DITCHED: Dark Money and Political Influence

In the face of a mounting climate crisis, financial institutions are reevaluating their relationships with coal, gas and oil. But while the divestment movement is picking up speed, it isn’t on a one way street.  There is still lots of money flowing into fossil fuels through various public and private channels. At the same time, fossil fuel interests are spending heavily to influence policy that protects their assets and future growth opportunities.  In this episode, we speak to Leah Stokes, assistant professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara about her research on how fossil fuel companies and electric utilities are slowing the shift away from polluting resources. This is the fourth episode in the Political Climate miniseries called DITCHED: fossil fuels, money flows and the greening of finance. Listen and subscribe to Political Climate wherever you get podcasts! Recommended reading: Guardian: How the oil industry has spent billions to control the climate change conversation Sierra: Bailout: Billions of Dollars of Federal COVID-19 Relief Money Flow to the Oil Industry E&E: Big Oil, meet Big Green   Bloomberg: Utilities Are Slowing Down the Clean Energy Transition S&P: Ohio bribery scandal increases scrutiny of how utilities use 'dark money' groups Energy and Policy Institute: Paying for Utility Politics Short Circuiting Policy Catch all DITCHED episodes in addition to our regular Thursday shows! Listen and subscribe to Political Climate on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play or wherever you get podcasts! This episode is brought to you with support from Lyft. Lyft is leading the transition to zero emissions vehicles with a commitment to achieve 100% electric vehicles on the Lyft platform by 2030. Learn more at lyftimpact.com/electric.