witness to identify corporate lobbyists, the group's researchers were able to automatically determine each donor's ties to the fossil fuel industry.
Global Witness said the $19.15 million figure "is likely an underestimate, as we did not count donations from diversified investors and businesses who couldn't be said to primarily represent the fossil fuel industry," and individuals with common names that couldn't be identified were not included in the final report.
According to the analysis:
The list of donors includes individuals who were given ambassadorships or key positions in the Trump Cabinet.
For example, billionaire Warren Stephens donated $4 million on December 2, 2024, the same day Trump nominated him to be U.S. ambassador to the U.K. Stephens has extensive links to the oil and gas industry but also invests in other sectors and wasn't included in our calculations of fossil fuel industry donors.
Trump also nominated Melinda Hildebrand—who donated $500,000 to the president's inaugural fund—to be U.S. ambassador to Costa Rica.
Hildebrand is the vice president of Hilcorp Ventures, which claims to be of the largest privately owned oil and gas producers in the U.S. Her husband, founder and chairman of Hilcorp, donated another $500,000.
Among fossil fuel corporations, Chevron was by far the largest contributor to Trump's inauguration fund, giving $2 million. Other companies including ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and Occidental Petroleum each donated $1 million.
Overall, Big Oil gave $445 million to Trump and other Republican candidates during the 2024 election cycle.
Trump, who ran on a "drill, baby, drill" energy policy, has signed a series of executive orders aimed at boosting fossil fuel production, including by declaring a fake "energy emergency" in a push to fast-track permit approvals. He also tapped former fossil fuel executives to head the Department of Energy and Interior Department, which have pursued a policy of opening up more public lands and waters for fossil fuel development.
At the same time, the Trump administration dropped out of the Paris climate agreement for the second time and moved to roll back the modest climate progress achieved under former President Joe Biden.
"It's no surprise the oil and gas industry handed millions to Donald Trump for his inauguration, and they seem to have reaped a huge return on their investment," Global Witness senior data investigator Nicu Calcea said in a statement Wednesday.
"Every month that Donald Trump has been in power, we've seen a raft of anti-climate measures come out which are music to the fossil fuel industry's ears," Calcea continued. "From plans to steamroll through dirty new coal plants, to the attempted quashing of 'polluter pays' laws that would hold oil giants accountable, it's clear where his political priorities lie."
"While Trump sides with his friends in oil and gas, we must keep up the fight for a fair, green future—that means pushing for wind and solar where we live, backing polluters pay bills, and resisting the development of oil, gas and coal projects across the country," he added.
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Calls for Big Oil to Cover LA Fire Damage as Chevron, Exxon Report Tens of Billions in 2024 Profits
"Megarich oil firms like Chevron and Exxon are knowingly driving and profiting from the climate crisis," said a Global Witness leader. "It's time they picked up the costs of repair."
Jan 31, 2025
As Chevron and ExxonMobil on Friday reported tens of billions in 2024 profits, campaigners intensified their demand for Big Oil to pay for the catastrophic levels of destruction caused by recent fires around Los Angeles, California, which were made more likely by the fossil fuel-driven climate emergency.
"As LA residents reel from the damage done to their city, it's important we point out who has been driving the fossil fuel pollution that is turbo-charging climate disasters," said Lela Stanley, head of Fossil Fuel Investigations at Global Witness, in a statement. "Big Oil bosses have worked with their friends in politics to bake dirty fossil fuels into our energy systems, block climate action, and spread lies about climate change to divide and distract us."
"Instead of accounting for our safety or the health of the planet, megarich oil firms like Chevron and Exxon are knowingly driving and profiting from the climate crisis," she continued. "It's time they picked up the costs of repair."
Texas-based ExxonMobil's net income for last quarter was $7.6 billion, bringing its full-year total to $33.7 billion, the company said Friday. Chevron—which last August relocated its headquarters from San Ramon, California, to Houston—had profits of $3.2 billion during the fourth quarter and $17.7 billion throughout 2024, the hottest year on record.
"Just a quarter of these U.S. oil giants' annual profits could pay for $1 million payouts to each LA household that has lost a home."
Responding to the two companies' more than $51 billion in combined earnings, Stanley said that "just a quarter of these U.S. oil giants' annual profits could pay for $1 million payouts to each LA household that has lost a home. What's small change to Big Oil could have a transformative effect on ordinary people's lives."
Chevron earlier this month announced it would donate $1 million total to the American National Red Cross, California Fire Foundation, and Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce Small Business Disaster Recovery Fund to aid recovery from what could be the costliest fire disaster in U.S. history.
Global Witness highlighted the World Weather Attribution's
finding that global heating—primarily caused by humanity's continued extraction and use of fossil fuels—made the weather conditions that caused the Los Angeles fires 35% more probable.
"Despite alarm from climate scientists over global heating and a surge in fossil fuel-driven disasters," the organization noted, "Exxon and Chevron have continued to expand their oil production, with the firms producing +4% and +3% more in 2024 than they did in 2023, respectively."
Chevron, the group added, "has actively sought to avoid paying out in the wake of climate disasters like the LA wildfires, spending $30 million with the Western States Petroleum Association—one of the U.S.'s largest fossil fuel trade groups—lobbying against a polluters pay-style bill."
During California's last legislative session, lawmakers introduced, but did not pass, a "climate superfund bill" that would make polluters pay into a fund for disaster prevention and cleanup. The fires have sparked a fresh push for such legislation.
