A progressive grantmaking organization with a history of supporting Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-affiliated green energy initiatives sponsored California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D.) 2023 climate-focused trip to China, records reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show.
At Newsom’s request, the Hewlett Foundation paid $300,000 to cover the California delegation’s travel expenses, according to California’s behested payment database, which tracks when public officials in the state request private funding. It was the only third-party payment Newsom requested to fund the trip.
One of the Hewlett Foundation’s largest beneficiaries is Energy Foundation China (EFC), a CCP-tied climate nonprofit that operates out of Beijing and has been accused of trafficking energy policies that promote Chinese strategic interests into America.
Over the last decade, the Hewlett Foundation has directed at least $112 million to EFC, an eye-popping sum that dwarfs the amount it has given to most of its other grant recipients, enough to make it a “key funder” of the group. The chief of Hewlett’s environment program sits on EFC’s board, another sign of the foundation’s support for the Beijing group’s mission.
EFC has been the subject of several congressional and watchdog investigations in recent years. Critics say the group, whose staff largely consists of former CCP officials, advances Chinese interests by backing causes aimed at shutting down fossil fuels and promoting green energy alternatives. While the United States is the world’s largest oil and gas producer, China dominates global green energy supply chains.
The Hewlett Foundation has also awarded grants to the Natural Resources Defense Council and Rocky Mountain Institute—two groups that have collaborated with the Chinese government—for their green energy work in China. And, in 2023, it gave $800,000 to the Peking University Education Foundation (PKUEF), which is a fund that funnels millions of dollars to Peking University—a Chinese state-run academic institution in Beijing—every year.
Between 2021 and 2023, the foundation gave another $3.6 million to the University of California, Berkeley’s California-China Climate Institute (CCCI), making it one of the institute’s primary funders. Former California Gov. Jerry Brown (D.) founded the CCCI in 2019 in partnership with the Chinese government’s climate czar Xie Zhenhua and the state-run Tsinghua University.
It all puts a renewed focus on Newsom’s 2023 trip to China. And it calls into question whether the Hewlett Foundation or the entities it funds exercised any influence over Newsom’s engagements during the trip.
During the trip, for example, Newsom participated in the Great Wall Climate Dialogue, a climate symposium supported by EFC. Newsom was photographed with EFC CEO Ji Zou, a former high-ranking Chinese climate official who helped negotiate the 2015 Paris Agreement, at a reception afterwards.
The Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries hosted the symposium. That organization is part of the CCP’s international influence and intelligence apparatus, according to a 2022 report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
One day later, Newsom visited Peking University, where he delivered remarks calling for the United States and China to work together on climate issues and change “the way we produce and consume energy.” Florence Fang and Zhao Lin, who both serve on the board of the Hewlett-backed PKUEF, attended the event.
And the Hewlett-backed CCCI took credit for planning and supporting Newsom’s entire trip. The institute said it facilitated several friendly climate agreements Newsom signed with Chinese government agencies and supported Newsom’s meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping.
It is unclear whether the Hewlett Foundation helped coordinate Newsom’s visits to the Great Wall Climate Dialogue or Peking University. It is clear, however, that groups funded by the Hewlett Foundation were given special access to Newsom on the trip and were afforded the ability to coordinate his itinerary.
Newsom also promoted an electric vehicle (EV) manufactured by a Chinese automaker as a “preview of things to come” during the trip. BYD, the company that manufactures that EV, is heavily subsidized by the Chinese government and has contracts with China’s military.
In a statement, Newsom spokesman Izzy Gardon downplayed the funding for Newsom’s China trip and said the arrangement was designed to ensure California taxpayers do not pay for the governor’s international travel.
“As is standard practice across both Republican and Democratic administrations, the California State Protocol Foundation covers the costs of the Governor’s international travel to avoid burdens on taxpayers. The Hewlett Foundation provided a grant to the Protocol Foundation, a fact that’s publicly reported in the Governor’s behested payments disclosure,” Gardon said.
The Hewlett Foundation did not respond to a request for comment.
The revelation that Newsom’s trip had the same funding source as EFC and other CCP-tied energy initiatives comes weeks after the Senate held a hearing to, in part, investigate EFC’s work in America.
“This is not about climate. It’s about global energy dominance and control,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) said during the hearing. Cruz noted a Free Beacon report showing EFC employs numerous ex-CCP officials and funnels millions of dollars into American green energy advocacy efforts.
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