Climate Deniers to Converge on Reform Conference

Campaigners say Farage is showing โ€œopen contemptโ€ for the British public.
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A screenshot of Reform's 2025 party conference agenda. Credit: Reform UK

Nigel Farageโ€™s Reform UK is hosting a number of radical anti-climate groups at its conference this weekend, DeSmog can report.

They include the Heartland Institute, a group close to Donald Trumpโ€™s administration, which has called human-induced climate change a โ€œdelusionโ€.

The conference will also play host to Net Zero Watch, the campaign arm of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, which has claimed that carbon dioxide has been โ€œmercilessly demonisedโ€.

Reform is also giving a platform to a number of groups belonging to the Tufton Street network โ€“ an alliance of anti-government campaign outfits that lobby for more fossil fuel extraction and keep their donors a secret.

For the second year in a row, DeSmog has been banned from attending the event, which will be held in Birmingham.

The conference will also feature Together, a prominent anti-vaccine conspiracy theory group that has launched a campaign against the UKโ€™s 2050 net zero emissions target.

โ€œBy giving a platform to climate deniers like Net Zero Watch and the Heartland Institute, Reform is showing open contempt for the British public already living with the realities of climate breakdown,โ€ said Tessa Khan, executive director of the research and campaign group Uplift.

โ€œHomes are being flooded again and again, farmers are losing billions to drought, and Scotlandโ€™s firefighters are battling wildfires. This is not theory โ€“ itโ€™s peopleโ€™s lives and livelihoods at stake,โ€ Khan said.

โ€œReformโ€™s deluded energy policy wilfully ignores the fact that the UK has already burnt most of its gas. Official projections show, even with new drilling, the UK will be 94 percent reliant on expensive, dirty imports by 2050. All this while Reform seeks to block the UK from profiting from some of the worldโ€™s best resources for offshore wind.

โ€œOur dangerous dependence on fossil fuels is exactly why energy bills are so high and why millions of families across the UK have been driven into fuel poverty. Reform knows this. And it simply does not care.โ€

Most senior Reform politicians, including Farage, deny basic climate science. At the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference in February, the Reform leader said it was โ€œabsolutely nutsโ€ for CO2 to be considered a pollutant. In the same month, Farageโ€™s deputy Richard Ticeย toldย Sky News: โ€œThereโ€™s no evidence that man-made CO2 is going to change the climate. Given that itโ€™s gone on for millions of years, it will go on for millions of years.โ€

Last month, Reformโ€™s Great Lincolnshire Mayor Andrea Jenkynsย saidย in an interview with Times Radio: โ€œDo I believe that climate change exists? No.โ€

They have expressed these views despite representing areas exposed to the worst effects of extreme heat.

Reformย receivedย 92 percent of its donations between the 2019 and 2024 UK elections from polluting sources and climate science deniers, while its treasurer Nick Candy has claimed the party is actively raising money from oil executives.

In Farageโ€™s constituency of Clacton, 68 percent of the public is worried about rising temperatures,ย accordingย to a YouGov poll published last August โ€“ slightly above the national average of 66 percent.

A recent report by the New Economics Foundationย found thatย Reformโ€™s climate policies would cost more than 60,000 jobs and wipe ยฃ92 billion off the UK economy.The science of climate change is also unequivocal: scientists at the UNโ€™s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) haveย stressedย that โ€œit is a statement of fact, we cannot be any more certain; it is unequivocal and indisputable that humans are warming the planetโ€.

DeSmog previously revealed that Reform is offering access to Farage during the conference in exchange for hefty donations. A sum of ยฃ250,000 buys 10 seats at a champagne breakfast with the Reform leader during the two-day event, as well as โ€œchauffeur-driven travelโ€, a personal assistant, and the sponsorโ€™s logo on main conference stage and battle bus.

Reform didnโ€™t respond to DeSmogโ€™s request for comment.

Below is a summary of the key anti-climate groups to be given a platform at Reformโ€™s conference.

Heartland Institute

The Heartland Institute is a U.S. climate science denial group with close ties to the Trump administration.

