Message From the Editor
At DeSmog, our reporters are gearing up for the three-day Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference next week. The conference is being hosted in London by the ARC, an organization launched in March by Jordan Peterson to address six “fundamental issues of our time”, including “energy and resources” and “environmental stewardship” but who’s advisers have a history of attacking net zero policies and questioning climate science.
GOP Vivek Ramaswamy will be headlining the conference, detailed investigative reporter Geoff Dembicki. Ramaswamy calls climate change ‘a hoax’ and didn’t respond to a detailed list of questions from DeSmog.
He will be joined by UK Cabinet Ministers Michael Gove and Kemi Badenoch as well as other leading critics of climate action, as reported in Sam Bright’s new article.
“It’s an attempt by the far-right to advance a fossil fuel agenda under the veil of conservative moral sentiment. They’re trying to gather support…for policies that will legitimately hurt people and the planet.” says Erika Seiber, a spokesperson at the nonprofit Friends of the Earth and member of a global coalition called Climate Action Against Disinformation.
In another article by Sara Sneath and originally published by The Lens, LNG plant operators are changing their tune on carbon capture. As Louisiana attempts to spew less climate-warming pollution, which disproportionately comes from industry, fossil-fuel companies have convinced lawmakers to jump onto the bandwagon of carbon capture and storage, a controversial and unproven method of addressing the issue.
They’ve also asked lawmakers to finance the technology, which critics say is classic “greenwashing” – it may sound good, but will not curb the state’s overall emission levels.
Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: [email protected]. Want to know what our UK team is up to? Sign up for our UK newsletter.
Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director
P.S. Investigative journalism like this is made possible by readers like you. Can you donate $10 or $20 right now to support more of this essential work?
Image credit: Gage Skidmore / WC
Cabinet Ministers Set to Speak at GB News Linked Conference Alongside Climate Science Deniers
— By Sam Bright (6 min. read) —
Michael Gove and Kemi Badenoch are due to speak at a major event next week alongside leading critics of climate action, DeSmog can report.
The three-day conference is being hosted in London by the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship, which shares its directors with the startup broadcaster GB News.
GOP Climate Denier Vivek Ramaswamy Headlining Jordan Peterson’s ARC Conference
— By Geoff Dembicki (3 min. read) —
A Republican presidential candidate who has referred to climate change as a “hoax” is headlining the inaugural event for a new global organization created by conservative influencer Jordan Peterson.
Vivek Ramaswamy will be one of the marquee speakers at the inaugural meeting of the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC), also known as the ARC Conference, an event being held in London, England, from October 30 to November 1.
LNG plant operators change their tune on carbon capture
— By Sara Sneath (7 min. read) —
As Louisiana attempts to spew less climate-warming pollution, which disproportionately comes from industry, fossil-fuel companies have convinced lawmakers to jump onto the bandwagon of carbon capture and storage (CCS), a controversial and unproven method of addressing the issue.
They’ve also asked lawmakers to finance the technology, which critics say is classic “greenwashing” – it may sound good, but will not curb the state’s overall emission levels.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt Told Equinor To ‘Work With Us’ On Oil and Gas Messaging
— By Phoebe Cooke (5 min. read) —
Cabinet ministers reassured “smiling” fossil fuel executives and offered tips on how to communicate their polluting activities to the general public months before the controversial Rosebank oilfield was approved, DeSmog can reveal.
A new cache of documents, obtained via Freedom of Information request and largely unredacted, offer a rare insight into conversations held between senior Treasury officials and Norwegian state-backed oil firm Equinor.
Revealed: The Oil and Gas Lobbying Campaign to Water Down Windfall Tax
— By Adam Barnett (7 min. read) —
The UK government’s weakening of its windfall tax on energy profits matched the demands of a high-level lobbying campaign by the oil and gas industry, new research reveals.
Trade body Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), formerly Oil and Gas UK, and its operator members including BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, and Equinor, met with ministers at least 210 times in the 12 months following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
From the Climate Disinformation Database: GB News
GB News is a UK-based TV and radio outlet founded in June 2021. It operates a range of news and opinion programmes and claims to “not shy away from controversial issues”. The outlet has provided a platform to climate science denial groups, including CAR26 and the Global Warming Policy Foundation. GB News chairman Alan McCormick has a history of sharing articles that dismiss the threat of climate change. The outlet shares its directors with The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship.
Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database and Koch Network Database.
