Joe Rogan is no stranger to creating viral moments that end up getting debunked. A former U.S. climate negotiator recently called out Rogan's claims that "big money" is influencing energy policy that favors a transition to renewable or clean sources over fuels like gas, oil, and coal.
As part of her work, Lia Newman (@liaandtheworld) regularly breaks down how climate news and policy affect people in their everyday lives.
On TikTok, she explains why Rogan's assertion that "big money" is unduly pouring in to get people to buy a climate narrative doesn't make sense. Rogan made the claim in a conversation with Richard Lindzen — who disputes the scientific consensus on climate change — on his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, which has tens of millions of listeners.
"The data shows the exact opposite," Newman begins.
@liaandtheworld Joe Rogan says there's big money pushing a transition away from fossil fuels… but the data shows the exact opposite. Fossil fuel companies are consistently among the most profitable companies on Earth, and the industry spent $219 million in the last U.S. election cycle — 100x more than clean energy PACs. Meanwhile, the guests he brings on to talk climate — like Lindzen & Happer — are fringe voices whose claims have been repeatedly debunked by the scientific community, but heavily amplified by fossil-fuel–funded networks for decades. There is no "Big Green" conspiracy. There's Big Oil — with a 50-year track record of financing disinformation to delay climate policy. #climatechange #fossilfuel #cop30 #amazon #climateaction ♬ original sound - liaandtheworld
Newman highlights how Big Oil is consistently one of the most profitable industries, raking in more than the lucrative technology and finance sectors.
As an example, some of the world's biggest oil companies, including Exxon, Chevron, Shell, BP, and TotalEnergies, reported record profits for 2022 at nearly $200 billion and more than $100 billion for all of 2024, according to Energy Monitor and Energy Profits.
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Meanwhile, clean energy accounts for only around 30% of the global energy mix.
Newman also notes that renewable-energy political action committees, or PACs, spent about 100 times less on elections and lobbying than oil and gas companies in 2024. Open Secrets data, also cited by Yale Climate Connections, shows oil and gas companies gave upward of $219 million to candidates that year, compared to just $2.5 million from renewable PACs.
She goes on to point out that the fossil fuel industry "invented the modern disinformation playbook," referencing internal documents showing that Exxon executives knew how air pollution from their fuels warmed the climate as far back as the 1970s.
A Senate investigation initiated in 2021, which also named Shell, BP, Chevron, and the American Petroleum Institute, built on those findings. Still, Newman said these companies chose to invest in front groups to discredit the science and sow confusion among the public.
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"So yeah, the only big money is in Big Oil," Newman concludes. "So it seems Joe Rogan and the regularly discredited climate contrarian Richard Lindzen have drunk the fossil fuel Kool-Aid."
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