Report shows Environmental Law Institute’s climate activism serves Communist China while harming America
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 2, 2026
AUSTIN, TX – Today, State Armor, a non-profit dedicated to helping states enact solutions to global security threats, released a new report titled, ELI and Communist China: How the Environmental Law Institute Threatens American Energy and Advances Chinese Interests.
The report alleges that the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) has engaged in a sustained effort that advances the strategic interests of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at the expense of American energy security – cultivating relationships with Chinese government entities, CCP-linked institutions, and state-affiliated actors while promoting legal and judicial frameworks in the United States that increase climate-related litigation.
“ELI and China are strategically tied at the hip. While ELI trains American judges to embrace legal theories that threaten U.S. energy production and industrial strength, it simultaneously gives a free pass to China to continue its massive emissions growth,” said State Armor Founder and CEO Michael Lucci. “ELI has embedded itself with CCP-linked universities, government ministries, and state-aligned law firms while operating in an environment where cooperation with Chinese intelligence services is mandated by law. The result is a one-way vector that attacks American energy security while advancing China’s geopolitical interests. This puts U.S. national security at risk.”
Through its Climate Judiciary Project (CJP), ELI has trained more than 2,000 U.S. judges on climate law through programs specifically designed to influence how courts approach climate litigation. According to the report, CJP’s materials and presenters promote legal frameworks that make judges more receptive to lawsuits targeting American energy producers, allowing major energy policy decisions to be driven through the courts rather than Congress. The result is greater legal and regulatory pressure on U.S. energy production, weakened industrial competitiveness, and increased dependence on foreign supply chains – all of which help China while hurting America.
Through its China programs, ELI has provided Chinese government-affiliated institutions with access to U.S. legal and regulatory expertise while maintaining extensive relationships with CCP-linked universities, regulators, judges, and law firms. Even as China remains the world’s largest emitter and continues expanding its industrial output, ELI promotes a framework that gives China strategic and economic advantages while the United States faces growing constraints.
This dual-track strategy shields China from comparable legal and regulatory pressure while weakening America’s industrial and energy base, creating national security concerns that extend beyond bad environmental policy and stray toward malign foreign influence and judicial activism, with impacts on our strategic competition with a designated adversary.
Michael Lucci, Founder and CEO of State Armor, provided the following statement slamming ELI and urging policymakers to open investigations:
“This arrangement benefits China in two ways in the type of classic ‘win-win’ scenario where the CCP wins twice,” said Lucci. “First, American energy security is damaged and America is left more reliant on Chinese ‘red tech’ that analysts find comes full of backdoors and kill switches, such as with their solar inverters. Next, ELI’s relationship with China provides China with updates on administrative and regulatory developments in the U.S. that serve almost like intelligence briefings. This all begs the obvious question: if ELI is motivated by the thought that it can change China’s behavior through its information exchanges, why wouldn’t China believe it can influence American energy policy through ELI?
“At best, ELI is a useful idiot for the CCP, and at worst, it is intentionally advancing Chinese interests. Congress and the Trump Administration should open investigations into ELI to bring transparency to its China operations to ensure they do not imperil our national security.”
Click to view the full version of the report ELI and Communist China: How the Environmental Law Institute Threatens American Energy and Advances Chinese Interests.
