In the first few weeks of 2026, UK newspapers have been ablaze with sensational claims about climate policy: cutting emissions to net zero would cost up to \u201c\u00a39 trillion\u201d. An electricity grid run on renewable power would cause \u201cblackouts\u201d. The government department tasked with climate policy needs to be \u201cshut down\u201d.<\/p>\n
The claims \u2013 which were quickly debunked<\/a> by climate experts and public bodies<\/a> \u2013 were based on three policy papers and endorsed by the Conservative Party\u2019s shadow energy secretary, Claire Coutinho.<\/p>\n But as DeSmog\u2019s analysis shows, the reports were all authored by individuals or organisations with ties to the fossil fuel industry.<\/p>\n Last week, Coutinho wrote the foreword to a report<\/a> \u2013 \u2018It\u2019s Broke, Fix It: Where British Energy Policy Went Wrong and How to Get it Right\u2019 \u2013 published by the Prosperity Institute<\/a>, which is owned by investors behind the right-wing broadcaster GB News<\/a>.<\/p>\n Coutinho called the report\u00a0\u2013 which was covered in The Telegraph and Express newspapers \u2013 \u201ctimely\u201d and \u201cinsightful\u201d.<\/p>\n The report advocated for the Department of Energy and Net Zero \u2013 which Coutinho previously led \u2013 to be \u201cshut down\u201d in order to \u201cdivorce energy policy from climate policy\u201d. It also claimed that the \u201crapid build-out of gas-fired capacity, or even coal\u201d is required to cut energy prices.<\/p>\n DeSmog can reveal that the report\u2019s author, Rupert Darwall<\/a>, has roles at two\u00a0leading U.S. climate science denial groups, both of which have received funding from oil and gas interests.<\/p>\n Darwall is a senior fellow at the National Center for Energy Analytics (NCEA), which was launched<\/a> in 2024 by the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) with $250,000<\/a> from the Brigham Family Foundation, whose president \u2013 Ben M. \u201cBud\u201d Brigham \u2013 is an oil and gas executive.<\/p>\n Brigham is founder and chairman of Brigham Exploration<\/a>, an oil and gas management and acquisition company. He\u00a0donated<\/a> to Donald Trump\u2019s 2024 presidential election campaign and the Republican National Committee the same year. He\u2019s also the founder and executive chairman of Atlas Energy Solutions<\/a>, an oil and gas logistics company.<\/p>\n The TPPF received<\/a> more than $4 million from oil and gas billionaire Charles Koch\u2019s foundations<\/a> between 1997 and 2018, according to Greenpeace USA. Charles Koch and his late brother David have been leading sponsors<\/a> of climate science denial across the globe in recent decades.<\/p>\n Darwall is also listed<\/a> as a member<\/a> of the CO2 Coalition<\/a>, a U.S. climate denial group which describes<\/a> CO2 as \u201cplant food\u201d and denies the link between emissions and rising temperatures. The group received<\/a>\u00a0$662,000 (\u00a3481,000) from Koch foundations between 1997 and 2017.<\/p>\n Darwall did not respond to DeSmog\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n Coutinho also launched a report<\/a> by Watt-Logic, a company run by Kathryn Porter, an oil and gas industry consultant. Porter states on her website that she works\u00a0for \u201cbusinesses with projects across the electricity, gas and oil industries\u201d.<\/p>\n Her report claimed that increasing renewable energy capacity in the UK will heighten the risk of blackouts \u2013 a claim rejected by the National Energy Systems Operator (NESO), which helps to plan and manage the country\u2019s energy network.<\/p>\n Porter \u2013 who has also authored reports for the\u00a0Global Warming Policy Foundation<\/a>\u00a0(GWPF), the UK\u2019s leading climate science denial group \u2013 did not deny that she still has oil and gas clients, when asked by DeSmog.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Coutinho also provided a supportive quote for a report by the Institute of Economic Affairs<\/a> (IEA), which claimed that achieving net zero emissions could cost the UK up to \u00a39 trillion \u2013 a figure described<\/a> by experts as \u201cfundamentally wrong\u201d.<\/p>\n As DeSmog revealed, the IEA has received<\/a> funding from oil majors including BP and Shell.<\/p>\n Amid pressure<\/a> from Nigel Farage<\/a>\u2019s Reform UK<\/a>, the Conservative Party under Kemi Badenoch<\/a> has ditched its previous support for climate action, declaring it would be \u201cimpossible\u201d to reach net zero by 2050, and vowing to repeal the 2008 Climate Change Act.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Conservatives seem to want to hold back the UK\u2019s shift to homegrown clean energy and keep us hooked on fossil fuels, just so that a handful of oil executives can keep the profits rolling in,\u201d said Tessa Khan, executive director of the research and campaign group Uplift.<\/p>\n \u201cDelaying the energy transition increases the UK\u2019s reliance on imported gas. The reality is, the UK has burned most of its gas and, regardless of new drilling, we are set to be dependent on imports for nearly two-thirds of our gas in just five years\u2019 time and almost 100 percent by 2050 \u2013 unless we move to renewable energy.<\/p>\n \u201cCoutinho knows \u2013 and has admitted \u2013 that more drilling won\u2019t bring down bills, and she understands the dangers to us and future generations from unchecked climate change. We need politicians that will stand up to the anti-science, anti-renewable agenda of Donald Trump and his paymasters in the oil and gas industry\u201d.<\/p>\n The Conservative Party was approached for comment.<\/p>\n Legatum and Darwall<\/p>\n Darwall wrote a book<\/a> in 2017 called Green Tyranny: Exposing the Totalitarian Roots of the Climate Industrial Complex. In interviews promoting the book he argued that the climate movement has its roots in Nazi Germany, claiming<\/a>: \u201cvirtually every theme you see in the modern environmental movement, the Nazis were doing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Coutinho, in her foreword to Darwall\u2019s Prosperity Institute report, said: \u201cI may not agree with every point Rupert makes, but as we look to a future unburdened by net zero and the Climate Change Act, the ideas in this report will be immensely useful to debate so we can chart the journey back to an energy system that puts consumers at its core.\u201d<\/p>\n The Prosperity Institute (formerly the Legatum Institute<\/a>) is a conservative think tank\u00a0owned by UAE-based investment firm Legatum Group, which co-owns GB News alongside hedge fund boss and fossil fuel investor<\/a> Paul Marshall<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Prosperity Institute\u2019s advisory board includes Neil Record<\/a>, a Tory donor who helped to bankroll<\/a>\u00a0Kemi Badenoch<\/a>\u2019s 2024 Conservative leadership campaign. Record is also the director of the GWPF\u2019s campaign arm, Net Zero Watch<\/a>, which campaigns against renewable energy and backs new oil and gas extraction.<\/p>\n