Nigel Farageโs 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 Trumpโs administration, which has called human-induced climate change a โdelusionโ.
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 โmercilessly 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 UKโs 2050 net zero emissions target.
โBy 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.
โHomes are being flooded again and again, farmers are losing billions to drought, and Scotlandโs firefighters are battling wildfires. This is not theory โ itโs peopleโs lives and livelihoods at stake,โ Khan said.
โReformโs 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 worldโs best resources for offshore wind.
โOur 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
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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 โabsolutely nutsโ for CO2 to be considered a pollutant. In the same month, Farageโs deputy Richard Ticeย toldย Sky News: โThereโs no evidence that man-made CO2 is going to change the climate. Given that itโs gone on for millions of years, it will go on for millions of years.โ
Last month, Reformโs Great Lincolnshire Mayor Andrea Jenkynsย saidย in an interview with Times Radio: โDo 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 Farageโs 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 Reformโs 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 UNโs Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) haveย stressedย that โit 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 โchauffeur-driven travelโ, a personal assistant, and the sponsorโs logo on main conference stage and battle bus.
Reform didnโt respond to DeSmogโs request for comment.
Below is a summary of the key anti-climate groups to be given a platform at Reformโs 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 โdelusionโ. The group claims it is โthe worldโs 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 โstands resolute in its mission to advance sound science, economic prosperity, and individual libertyโ. It added that โour 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 Trumpโs 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.
Heartlandโs UK-EU directorย Lois Perry has claimed that the institute boasts โvery strong affiliationsโ with โcertain big individualsโ in Trumpโs 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 Novemberโs presidential election, saying: โLetโs get Trump back; letโs drill baby drillโ.
He also advocated what he called โa bit of reverse colonialismโ.
โMaybe itโs time that Heartland came and set up in Britain and Europe and brought some of the wisdom that youโve brought to the American debate,โ he said โ adding: โIโd 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 โspecial guest of honourโ at the groupโsย 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 โNet 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 blocโs green reforms.
Perry, who is speaking at Reformโs conference, has previously said she does not believe climate change is caused by humans. She has said itโs her โpersonal beliefโ that climate change โis happeningโ but โis 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 โessential to all lifeโ and that its โwelcome growth has greened our planet saving countless human and other livesโ.
She recently claimed on a Heartland Institute podcast that she โknows for a factโ Farage credits Heartland with helping to shape Reformโs 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 โmoral and economic choiceโ. The IEA has alsoย saidย that the ban on new North Sea oil and gas licences is โmadnessโ, hasย criticisedย the windfall tax imposed by the UK on fossil fuel firms, andย saidย that the previous governmentโs commitment to โmax outโ the UKโs oil and gas reserves was a โwelcome stepโ.
In 2018, Greenpeaceโs 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: โIt is surely uncontroversial that the IEAโs principles coincide with the interests of our donors.โย
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 โfree marketโ groups around the world. Both the IEA and Atlas were founded by Antony Fisher. Fisherโs 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 itโs 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 UKโs 2050 net zero target, and restarting fracking.
The TPA was approached for comment.
Net Zero Watch
Reformโs conference will also feature Net Zero Watch โ one of the UKโs most notorious anti-climate campaign groups โ on a panel entitled โDrill 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 โrecommit to fossil fuelsโ, including โa new fleet of coal fired power stationsโ, and has calledย forย renewable energy from wind and solar to be โwound down completelyโ. From May 2023 to 2025, Reformโs Andrea Jenkyns sat on the Net Zero Watch board.
In aย reportย published last March, the GWPF claimed it was โnaive and entirely unrealisticโ to believe that CO2 is causing climate change, that record global temperatures are โnormalโ, and that โthere is no observational evidence for any global climate crisisโ.
The group has previouslyย expressedย the view that carbon dioxide has been โmercilessly demonisedโ, when in fact it is a โbenefit to the planetโ and should be โtwo 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 Reformโs local election gains, Prosperity published anย article entitled โFarage has the power to defund Net Zeroโ which claimed that โenergy billsย haveย skyrocketed, industriesย haveย fled and living standardsย haveย fallenโ due to the UKโs climate policies.
Accordingย to the Spectator Australia, at a Prosperity Institute event in July, Farage said he would need the think tank to bring โfresh young talent into current affairsโ and provide โpolicy solutions we can give to the electorate next time roundโ.
He said โthe great revolution that took place from 1979โ โ a reference to the election of Margaret Thatcher โ was based on the โhard work and good thinkingโ of neo-liberal economists like Keith Joseph and Milton Friedman.
โThat in many ways is your role todayโ, he told the Prosperity Institute audience โ urging the group to produce โthe ammunitionโ to โthose 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 โsupport Reform with policy development, briefing and rebuttal,โย 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 โphilosopher 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 UKโs energy policies are โcrazyโ and that the pursuit of net zero is โfiscal 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 โnaive and dangerousโ approach to Russiaโs invasion of Ukraine and instead praised Hungaryโs 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 โregional Slavic conflictโ.
โIt is a conflict happening in the world that I donโt 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 โbad 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 โno to net zeroโ campaign that calls for the UK to scrap climate policies.
In January last year, the group said it was โincredibleโ that the then prime minister Rishi Sunak should โmindlessly assert โCovid vaccines are safeโโ 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 Reformโs 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 โclimate change is one of the biggest scams that has ever been toldโ, propagated by โour governments and their puppet masters.โย He has also claimed that oil and gas are renewable, and that carbon dioxide cannot be dangerous because it โfeeds 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 โsinister agendaโ to acquire โlots of land because theyโre planning for another five million people to come into the countryโ.ย
This claim is borne from the โGreat 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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