It has denied that humans are driving climate change, which it hasย calledย a โ€œdelusionโ€. The group claims it is โ€œthe worldโ€™s most prominent think tank supporting scepticism about man-made climate changeโ€.

Heartlandย receivedย at least $676,000 between 1998 and 2007 from U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil, and has received donations from foundations linked to the owners ofย Koch Industriesย โ€“ a fossil fuel giant and aย leading sponsorย of climate science denial.

The Heartland Institute previously told DeSmog that it โ€stands resolute in its mission to advance sound science, economic prosperity, and individual libertyโ€. It added that โ€œour support comes from a diverse array of individuals and organisations who share our vision for a freer, more prosperous world.โ€

Heartland was one of the groups involved in drafting Project 2025, the radical blueprint for Trumpโ€™s second term, whichย proposed reversing climate policies, slashing restrictions on fossil fuel extraction, scrapping state investment in renewable energy, and gutting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).ย 

Earlier this month, President Trumpย hiredย Roy Spencer, a policy advisor at the Heartland Institute and a former fellow at theย Heritage Foundationย โ€“ the key group behind Project 2025 โ€“ as an advisor to the Department of Energy.

Heartlandโ€™s UK-EU directorย Lois Perry has claimed that the institute boasts โ€œvery strong affiliationsโ€ with โ€œcertain big individualsโ€ in Trumpโ€™s team.

Nigel Farage attended a fundraising dinner for the institute in September 2024 during which heย calledย for more fossil fuel extraction and the victory of Trump in Novemberโ€™s presidential election, saying: โ€œLetโ€™s get Trump back; letโ€™s drill baby drillโ€.

He also advocated what he called โ€œa bit of reverse colonialismโ€.

โ€œMaybe itโ€™s time that Heartland came and set up in Britain and Europe and brought some of the wisdom that youโ€™ve brought to the American debate,โ€ he said โ€“ adding: โ€œIโ€™d love to see Heartland on the other side of the pond.โ€

Farage soon got his wish. In December, Heartland announced it was setting up a UK-EU branch. The Reform leader was the โ€œspecial guest of honourโ€ at the groupโ€™sย launch eventย in London, which also featured disgraced former Conservative prime minister Liz Truss.

Cementing his Heartland links, Farage headlined an invite-only event in June this year entitled โ€œNet Zero: The New Brexit?โ€ held atย 55 Tufton Street.

Asย revealedย by DeSmog, Heartland has been working closely with far-right politicians in Europe to undermine the blocโ€™s green reforms.

Perry, who is speaking at Reformโ€™s conference, has previously said she does not believe climate change is caused by humans. She has said itโ€™s her โ€œpersonal beliefโ€ that climate change โ€œis happeningโ€ but โ€œis not man madeโ€.

Like Farage, Perry is a former leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP). She used to run the anti-net zero pressure groupย CAR26, which has claimed that carbon dioxide is โ€œessential to all lifeโ€ and that its โ€œwelcome growth has greened our planet saving countless human and other livesโ€.

She recently claimed on a Heartland Institute podcast that she โ€œknows for a factโ€ Farage credits Heartland with helping to shape Reformโ€™s climate policies.

The Heartland Institute was approached for comment.

Institute of Economic Affairs

The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) is a radical anti-government campaign group that is part of the Tufton Street network.

The IEA, which has close ties to Liz Truss, advocates for increased fossil fuel production and against state-led climate action.

The IEA is a prominent supporter of the continued and extended use of fossil fuels. The group has advocated for the ban to be lifted on fracking for shale gas,ย callingย it the โ€œmoral and economic choiceโ€. The IEA has alsoย saidย that the ban on new North Sea oil and gas licences is โ€œmadnessโ€, hasย criticisedย the windfall tax imposed by the UK on fossil fuel firms, andย saidย that the previous governmentโ€™s commitment to โ€œmax outโ€ the UKโ€™s oil and gas reserves was a โ€œwelcome stepโ€.

In 2018, Greenpeaceโ€™s investigative journalism unit Unearthedย revealedย that the IEA had received funding from oil major BP every year since 1967. In response to the story, an IEA spokeswoman said: โ€œIt is surely uncontroversial that the IEAโ€™s principles coincide with the interests of our donors.โ€ย 

The IEA alsoย receivedย a ยฃ21,000 grant from U.S. oil major ExxonMobil in 2005. The IEA is a member ofย Atlas Network, a Washington-based umbrella organisation that suppors over 450 โ€œfree marketโ€ groups around the world. Both the IEA and Atlas were founded by Antony Fisher. Fisherโ€™s daughter, Linda Whetstone, was chair of the Atlas Network as well as a director of the IEA until her death in December 2021.

The IEA does not publicly declare its donors, and itโ€™s not known if the pressure group has received funding from BP or ExxonMobil in more recent years.

The group is currently under investigation by the Charity Commission. The IEA was approached for comment.

TaxPayersโ€™ Alliance

The TaxPayersโ€™ Alliance (TPA), based in 55 Tufton Street, also campaigns in favour of fossil fuel extraction and against climate policies.

The group, which claims to be a grassroots movement while being supported by anonymous private donors, has supported ending the windfall tax on oil companies, scrapping the UKโ€™s 2050 net zero target, and restarting fracking.

The TPA was approached for comment.

Net Zero Watch

Reformโ€™s conference will also feature Net Zero Watch โ€“ one of the UKโ€™s most notorious anti-climate campaign groups โ€“ on a panel entitled โ€œDrill baby drill: abandoning net zero and restoring energy abundanceโ€.

Net Zero Watch is the campaign arm of theย Global Warming Policy Foundationย (GWPF), which is led by Conservative peer Lord Craig Mackinlay.

Net Zero Watch hasย urgedย the government to โ€œrecommit to fossil fuelsโ€, including โ€œa new fleet of coal fired power stationsโ€, and has calledย forย renewable energy from wind and solar to be โ€œwound down completelyโ€. From May 2023 to 2025, Reformโ€™s Andrea Jenkyns sat on the Net Zero Watch board.

In aย reportย published last March, the GWPF claimed it was โ€œnaive and entirely unrealisticโ€ to believe that CO2 is causing climate change, that record global temperatures are โ€œnormalโ€, and that โ€œthere is no observational evidence for any global climate crisisโ€.

The group has previouslyย expressedย the view that carbon dioxide has been โ€œmercilessly demonisedโ€, when in fact it is a โ€œbenefit to the planetโ€ and should be โ€œtwo or three timesโ€ higher than its current level.

Net Zero Watch campaign director will be speaking alongside Kathryn Porter, a fossil fuel industry consultant who has written several reports for the GWPF and Net Zero Watch.

Net Zero Watch and the GWPF were approached for comment.

Prosperity Institute

The Prosperity Institute โ€“ formerly known as the Legatum Institute โ€“ is hosting several events at Reform conference.

A pro-Brexit think tank, the Prosperity Institute is run by the Dubai-based investment firm Legatum Group, which co-owns the anti-climate broadcaster GB News alongside hedge fund mogul Paul Marshall.ย GB News employs Farage to the tune of more than ยฃ300,000 a year.

In May, after Reformโ€™s local election gains, Prosperity published anย article entitled โ€œFarage has the power to defund Net Zeroโ€ which claimed that โ€œenergy billsย haveย skyrocketed, industriesย haveย fled and living standardsย haveย fallenโ€ due to the UKโ€™s climate policies.

Accordingย to the Spectator Australia, at a Prosperity Institute event in July, Farage said he would need the think tank to bring โ€œfresh young talent into current affairsโ€ and provide โ€œpolicy solutions we can give to the electorate next time roundโ€.

He said โ€œthe great revolution that took place from 1979โ€ โ€“ a reference to the election of Margaret Thatcher โ€“ was based on the โ€œhard work and good thinkingโ€ of neo-liberal economists like Keith Joseph and Milton Friedman.

โ€œThat in many ways is your role todayโ€, he told the Prosperity Institute audience โ€“ urging the group to produce โ€œthe ammunitionโ€ to โ€œthose of us on the front linesโ€.

As revealed by DeSmog, the Prosperity Institute previously donated ยฃ50,000 to the New Conservatives โ€“ a faction of the Conservative Party.

Centre for a Better Britain

The conference will also feature the Centre for a Better Britain โ€“ a new Reform-aligned think tank set to launch this month.

The group is funded by Mark Thompson, an investor with interests in metals, fossil fuels, and renewable energy, and his business associateย David Lilley, a senior metals trader and former Conservative donor who has given over ยฃ270,000 to Reform.

The Centre for a Better Britain, which is attempting to raise ยฃ25 million โ€“ including from Trump donors โ€“ intends to โ€œsupport Reform with policy development, briefing and rebuttal,โ€ย according toย plans seen by the Financial Times.

The think tank is chaired by James Orr, a Cambridge academic who has been described as the โ€œphilosopher kingโ€ of U.S. Vice President JD Vance.

Orr has expressed radical anti-climate positions, claiming in an interview with the European Conservative last month that the UKโ€™s energy policies are โ€œcrazyโ€ and that the pursuit of net zero is โ€œfiscal suicideโ€.

At an event in Hungary last month hosted by the oil-funded think tank Mathias Corvinus Collegiumย (MCC), Orr also accused the UK of adopting a โ€œnaive and dangerousโ€ approach to Russiaโ€™s invasion of Ukraine and instead praised Hungaryโ€™s approach, which has seen the country systematically block and delayย EU military aid packages, andย sanctions on Russian oligarchs.

In the European Conservative interview, Orr suggested the war was a โ€œregional Slavic conflictโ€.

โ€œIt is a conflict happening in the world that I donโ€™t care very much about,โ€ he added.

Farage, whoย used to appearย regularly on state broadcaster Russia Today, has previouslyย saidย that Putin is the world leader that he most admires, though he has also called him a โ€œbad manโ€.

Together and Farmers to Action

Established in 2021 to oppose mandatory Covid-19 protection measures, such as lockdowns and vaccines, Together has since launched a โ€œno to net zeroโ€ campaign that calls for the UK to scrap climate policies.

In January last year, the group said it was โ€œincredibleโ€ that the then prime minister Rishi Sunak should โ€œmindlessly assert โ€˜Covid vaccines are safeโ€™โ€ inย a post on X. It has alsoย backedย a report which called for the government to pause its vaccination programme over a number of widely debunked conspiracy theories about its safety, including that theย vaccine alters human DNA.ย 

Together has recently partnered with Farmers To Action โ€“ a protest group also set to feature at Reformโ€™s conference. The group has used recent anti-inheritance tax campaigns to spread anti-climate views.

The leader of Farmers to Action, Justin Rogers, has claimed that โ€œclimate change is one of the biggest scams that has ever been toldโ€, propagated by โ€œour governments and their puppet masters.โ€ย He has also claimed that oil and gas are renewable, and that carbon dioxide cannot be dangerous because it โ€œfeeds plantsโ€.ย 

At an event co-hosted by Together and Farmers to Action in February,ย Farageย endorsed a conspiracy theory popular among the far-right.

Speaking in front of around 50 tractors at Belmont Farm in North London, Farageย insinuatedย that the Labour government had a โ€œsinister agendaโ€ to acquire โ€œlots of land because theyโ€™re planning for another five million people to come into the countryโ€.ย 

This claim is borne from the โ€œGreat Replacementโ€ conspiracy theory, which holds that progressive immigration policies are a mechanism to replace white people in the West, and has beenย citedย byย Donald Trumpย in recent months.

Farmers to Action and Together were approached for comment.

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Sam is DeSmogโ€™s UK Deputy Editor. He was previously the Investigations Editor of Byline Times and an investigative journalist at the BBC. He is the author of two books: Fortress London, and Bullingdon Club Britain.

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