A series of emails show that Leonardo DiCaprio’s non-profit organization routed funding via a dark money company to support litigation against oil firms for claimed climate change fraud.
According to 2017 correspondence, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation (LDF) was a “major backer” of the legal firm Sher Edling, which has sued oil giants on behalf of state and municipal governments.
Sher Edling’s cases were supported by the Collective Action Fund for Accountability, Resilience, and Adaptation, a fund administered by the Resources Legacy Fund (RLF).
According to Fox News Digital, which received the emails from another tax-exempt organization named “Government Accountability & Oversight,” this is the case (GAO).
According to tax documents obtained by Fox, RLF gave more than $5,2 million to the legal firm Sher Edling from 2017 to 2020.
While the organization does not disclose its donors, emails obtained by the GAO through litigation suggest that Leonardo DiCaprio’s foundation supported lawsuits brought against major oil companies on behalf of several states and cities, including New York City, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Baltimore, and Honolulu.
The lawsuits say that the firms misled the public over climate change and demand that fossil fuel companies accept responsibility for increasing sea levels.
According to the GAO, the emails were acquired via litigation.
Dan Emmett, a prominent benefactor, contacted Ann Carlson, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), in 2017, according to screenshots of emails provided by the organization in 2017.
The emails indicate that the two assisted Sher Edling’s fundraising efforts.
Emmett and Carlson are seen discussing Chuck Savitt’s request for help from Emmett. Savitt is the director of strategic client partnerships at Sher Edling. Emmett adds that the legal practice has already received LDF funding.
The communication notably mentions Terry Tamminen, who was CEO of the DiCaprio foundation at the time.
Carlson, who is now a senior official in the administration of President Biden, was co-director of the UCLA Emmett Institute on Climate Change & the Environment at the time. Emmett remains the institute’s chairman. Emmett said in an email to Carlson on July 22, 2017, “Chuck Savitt, the leader of the new group behind the cases, has been requesting our cooperation.” Terry Tamminen, in his current position with the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, has been a major contributor.
Emmett also shared to Carlson a note from Savitt requesting his help, which was delivered three days earlier through email on July 19 of the same year.
Savitt said in the email that Sher Edling’s litigation were supported by the Collective Action Fund for Accountability, Resilience, and Adaptation, a fund handled by the RLF.
Savitt replied to Emmett, “Wanted to let you know that we filed the first three cases backed by the Collective Action Fund on Monday.”
These precedent-setting lawsuits demand that 37 of the world’s largest fossil fuel firms accept responsibility for the devastation caused by sea level rise, which is a result of their greenhouse gas emissions, to coastal communities.
Two months after the emails were exchanged, DiCarpio’s charity announced that it would award $20 million to a variety of environmental projects.
The notification has been removed from the organization’s website, but the GAO was able to obtain it through a web archive.
The announcement included a donation to the RLF “to promote precedent-setting legal efforts to hold big fossil fuel firms accountable for climate change pollution.”
This echoed the phrasing used by Savitt in the email he wrote to Emmett.
Emmett said in an email to Carlson on July 22, 2017, “Chuck Savitt, the leader of the new group behind the cases, has been requesting our cooperation.” Terry Tamminen, in his current position with the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, has been a major contributor.
Emmett also shared to Carlson a note from Savitt requesting his help, which was delivered three days earlier through email on July 19 of the same year.
Savitt said in the email that Sher Edling’s litigation were supported by the Collective Action Fund for Accountability, Resilience, and Adaptation, a fund handled by the RLF.
Savitt replied to Emmett, “Wanted to let you know that we filed the first three cases backed by the Collective Action Fund on Monday.”
These precedent-setting lawsuits demand that 37 of the world’s largest fossil fuel firms accept responsibility for the devastation caused by sea level rise, which is a result of their greenhouse gas emissions, to coastal communities.
Two months after the emails were exchanged, DiCarpio’s charity announced that it would award $20 million to a variety of environmental projects.
The notification has been removed from the organization’s website, but the GAO was able to obtain it through a web archive.
The announcement included a donation to the RLF “to promote precedent-setting legal efforts to hold big fossil fuel firms accountable for climate change pollution.”
This echoed the phrasing used by Savitt in the email he wrote to Emmett.