Yet court filings and tax records show that he is a billion- dollar non-plastic straw stirring a global network of climate policy influence. Critics have called XR a cult, citing co- founder Gail Bradbrook’s admission that a bender on psychedelic drugs inspired her epiphany that humanity is at the brink of extinction. Undeterred, Hohn said he had donated £50,000 (about $65,000) to XR personally and a separate £150,000 (roughly $196,000) through the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, a hybrid charity/hedge fund he founded and operates. Amid wide alarm about foreign meddling in American politics, Hohn’s support for an organization advocating an uprising against the U.S. government has drawn little notice. Yet court filings and tax records show that he is a billion-dollar non-plastic straw stirring a global network of climate policy influence. He thus illustrates the reach of politically driven philanthropy and the potential of wealthy foreigners to sidestep U.S. lobbying laws by using complex financial arrangements to pursue both civic and self-interested goals. A notable distinction of Hohn’s operation is its apparent investment hedges in both green businesses and fossil fuels that the anticipated “green economy” aims to replace. Even though air travel is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, Hohn’s fund has major positions in the airplane manufacturer
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global organization called Extinction Rebellion has rapidly risen to become the most disruptive environmental movement on earth. Since its founding in 2018, the collective, abbreviated as XR, has organized an escalating series of anarchical protests across the globe to “halt mass extinction and
minimize the risk of social collapse.” In June, New York police arrested 66 members of the group who were
demonstrating outside the New York Times building. In September, the collective claimed that 2,000 of its volunteers “seized” 22 intersections in Washington, D.C., and police arrested 32 people in the ensuing gridlock. A few high-profile Americans – including Rory Kennedy and Aileen Getty – have disclosed their financial support for the group, whose U.S.-based organization claims dozens of affiliates nationwide agitating for “rebellion against the U.S. government for its criminal inaction on the ecological crisis.” But XR’s largest disclosed individual donor to date is a reclusive British billionaire, Sir Christopher Hohn. “Humanity is aggressively destroying the world with climate change and there is an urgent need for us all to wake up to this fact,” he told The Telegraph recently in confirming his support for the group.
Airbus and in two Spanish companies – Ferrovial and Aena – which own London’s Heathrow Airport and the London Luton Airport, respectively.
American Consequences
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