An environmental group facing scrutiny for its ties to China honored a leader of a major left-leaning grantmaking foundation that has given millions of dollars to China-connected entities.
The Environmental Law Institute on Tuesday honored Julie Packard, vice chair of the board of trustees for the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, with its 2026 Environmental Achievement Award. Packard’s group has funded a range of Chinese institutions including universities scrutinized by Congress, a public foundation, and a research institute.
Earlier this month, 23 state attorneys general signed a letter asking the National Judicial College, which offers continuing education for judges, to sever its connections with the Environmental Law Institute.
The letter cited a June report from State Armor, a national security think tank, saying the institute has maintained a longstanding relationship with Chinese government-affiliated organizations and institutions while it also ran the Climate Judiciary Project, which offered continuing education for judges on legal issues related to environmental cases.
“ELI’s decision to honor Julie Packard, whose family foundation has funneled millions of dollars to Chinese institutions, including CCP-linked groups, is further evidence of an extensive network of relationships that warrants serious scrutiny,” Michael Lucci, founder and CEO of State Armor, said in a statement.
“While ELI promotes climate-related policies and judicial education programs that undermine American energy interests, its relationships with Chinese institutions raise questions about foreign influence and whose interests are being served.”
The Daily Signal reached out to the Environmental Law Institute and the Packard Foundation for this story by phone and email.
An ELI spokesperson previously told The Daily Signal that the organization ended its China Program in 2024 and that the China Program never overlapped with the judicial education program. It said its work in China “was no different than our typical work in the United States—sharing evidence-based best practices on environmental regulation, not advancing the interests of the Chinese government or the Chinese Communist Party.”
The Packard Foundation funded two Chinese universities that were eventually scrutinized by a House committee.
The foundation’s Form 990 from 2021 notes a $420,000 donation to Shanghai Jiao Tong University from 2019, and the 2022 Form 990 noted a $156,400 grant to the university. The Packard Foundation donated $306,000 in 2023 and $200,000 in 2024 to environmental initiatives at Xiamen University.
Last year, the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party issued a report raising concerns about Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Xiamen University, asserting that those and other universities use visas to access information for China’s military.
The Packard Foundation donated $500,000 to the China Environmental Protection Foundation in 2023.
It donated a total of $420,000 to the Hainan Zhiyu Sustainability Science and Technology Development Research Center through separate grants in 2023, 2024 and 2025. The grants totaled $100,000 in 2023, $100,000 in 2024 and $220,000 in 2025.
This year, the Packard Foundation provided a $3.8 million grant to the Energy Foundation to support programs intended to reduce China’s dependence on coal, expand renewable energy and improve air quality, consistent with China’s stated goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. The foundation gave the organization a $7.6 million grant in 2023 for general support. The Energy Foundation is U.S.-based, but has worked with China.
An organization that works “hand-in-hand with China while targeting American companies” deserves serious scrutiny, argued Mike Martin, a former National Security Council spokesman in the first Trump administration.
“The CCP knows that organizations like ELI and the Packard Foundation pose little threat to its own operations,” Martin said. “Instead, Beijing stands to benefit when these groups undermine American energy production and weaken U.S. competitiveness. Whether intentional or not, ELI’s efforts risk advancing China’s interests at America’s expense and warrant a full investigation.”
Apart from her work with her family foundation, Julie Packard praised funding from American foundations for climate-policy work during a 2023 State Department briefing.
“I know the U.S. funding foundations have contributed many hundreds of millions of dollars toward climate solution analyses, toward developing policy options, model policies – for example, when countries like China are developing their policies for appliance standards, as people move into the middle class, that can have a huge impact,” Packard said at the November 2023 State Department forum.
State Armor, which produced the report cited by the state attorneys general, is using targeted digital and mobile billboards outside the awards event to demand an investigation into the Environmental Law Institute’s China ties.
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[ H/T The Daily Signal ]
