Biden Energy Sec Granholm maintains cozy relationship with foreign and dark money-tied environmental groups

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Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is maintaining her close relationship with far-left dark money environmental groups, including one that was tied to an organization that has received millions in backing from a foreign billionaire.

Granholm will participate in a Washington, D.C., event alongside President Biden's climate envoy, John Podesta, on Wednesday to discuss the future of clean energy, Axios reported. The event's graphic shows Climate Power and Ceres, two environmental groups dedicated to pushing a far-left climate agenda, are sponsoring the gathering. 

Climate Power has previously generated headlines due to its relationship with a group that has received vast amounts of cash from nonprofits bankrolled by Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss. Granholm's internal calendar entries, obtained by watchdog group Americans for Public Trust (APT), also show she has routinely met with far-left environmental groups during her tenure in the Biden administration.

"It's clear Secretary Granholm and newly minted climate czar John Podesta are tangled up in a web of extreme climate groups propped up by foreign dark money," APT executive director Caitlin Sutherland told Fox News Digital. 

ENERGY SEC GRANHOLM SECRETLY CONSULTED TOP CCP ENERGY OFFICIAL BEFORE SPR RELEASES

U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm speaks during a daily news briefing at the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on Jan. 23, 2023 in Washington, DC.  (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

"This persistent coordination between Biden officials and foreign-tied groups raises serious questions about whether the priorities of international adversaries — like China — are exerting undue influence over this administration's energy agenda," Sutherland said.

Granholm's ties to Climate Power, which has positioned itself as a top environmental group, extend beyond her upcoming event. The organization has conducted at least one internal training session in 2021 on climate communication strategies for Biden administration appointees, Fox News Digital previously reported. 

Granholm attended the session and delivered opening remarks, according to her internal calendar. The record noted that session attendees would be "political appointees from all climate-related agencies" and that the purpose would be for Climate Power and the League of Conservation Voters to "conduct a training on how to message climate work in an impactful and persuasive way." 

For some time, a nonprofit called Fund for a Better Future housed Climate Power, which had also teamed up with the League of Conservation Voters after the training in 2022 to undertake a "sophisticated targeting project unlike anything they'd ever undertaken" to boost Democrats. 

Meanwhile, a nonprofit funded by Swiss billionaire Wyss provided vast amounts of money to Fund for a Better Future while it was associated with Climate Power. 

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John Podesta will participate in a Wednesday event with Granholm. (2013 Getty Images)

According to tax forms, the Wyss-backed Berger Action Fund provided $19.75 million to Fund for a Better Future sometime between April 2022 and April 2023. The money came on the heels of millions he had sent in the past. 

While Fund for a Better Future previously oversaw Climate Power, the group broke into its own nonprofit in the summer of 2023, a spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital. The group did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Wyss has been financially involved in various left-wing causes for over two decades. However, questions about his citizenship have swirled as his political giving has come to the forefront.

APT previously discovered several documents that questioned his citizenship, including a 2021 Securities and Exchange Commission filing in which he says he is a "citizen of Switzerland." 

His activity has also caught the awareness of Republican lawmakers, who have looked towards legislation to prevent foreign nationals from "influencing the American political system," Axios reported last year.

SWISS BILLIONAIRE HANSJÖRG WYSS RECENTLY POURED OVER $60M INTO PROPPING UP LEFT-WING GROUPS AND CAUSES

President Biden and Jennifer Granholm.

The Berger Action Fund did not respond to a request for comment, but its spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital that the group "complies with laws and rules governing its activities and prohibits its grants from being used to support or oppose political candidates or parties, or otherwise engage in electoral activities."

In addition to Climate Power and Ceres, which also receives contributions from anonymous donors but identifies many contributors in its annual report, Granholm has met with several other left-wing environmental groups propelled by dark money during her time in the Biden administration. 

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Between September 2021 and June 2022, Granholm attended meetings with the League of Conservation Voters, Rocky Mountain Institute, Natural Resources Defense Council, Earth Justice, Sierra Club and Climate Action, according to her internal calendar obtained by APT.

Podesta, who is participating in the Wednesday event with Granholm, previously served on the League of Conservation Voters' board between 2001 and 2013 and the Natural Resources Defense Council's board between 2007 and 2013, according to his financial disclosures.

"The Secretary of Energy represents all of America and to do so effectively engages stakeholders across the spectrum from the finance sector to environmental justice groups, consumers, and industry," an Energy Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital when asked about Granholm's meetings and events with the groups. 

"The facts are clear: We’re on a path to successfully build an American-led clean energy future that lowers costs for American households, delivers jobs for American workers and bolsters America's energy and national security."

Fox News Digital's Thomas Catenacci contributed to this report.