The American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF) is a fixture of the Washington business and industry establishment, with thirty years of conducting its mission to promote the belief “that a nation’s economic strength and stability depend upon well-thought-out economic, regulatory, and environmental policies to promote capital formation, economic growth, and a higher standard of living for all.” ACCF has traditionally served as a voice for the fossil fuels industry and climate change denial in Washington. Significant funders include the American Petroleum Institute, Exxon, and the now-defunct Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, once a subsidiary of the Koch Family Foundations under the control of oil billionaire Charles Koch. The Charles Koch Foundation is also a funder.

Founded in 1973, ACCF additionally has a 501(c)3 nonprofit arm, the American Council for Capital Formation Center for Policy Research, that “brings together academics, policymakers, business leaders, and the media to focus on important new research on economic, tax, energy, and climate change policies.” In 2013, ACCF received $1,042,250 in grants and paid $1,031,772 in salaries.  ACCF is currently headed by Mark Bloomfield, whom CNN called “one of the most influential figures operating behind the scenes in Congress.”  Bloomfield hosts the ACCF Economic Policy Evenings in which influential “Members of Congress, prominent journalists, and business leaders” meet to discuss policy off the record.

ACCF is known in particular for a pair of studies produced with the industry-funded National Association of Manufacturers which critics charge featured a deliberately “distorted analysis” of proposed legislation combating climate change.

In late January 2016, ahead of the Iowa caucuses, the ACCF sponsored an ad attacking ethanol as an unclean fuel source and the ethanol mandate as bad policy. The ad: