Climate Groups May Be Inflating Prices For Consumers, GOP Officials Warn

Climate activist organizations aimed at transforming the plastic industry may be illegally raising costs for consumers in the name of sustainability, a group of Republican attorneys general warned Wednesday.

Led by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, the officials said that the environmental groups GreenBlue, the Consumer Goods Forum, and U.S. Plastics Pact may each be violating consumer protection and antitrust laws. They demanded that the groups provide more information about their efforts to transform the plastic industry, according to a series of Wednesday letters obtained by The Daily Wire. 

“Radical environmental activists do not have the right, nor the avenue, to suppress business operations in our market,” Uthmeier told The Daily Wire. “We will not allow these activist organizations to push misguided policies that can’t win at the ballot box and inflate prices for Florida consumers.”

Uthmeier said that Republican officials had “reason to believe” that the groups were “hindering states’ economic prosperity by coordinating business behavior.”

The other attorneys general who signed onto the letters include Brenna Bird (Iowa), Austin Knudsen (Montana), Mike Hilgers (Nebraska), and Ken Paxton (Texas).

They said that the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, one of GreenBlue’s projects, raised red flags about encouraging anti-competitive practices. The goal of the project is “to bring sustainable packaging stakeholders together to catalyze actionable improvements to packaging systems and lend an authoritative voice on issues related to packaging sustainability.”

The project was first launched in 2004 and includes businesses, educational institutions, organizations, and government agencies. 

“We have grave concerns that this mission is harmful to our States’ economies, results in higher costs to our States’ consumers, unreasonably restrains trade, and reduces output and quality of goods and services,” the officials wrote in a letter to GreenBlue. 

This project’s agenda “appeared designed” to “artificially implement” strategies “that affect the output and quality of goods and services in a uniform manner, in a way that normal, unrestrained market forces would not otherwise bring about,” the letter said. 

The Consumer Goods Forum received a similar letter. Its mission is to bring “together consumer goods manufacturers and retailers in pursuit of business practices for efficiency and positive change across our industry benefiting shoppers, consumers and the world without impeding competition.”

It does this by encouraging collaboration between companies, national and local governments, multinational organizations, and the recycling industry.

“These goals appear to be designed to ensure as many stakeholders as possible, across entire markets, artificially implement a ‘new approach’ that affects the output and quality of goods and services in a uniform manner, in a way that normal, unrestrained market forces would not otherwise bring about,” the officials wrote. 

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A third letter to the U.S. Plastic Pact took aim at the group’s mission to “facilitate the transition to a circular economy for plastic packaging in the U.S. by bringing together resources and expertise across the entire plastics value chain.”

Goals of the pact include making 100% of plastic packaging reusable or compostable by 2025, in addition to making products from an average of 30% recycled materials. 

“In other words, it appears that the Pact uses these targets to ensure as many stakeholders as possible, across entire markets, artificially change the output and quality of their goods and services in a uniform manner, in a way that normal, unrestrained market forces would not otherwise bring about,” the Republican officials wrote.

Will Hild, the executive director of Consumers’ Research, praised the efforts of the Republican attorneys general.

“Consumers should not be forced to accept costly climate mandates from activist-driven organizations. These groups appear to be colluding to impose ESG metrics and a radical climate agenda across entire industries, raising costs and reducing choices for everyday Americans,” he told The Daily Wire. “By driving coordinated, politically-motivated rules into the market, these organizations are likely violating antitrust law and threaten the free market.”