The sprawling climate lawfare network driving Democratic-led lawsuits against the oil industry is drawing new scrutiny after tax filings revealed that the New Venture Fund (NVF) funneled millions of dollars to both the law firm leading the litigation and the organization training the judges who may hear those cases. The NVF, a major left-wing dark money hub, wired $2.3 million last year to Sher Edling—the San Francisco firm behind high-profile climate lawsuits—and simultaneously sent $1.3 million to the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), which instructs judges on how to handle climate cases.
Sher Edling has received more than $16 million from the NVF-sponsored fund since 2016 while pursuing lawsuits on behalf of Democrat-run states and cities accusing oil companies of “causing global warming” and “deceiving the public.” One of those cases, filed for Honolulu, recently won a major procedural victory when Hawaii’s chief justice Mark Recktenwald ruled the case could proceed and would not “unduly limit Hawaii’s ability to use its police powers to protect its citizens.”
But records show that as the case awaited a decision, Recktenwald participated in an ELI seminar titled “Rising Seas and Litigation: What Judges Need to Know About Warming-Driven Sea Level Rise.” He attended another climate litigation event in 2022.
ELI has deleted testimonials from judges and removed an online forum after reports revealed judges used the space to discuss climate studies and environmental events. Although ELI claims neutrality, critics note its curriculum instructs prosecutors how to ensure their arguments “prevail in court.” One document warns a “business-as-usual” climate approach would be “catastrophic.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) warned that ELI “has established a de facto monopoly on climate-related instruction for the judiciary,” calling its work “ex parte indoctrination.”
NVF defended its grants as routine support for “project grantmaking” and administrative needs, while ELI argues shared funders do not create “partiality or a conflict of interest.”