Californians are fleeing wildfires while Exxon & Chevron rake in $36B+ in profits. Polluters profit, taxpayers foot the bill. California can’t wait, we must pass a #ClimateSuperfund bill so companies driving the climate crisis pay for the damage 💰 #MakePollutersPay
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— Stop the Money Pipeline ( @stopmoneypipeline.bsky.social) January 11, 2025 at 3:43 PM
On Monday, California state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-11) introduced a bill that would allow homeowners, businesses, and insurance companies impacted by climate disasters to recover losses by taking legal action against oil and gas companies, which have not only fueled the global climate emergency but also spent decades misleading the public about the harms of their products.
There are also renewed calls for accountability via the courts. California is among the U.S. states and municipalities suing fossil fuel companies—including Chevron and Exxon—for their decades of deception. The Center for Climate Integrity said earlier this month that the latest fires "underscore the importance of California's effort to hold Big Oil accountable in court for its climate lies."
At least 29 deaths are
connected to this month's fires in the state. Attorney and Public Citizen Climate Program Accountability Project director Aaron Regunberg last year co-authored a legal memo about bringing criminal charges against fossil fuel companies. During a January 16 press conference, he said that "it's involuntary manslaughter to recklessly cause a death. Local prosecutors should consider whether Big Oil's conduct here amounts to violations of these kind of criminal laws."
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Endless Stream of Climate Disasters Bolsters Demand to 'Make Polluters Pay'
"Ordinary people shouldn't pay for disasters they couldn't prevent," said one group. "But Big Oil should"
Sep 30, 2024
In the wake of one of the hottest summers ever recorded in the United States and the deadly destruction wrought by Hurricane Helene, climate defenders on Monday urged Congress to pass recently introduced legislation that would make polluters pay into a $1 trillion fund to finance efforts to combat the planetary emergency.
"Emissions from burning oil, gas, and coal are cooking the planet and super-charging deadly heatwaves, floods, and storms," the international NGO Global Witness said in a statement. "Several major fossil fuel firms knew for decades about the climate impacts of their products, but they ignored scientific advice and denied the climate crisis was happening."
"The Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act can help redress this injustice by making fossil fuel companies pay for some of the damage they're doing to America," the group added. "This would create a $1 trillion fund that would pay for climate disaster relief and efforts to help keep us cool and safe. They can afford it—in 2023 the top five oil and gas producers in the U.S. made over $74 billion in profits."
Introduced last month by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Judy Chu (D-Calif.), the Polluters Pay Climate Fund is backed by dozens of climate and environmental justice groups.
"From sweltering heat waves to rising sea levels to ever more intense storms, our planet is screaming out every day for us to take action on global warming," Van Hollen said at the time of the bill's introduction. "And after fueling the climate crisis for decades, big polluters can no longer run from their responsibility to address the harm they have done."
"The principle behind this legislation is simple but very powerful—polluters should pay to clean up the mess they made and build a more resilient future, and those who have polluted the most should pay the most," the senator added.
With an eye on next month's U.S. presidential election, campaigners demanded a president who will make polluters pay for fueling the climate crisis. With former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, running on a "
drill, baby, drill" platform and previously calling climate change a "Chinese hoax," activists have focused on imploring Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris to make fossil fuel companies pay for their damages.
"We need a president who is willing to take on Big Oil. A president who will make polluters pay for the damage they've done to our climate," the Make Polluters Pay campaign said in a video posted last week on social media.
"As California's attorney general, Kamala Harris prosecuted big polluters like BP and Chevron and launched an investigation into ExxonMobil's climate lies," the video continues. "As vice president, she cast the tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, helping lower energy costs and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels."
"Kamala Harris says she'll take on corporate price gouging and hold Big Oil accountable. Donald Trump? He's asking the oil companies for bribes," the video adds, referring to his promise to fossil fuel executives that he would gut the Biden administration's climate regulations if they donated $1 billion to his campaign.
Fossil Free Media director Jamie Henn cited a December 2023 survey conducted by his group and Data for Progress that found 64% of U.S. voters—including 89% of Democrats, 58% of Democrats, and 42% of Republicans—are more likely to vote for a candidate "who will make polluters pay for climate damages."
The campaigners' calls come as extreme weather fueled by the burning of fossil fuels
wreaks havoc around the world, including in the United States, where Hurricane Helene and its remnants tore a deadly path of destruction from the Florida Gulf Coast to the mountains of North Carolina. The storm has claimed at least 121 lives across the Southeast.
"It's obscene that communities across North Carolina are suffering and dying from the reality of the climate emergency while Donald Trump denies that it even exists," Brett Hartl, political director at the Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund, said in a statement.
"While roads, bridges, and entire towns are being washed away, Trump and Project 2025 plan to gut [the Federal Emergency Management Agency] and roadblock every agency from confronting the climate crisis," he said, referring to the right-wing blueprint for overhauling the federal government. "Vice President Harris will act on climate change, and she'll hold the polluters that caused it accountable for their willful destruction."
Responding to Helene's devastation, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said on social media Monday that "I'm heartsick for the families who lost their homes and their loved ones."
"It's a sad reality that this hurricane rapidly intensified into a powerful Category 4 storm because of climate change," she added. "We must do more to confront the climate crisis as we rebuild."
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