President Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20th in Washington, D.C., drew together some of the world’s wealthiest individuals, including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg, whose collective net worth approaches $900 billion.
Concurrent with Trump’s inauguration, Harold Hamm, a prominent figure in the fracking industry with a net worth exceeding $18.5 billion as head of Continental Resources, hosted an exclusive inauguration viewing event. Among the attendees was Doug Burnam, Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of the Interior.
The Climate Accountability Research Project (CARP) highlights a strong correlation between Trump’s political ascent, policy decisions, and the fortunes of leading American business figures, particularly fossil fuel billionaires. CARP has monitored the impact of Trump’s recent election victory on the wealth of 15 fossil fuel billionaires.
Within 24 hours of Trump’s inauguration, CARP reports a $3.31 billion increase in the collective wealth of these 15 billionaires, rising from $317.86 billion to $321.17 billion. Since the start of the year, their combined wealth has grown by $17 billion, according to CARP’s analysis of Bloomberg data.
This group of prominent U.S. fossil fuel billionaires includes Julia Flesher Koch (David Koch’s widow), Charles Koch (chairman and CEO of Koch Inc.), Hamm, and numerous other owners of oil and gas companies such as Kinder Morgan, Enterprise Products, and Hunt Consolidated.
“A significant return on investment,” Chuck Collins, CARP co-founder, commented to TIME regarding the billionaires’ wealth increase since Trump’s election. Collins co-authored a report released by CARP this month examining the links between Trump’s second presidential campaign and major U.S. oil and gas companies.
According to reports, nearly $23 million in oil and gas industry funds were directly contributed to Trump’s campaign and supporting PACs during his recent election.
At a dinner in April 2024 at Mar-a-Lago, organized by Hamm and attended by oil executives from companies including Exxon and Chevron, Trump solicited a $1 billion campaign donation. He suggested that significantly greater sums would follow the repeal of environmental regulations and expedited drilling permit approvals.
CARP’s analysis coincides with Trump’s declaration of a “national energy emergency,” his initiation of withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, and his pledge to accelerate fossil fuel project approvals. In his “national energy emergency” declaration, Trump cited the need to reduce energy costs and increase domestic oil and natural gas production, aligning with his consistent campaign message:
Trump reiterated this stance in his inaugural address: “We possess something no other manufacturing nation will ever have—the largest reserves of oil and gas of any country on Earth, and we will utilize them. We will fully utilize them.” His remarks prompted a standing ovation at Hamm’s inauguration viewing party at the Hay-Adams hotel in Washington, D.C.
Collins characterizes Trump’s election and subsequent executive orders as a “dream scenario” for oil and gas executives—a dream with the potential for further improvement.
“It’s a substantial windfall for the industry, and it’s just the beginning,” Collins stated. “This is the payoff for investing millions upon millions of dollars to elect Trump and pave the way for pro-industry, climate-change-denying members of Congress. This is precisely what they paid for.”
