Two-Thirds of Conservative Endowment Fund Directors Are Linked to Fossil Fuels and Polluting Industries
Two-thirds of the directors who run the Conservative Party’s multi-million-pound endowment fund have interests in fossil fuel firms or polluting industries, DeSmog can reveal. The Conservative Party Foundation Limited was founded in 2009 with the purpose of raising and managing “legacy funds to support the long term finance of the Conservative Party”. At the end […]
Campaigners Sued an Oil Major For Climate Deception. Now the Company Is Preparing to Sue Them Back.
This piece is a collaboration between DeSmog and ExxonKnews, a project of the Center for Climate Integrity. In May, NGOs and citizens sued Italian oil giant Eni for its decades of lobbying and greenwashing to delay climate action. Barely two months later, Eni has laid the groundwork for a lawsuit of its own, alleging it […]
How Shell Used a ‘Granfluencer’ to Promote its Brand
A “granfluencer” known as “our Filipino grandma” is among an army of US-based influencers being used by fossil fuel giants to promote major polluters to younger audiences, DeSmog can reveal. TikTok star Nora Capistrano Sangalang – known as “Mama Nora” or “Lola” – is best known for posting videos of her family and her insistence […]
Revealed: Petrochemical Exec and Major Conservative Donor Has Russian Business Link
The Conservative Party received a £2 million donation in March from a petrochemicals executive whose business interests include a Russian textiles plant, DeSmog can reveal. Amit Lohia, dubbed the “Prince of Polyester” by Forbes, made the donation on 29 March – the second largest amount handed to the party so far this year. The Indian-born […]
MPs Gifted £4,200 Tennis Tickets by Oil Giant BP
BP donated tennis tickets worth a total of more than £4,200 to a government minister and two MPs, parliamentary records reveal. The oil and gas supermajor, which recorded bumper profits of £22 billion last year, gifted Wimbledon tickets to Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, and Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy […]
Office for Students Chair Condemned for Role With Oilfield Firm
The chair of the Office for Students (OfS), Conservative peer Lord Wharton, has been urged to “immediately” cut ties with a major oilfield inspection company. Lord Wharton is a consultant for OES Oilfield Services, which describes itself as “one of the world’s leading oilfield inspection companies”. He was also formerly an adviser to Consumer Choice […]
Leading Think Tank Met With Minister Over North Sea Energy While Funded by Fossil Fuel Interests
Policy Exchange, one of Westminster’s most prominent think tanks, engaged in a high-level influencing campaign over the UK’s North Sea oil and gas policies while being funded by fossil fuel interests, DeSmog can reveal. The North Sea Transition Deal announced by the government in March 2021 set a net zero target for the basin but […]
Flagship UN Food Systems Summit Accused of ‘Selling the Corporate and Industrial Project’
Indigenous peoples, smallholder farmers and academics have claimed that a UN summit focused on the future of agriculture helped to entrench corporate control over the global food system. The UN’s Food Systems Summit “Stocktaking Moment” (“FSS+2”), held last week, came as countries look to slash agriculture’s climate footprint in the runup to the COP28 summit […]
‘CO2 is Life’: TalkTV Presenter Andre Walker Hosts YouTube Show That Spreads Climate Science Denial
A TalkTV presenter co-hosts a YouTube show with the leader of a climate science denial group, on which he has called climate change a “paganistic religion” and said rising CO2 emissions will make the world “more green”. Andre Walker is a regular presenter at TalkTV – the channel launched by News UK in April 2022 […]
Voters Support ULEZ-Style Policies, Finds New Poll
Voters back schemes that charge road users for driving highly polluting vehicles, according to a new poll from Omnisis for DeSmog. A higher proportion of voters (44 percent) support ULEZ-style schemes than don’t (36 percent), according to the polling. People who intend to vote Conservative at the next election support charges on more polluting vehicles […]