Since 2020, the Rocky Mountain Institute has been hyping bogus claims about the alleged danger of natural gas stoves. That year, the Colorado-based group claimed that gas stoves “release toxic pollutants that can damage human health, but governments have done little to educate the public or accelerate the transition to all-electric cooking.”
In early 2023, RMI published a report that claimed that 12.7% of childhood asthma cases in the US “can be linked to gas stove use. In some cases, that number is much higher.” That report got widespread news coverage. But just a day or two after those stories were published, the group walked back its claims, with one RMI official telling the Washington Examiner that the new study "does not assume or estimate a causal relationship" between childhood asthma and natural gas stoves.
That RMI study conveniently ignored a definitive study published in Lancet Respiratory Medicine, which followed half a million schoolchildren in 47 countries over a multi-year period. The 2013 study concluded, “We detected no evidence of an association between the use of gas as a cooking fuel and either asthma symptoms or asthma diagnosis.”
While the kerfuffle over gas stoves has largely died down, the Colorado-based outfit remains one of the biggest and most influential climate NGOs. Furthermore, RMI is aggressively pushing efforts to implement building codes across the country that outlaw gas stoves and appliances.
RMI is pushing these policies even though 69% of voters oppose bans on gas stoves. However, the gas bans are only one aspect of RMI’s radical agenda. In 2023, it published a report with the Bezos Earth Fund, which claimed, “the fossil fuel era is over.” Furthermore, RMI says it aims to “identify and scale energy system interventions that will cut greenhouse gas emissions at least 50 percent by 2030,” and claims it is “transforming the global energy system to secure a clean, prosperous, zero-carbon future for all.”
Given its promotion of quack science, as well as its anti-consumer-far-left agenda, why is RMI getting federal funding? According to its latest annual report, RMI gets funding from the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, Department of State, Department of Transportation, General Services Administration, and the US Trade and Development Agency. It is also getting funding from the International Finance Corporation and World Bank.
Read the rest of this piece at Robert Bryce Substack.
Robert Bryce is a Texas-based author, journalist, film producer, and podcaster. His articles have appeared in a myriad of publications including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Forbes, Time, Austin Chronicle, and Sydney Morning Herald.
Photo: courtesy Robert Bryce Substack
Email this Story
