Net Zero critics funded by Big Oil

Craig and his Net Zero Watch mates claim to have no funding from fossil fuel companies. However, that's a very narrow claim, because they do have significant funding from those who support and promote fossil fuels.

You may have heard of the 'Dark Web', a hidden area of the internet that hosts all sorts of marketplaces where dodgy goods can be bought and sold.

More insidious to democracy worldwide is 'Dark Money', the name given to anonymised or otherwise difficult-to-trace funds supporting causes dear to the hearts of major pollutors, multinational corporations and others trying to hide their bad deeds.

Shadow environment secretary Ed Miliband says: "US right-wing groups with links to big oil are desperate to stop action against the climate crisis. Now they are trying to extend their reach into UK political debate."

Over four years the American Friends of the GWPF channelled more than $800,000 to the UK Net Zero Watch group, headed by Steve Baker MP, which is closely associated with the Net Zero Scrutiny Group chaired by Craig Mackinlay.

Donors in the US providing this money include major oil supporters and beneficiaries and those supporting climate-denialist groups. The Global Warming Policy Foundation, and its campaigning arm the Global Warming Policy Forum – aka Net Zero Watch – are accused by climate policy researchers of spreading misinformation and propoganda about net zero, rather than providing analysis.

Fossil fuel companies know they are killing the planet. Do we really want policy in the UK to be influenced by American oil company lobbyists?

Breaking news: The Global Warming Policy Foundation has been reported to the Charity Commission by the Green MP Caroline Lucas and Extinction Rebellion.

The signatories, including the writers Irvine Welsh and Zadie Smith, say the GWPF is “not a charity, but a fossil fuel lobby group”. The letter concludes: “We contend that the ongoing global harm caused by climate change is exacerbated by the vested interests that use the GWPF’s undeserved charitable status as a front for their interests.”