Nonprofit Funded by Chinese Gov’t-Linked Entities Backs Blue State’s ‘Unconstitutional’ Climate Law

From THE DAILY CALLER

Audrey Streb
DCNF Energy Reporter

A nonprofit organization bankrolled by numerous Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-linked entities advocated for a New York law that authorizes the state to charge energy companies billions for their roles in climate change.

The Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) is a New York nonprofit that has received over $1.4 million in taxpayer funds since 2022, in addition to significant funding from Chinese government-linked sources in recent years, as the Daily Caller News Foundation previously reported. The CPC supports New York’s climate superfund law, which would require energy companies to cough up $75 billion combined over time to fund green initiatives, in addition to a number of other bills and programs favored by Democrats, according to its website.

“The Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) is not just another advocacy group, it’s a conduit for CCP-linked money and influence in the heart of our country. When you read ‘CPC,’ you should think ‘CCP,’” founder and CEO of State Armor Michael Lucci told the DCNF. “CPC has a long record of supporting malicious policies that run contrary to our interests. It should come as no surprise that the CPC supports New York’s massive climate slush fund, which would jack up energy costs while weakening America’s energy security.” (RELATED: New York Rolls Out ‘Shakedown’ Law Forcing Companies To Atone For Climate Change With Cash)

“This isn’t just bad policy — it’s Beijing’s playbook, operating through a range of front groups, proxies, and influence operations to undermine our sovereignty,” Lucci continued. “Every lawmaker who backs this scheme is playing into the hands of the CCP’s geopolitical strategy. If we’re serious about protecting national security and energy independence, we must treat CPC–backed initiatives as CCP-backed initiatives, which are always malicious influence operations against America.”

The CPC submitted written testimony for a January 2024 joint legislative public hearing on New York’s budget proposal advocating for the superfund law, and the group also characterized the bill’s failure to make it into the budget in April 2024 as a “shortcoming.”

Since 2018, the CPC has received up to $445,969 in donations from sources linked to the Chinese government, according to financial records previously reviewed by the DCNF. State-run corporations — including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and the Bank of China — have financially supported the CPC in recent years, records show.

The ICBC donated almost $20,000 to the nonprofit across 2018, 2019 and 2023, according to the CPC’s annual reports, and the Beijing-based and state-owned Bank of China gave as much as $9,999 in 2020 and up to that same amount in 2024 to the CPC, the nonprofit’s annual reports show.

The CPC has accepted funds from multiple other organizations that have ties to the CCP, the DCNF previously reported.

House Republicans recently launched an investigation into the CPC after an undercover video surfaced allegedly showing CPC staff coaching illegal immigrants on how to avoid Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) apprehension. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: GOP Launches Investigation Into Taxpayer-Funded Group Allegedly Caught Teaching How To Avoid ICE)

Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the climate bill in December 2024, enacting a law that will require energy companies to pay billions to the state over 25 years to atone for their supposed roles in causing climate change. The new law rests on shaky legal foundations and functions as a state revenue grab that, if fully implemented, is likely to increase consumer costs, energy and legal experts previously told the DCNF.

Hochul’s office says that the state will use the funds extracted from energy companies under the law to pay for projects that will enhance the state’s “resiliency to dangerous climate impacts.” Some of the projects to be funded by the law include upgrades to drainage systems, refashioning buildings to be more green and developing “green spaces” in urban environments, according to the law’s text.

Upon signing the bill, Hochul’s office proclaimed that the new superfund law will “[shift] the cost of climate adaptation from everyday New Yorkers to the fossil fuel companies most responsible for the pollution.” If the law is fully implemented, the financial burden on energy companies will ultimately lead to increased costs for the consumers, critics told the DCNF at the time of the bill’s enactment.

The Trump administration filed complaints against Vermont and New York over their “climate superfund laws” on May 1, following Trump’s April 8 executive order directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to “protect” domestic energy production from state laws that halt or hinder energy development. (RELATED: Trump Admin Sues To Block Blue States From Taking Fossil Fuel Companies To Court Over Climate Change)

The CPC has also backed other policies that hinder domestic energy production in addition to purportedly advising illegal migrants on how to defy immigration laws.

“There is an urgent need to invest in our community well-being and safety through building climate resilient infrastructures and systems,” the CPC’s website reads.

It continues to argue for the passage of the Climate, Jobs, and Justice Package for the sake of “marginalized communities,” which includes the superfund law as well as the NY Home Energy Affordable Transition Act and the Just Energy Transition Act. The NY Home Energy Affordable Transition Act seeks to “[align] utility regulation with state climate justice and emission reduction targets” and the Just Energy Transition Act would “provide a blueprint to guide the replacement and redevelopment of New York State’s fossil fuel facilities and their sites by 2030,” according to the bill text.

The CPC supports efforts to “decarbonize New York and transition into renewable energy that will allow all New Yorkers to live in a safe and healthy environment,” the nonprofit’s website states. New York has historically supported green energy mandates that threaten the reliability of its power grid, several grid experts previously told the DCNF.

The nonprofit’s site goes on to list support for increasing taxes on corporations to fund left-leaning social programs, universal health care and shelling out $500 million in taxpayer funds on a program for illegal migrants.

The CPC, the Chinese Embassy, Hochul’s office, the ICBC and the Bank of China did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.

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