The state of California is complicit in a plot by the Chinese Communist Party to undermine American energy in the name of climate activism, alleges a new report from the National Association of Scholars – and the partnership may merit an investigation by the Department of Justice.
According to Ian Oxnevad, a senior fellow for foreign affairs and security studies at the National Association of Scholars (NAS), China is influencing climate control policy as a form of economic warfare to silently destroy the U.S. He compiled and published his findings in a May report titled, “Behind the Climate Curtain: China’s Hidden Role in California’s Energy Mandates and University Partnerships.”
China has sought to control supply chains for resources that are favored by climate alarmists, such as the rare earth elements required for electric vehicles [EVs]. This “grants Beijing global economic leverage in the event of a transition to alternative energy,” Oxnevad writes in his report.
But the plan only works if the West shuts down its own traditional energy supplies and commits to the preferred energy grids of climate alarmists. As Oxnevad writes, “Fortunately for Beijing and the CCP, the green energy transition … can be fostered by policy mandates driven by progressive Western governments.”
China aims to make itself energy independent of all surrounding nations, and yet make other nations, especially America, dependent on it for energy. According to Oxnevad, the state of California is helping the CCP achieve that goal.
The CCP and CA Partner to Advance Pro-Green Research
California established its first ties with a Chinese university through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2015 between the University of California (UC) system and Tsinghua. The MoU promised that the two schools would work together to “explore future collaboration in the fields of energy and climate change.”
Tsinghua University is no ordinary college. The Australian Strategic Policy Institution has flagged Tsinghua as “High Risk” for its connections to the Chinese military. Tsinghua assists “the Chinese government in developing nuclear weapons, artificial intelligence capabilities, and nanotechnology,” Oxnevad writes. Tsinghua also has ties to cyberattacks against American companies and the state government of Alaska, as well as “human rights violations in Xinjiang Province.”
The colleges launched a formal partnership called the California-China Climate Institute (CCCI) in 2019, funded by the CCP. The report claims that the CCCI Tsinghua-UC system partnership has received funding from the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy (CIIDS), which is directly tied to the CCP. The founder of CIIDS, Zheng Bijian, was the former chair of the China Reform Forum, which is run by China’s intelligence service, the Ministry of State Security. CIIDS has also “been described as a state-backed thinktank that advises the Chinese government,” Oxnevad writes. Neither Berkeley nor the CCCO addressed the Federalist’s question about how much funding they receive from CCP-linked entities. Left-leaning foundations in America, like the Hewlett Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, also finance the CCCI.
The State of California later legally protected the partnership between the UC system and Tsinghua through Assembly Bill 39 (AB 39) in 2021.
“This is a specific agreement with … our top adversary. That’s what makes this even more egregious,” Oxnevad said to The Federalist. AB 39 was signed by Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom. As Newsom’s office reported that year, the CCCI partnership would serve as “California’s primary liaison for information sharing and communication under the MOU.” A recent exposé at the Stanford Review revealed that the partnership between CA colleges and China is still strong today.
Oxnevad said that he believes the CCP is working through California colleges because “much of California’s climate politics stems from homegrown environmentalism,” and:
Universities give you access to policy makers, the mass public, [and] the business world. There’s really no sovereignty guardrails on universities. A university can partner with any other university in the world that wants to. So, when you think about it, it was … low risk, high reward, and they succeeded in doing it.
Climate Activists Push Green Policy Through, and China Gets the Profit
The CCCI partnership isn’t just limited to academic research — it ends up shaping U.S. policy. In fact, AB 39 is policy-focused. The bill “require[s] the institute to foster collaboration to inform and shape climate policy and advance the goals of the Paris Agreement,” which the Trump Administration backed out of both in 2020 and 2025.
The report notes how “Sacramento and Beijing worked with China to create restrictive environmental policies in California” following the establishment of the CCCI. This was accomplished through “partnerships” involving Energy Foundation China — a left-wing grant-making organization with an office in Beijing — the CCCI, UCLA, and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), according to the report.
The NRDC is a non-profit founded in the 1970s for climate litigation. Today, its program staff includes multiple former Chinese government officials. For the organization’s involvement with China, the House Committee on Natural Resources “noted NRDC’s track record in self-censorship of criticism of China, regular meetings with CCP officials, and the organization’s hostility towards American interests” and demanded an explanation why the NRDC is not registered as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA).
As California continues to increase its green policies, the demand for green energy in the form of EVs, batteries, turbines, and solar panels skyrockets. China controls the market for all these items, so California is happily left with little choice but to buy from the CCP.
China and California’s joint effort to greenify the state will most likely affect policy across America — blue states tend to follow California’s policy guidelines. “[California] is a backdoor into energy policy nationally,” Oxnevad said, “because other states have pacts with California where they adopt California standards.”
A Call for Justice
Oxnevad offers a few solutions to prevent the CCP from continuing its silent economic attack on America, starting with a proper investigation by the Department of Justice. Oxnevad argues that the CCCI partnership between UC colleges and Tsinghua — among many other California-China MoU agreements — could be unconstitutional under Article I, Section 10, which prohibits a state from making treaties with foreign nations.
With AB 39, California legally solidified the CCCI partnership, which includes a foreign actor, Tsinghua. When asked how the partnership avoided violating the Supremacy Clause, a spokesman for Newsom’s office merely insisted the MOU was lawful and non-binding. He said California “can’t tackle this [climate] challenge alone” and will continue to “exchange best practices and information on reducing emissions with partners around the globe.”
The Federalist also reached out to the vice chancellor at UC Berkeley, and he deferred to the CCCI department for comment. The UC Berkeley School of Law Assistant Dean of Communications responded on their behalf, saying, “The California-China Climate Institute is an academic and policy research initiative. It … does not make treaties. Nor does it engage in policy-making in any way.” Though the state law does steer clear from calling itself a treaty, Oxnevad said that “it acts in every way just like it is a treaty, and when you actually dig into it … it is essentially a treaty by any other name.”
Oxnevad’s other major solutions mentioned in the report are to “amend and expand FARA, open federal investigations into [those] who engaged in formalized agreements with China, institute ratio funding … to help prevent university capture and increase public accountability, and enact federal and state legislation to mandate that all employees of regulatory agencies are US citizens.”
Oxnevad said that the Trump administration should simultaneously increase production of existing energy sources in the U.S., such as oil, coal, and nuclear, as well as the REE supply abroad by continuing to partner with nations other than China.
The American citizen can also help shut down the CCP through careful voting and purchasing. “The mindset … and the wallet of the American citizen is the biggest commodity that everyone wants to control and manipulate,” Oxnevad said, “It’s not just what the president does [that matters]; it’s a whole lot more than that.”
