--- title: Fossil Fuel Billionaires Boost Wealth After Inauguration description: One day after Trump's inauguration, oil and gas billionaires see their total wealth boosted by more than $3 billion. canonical: https://time.com/7209181/fossil-fuel-billionaires-wealth-trump-inauguration/ author: Rebecca Schneid article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-01-22T18:23:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-10T23:29:54.969Z article:section: Climate og:title: Fossil Fuel Billionaires Boost Wealth After Inauguration og:description: One day after Trump's inauguration, oil and gas billionaires see their total wealth boosted by more than $3 billion. og:url: https://time.com/7209181/fossil-fuel-billionaires-wealth-trump-inauguration/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92fd348f6204f619/6998b2b3d32e933820cd4bfd/GettyImages-2194387867.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-TRUMP-INAUGURATION og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Fossil Fuel Billionaires Boost Wealth After Inauguration twitter:description: One day after Trump's inauguration, oil and gas billionaires see their total wealth boosted by more than $3 billion. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92fd348f6204f619/6998b2b3d32e933820cd4bfd/GettyImages-2194387867.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Fossil Fuel Billionaires Boost Wealth by $3 Billion After Trump's Inauguration > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=2cb3a84a-bd41-41aa-b2ce-517dd629fa23&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1)  by [Rebecca Schneid](https://time.com/author/rebecca-schneid/)  ## Rebecca Schneid Reporter Jan 22, 2025 6:23 PM UTC  US President Donald Trump pumps his fist after delivering his inaugural address after being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on Jan. 20, 2025. US President Donald Trump pumps his fist after delivering his inaugural address after being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on Jan. 20, 2025. Kevin Lamarque—Pool/AFP  by [Rebecca Schneid](https://time.com/author/rebecca-schneid/)  ## Rebecca Schneid Reporter Jan 22, 2025 6:23 PM UTC President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 in Washington D.C. brought the world’s wealthiest people together to celebrate his return to the presidency, including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg, who have a combined net worth of nearly $900 billion, according to [_Forbes_](https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2025/01/20/billionaires-worth-a-combined-12-trillion-attended-trumps-inauguration-heres-who-was-there-from-musk-to-bezos/). As Trump was inaugurated, [longtime Trump supporter](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/07/20/heres-the-back-story-on-how-donald-trump-won-over-oil-billionaire-harold-hamm/) Harold Hamm—known for fracking and considered [“America’s richest oil man”](https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2023/07/31/fracking-pioneer-harold-hamm-explains-how-america-became-the-worlds-energy-superpower/) with over $18.5 billion in wealth running Continental Resources—[ hosted ](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/13/climate/inauguration-plans-harold-hamm-fossil-fuels.html)an exclusive inauguration watch party. Invitees included Trump’s pick to run the Interior Department, former Governor of North Dakota Doug Burnam. The connection between Trump’s rise and policy choices and American business leaders is especially true for the top fossil fuel billionaires, says the Climate Accountability Research Project (CARP). The group has been tracking the impact of Trump’s latest presidential campaign and election win on the wealth of 15 individual billionaires involved in the fossil fuel industry. In just one day after Trump’s inauguration, CARP says these 15 billionaires saw their combined wealth increase $3.31 billion, from $317.86 billion to $321.17 billion. And since the new year began, these individuals have made $17 billion, according to a CARP analysis using Bloomberg Data. This list of top U.S. fossil fuel billionaires includes David Koch’s widow Julia Flesher Koch, Charles Koch, the current chairman and CEO of Koch Inc., Hamm, as well as many other owners of oil and gas companies like Kinder Morgan, Enterprise Products, and Hunt Consolidated. **Read More:** [_What Trump’s Executive Orders Really Mean for the Climate_](https://time.com/7208857/trump-oil-executive-orders-climate-impact/) “A good return on investment,” Chuck Collins, co-founder of CARP tells TIME of the billionaires’ wealth increase since Trump’s election. Collins co-authored a [report](https://jumpshare.com/v/u1NYajn1fFOyb1qYCMb3) released this month by CARP tracking connections between Trump’s second run for office and U.S. oil and gas giants. According to [Yale Climate Connections,](https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/01/the-fossil-fuel-industry-spent-219-million-to-elect-the-new-u-s-government/) nearly $23 million in oil and gas industry funds went directly to candidate Trump and the PACs supporting him during his recent election campaign. At an April 2024 dinner organized with Hamm and attended by oil executives from places including Exxon and Chevron at Mar-a-Lago, Trump asked attendees to donate $1 billion to his campaign. He told these executives [they would save ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/09/trump-oil-industry-campaign-money/)that much money and more after he repealed environmental regulations and fast track drilling permits, [the Washington _Post_ reported.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/09/trump-oil-industry-campaign-money/) CARP’s analysis comes as Trump declares a “national energy emergency,” begins the process of pulling out of the [Paris Agreement](https://time.com/7208955/trump-paris-climate-agreement-withdraw-impact/), and promises to speed fossil fuel project approvals. In his declaration of a “[National Energy Emergency](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/declaring-a-national-energy-emergency/),” Trump cited the need to lower energy costs and to boost oil and natural gas production across the country, in line with his mantra throughout his campaign: [“drill, baby, drill.”](https://time.com/6972021/donald-trump-2024-election-interview/) Trump stayed the same course in his inauguration day address: “We have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have—the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth, and we are going to use it. We’re going to use it.” His remarks received a standing ovation at Hamm’s inauguration watch party at Hay-Adams hotel in downtown Washington, the[ New York _Times_ reported.](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/20/climate/trump-emergency-oil-gas.html) Collins says Trump’s election and his immediate executive orders are a “dream” for oil and gas executives—a dream they can only expect to get better. “It's a huge windfall for the industry, and it's kind of a beginning,” Collins said. “This is the payback for investing millions and millions of dollars to get Trump elected, and clearing the way for members of Congress who are pro industry and climate deniers. 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