The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) – the anti-state, anti-climate pressure group – received more than £640,000 from fossil fuel companies and Rupert Murdoch’s media conglomerate between 1957 and 2005, DeSmog can reveal.
Archive records seen by DeSmog show that the group, which has campaigned for more fossil fuel extraction and against government climate action, received more than £150,000 from BP, £124,000 from Esso (owned by ExxonMobil), and £106,000 from Shell.
In total, the IEA accepted £479,992 from oil and gas firms, with the majority (£357,063) coming from 1991 onwards. These fossil fuel giants were among the biggest corporate contributors to the IEA during the period, according to DeSmog’s analysis.
Greenpeace’s investigative outlet Unearthed previously revealed that the IEA had received funding from BP every year from 1967 to 2018, while the IEA also received a £21,000 grant from ExxonMobil in 2005.
However, the IEA does not publicly disclose its donors and this is the first time that its historic funding sources have been revealed in detail – exposing the financial interests that helped the group to become an influential force in British politics.
“This investigation confirms one of the worst-kept secrets in Westminster,” said Ami McCarthy, Greenpeace UK’s head of politics. “This self-styled economic think tank is really a lobbying shop for the harmful and polluting industries that fund it, with fossil fuel giants chief among them.”
McCarthy added that the IEA “spent years downplaying the climate crisis while taking loads of cash from some of the world’s biggest oil and gas companies and one of its most influential climate sceptics, Rupert Murdoch.”
The IEA is part of the Tufton Street network – an orchestrated alliance of radical right-wing groups based in Westminster that lobby to dismantle state services and privatise public bodies. These groups share an opposition to climate action, and have spent decades undermining the scientific consensus behind policies to reduce emissions.
The IEA has also been a prominent advocate for increased fossil fuel extraction. It has called for the ban to be lifted on fracking for shale gas, labelling it the “moral and economic choice”, has lambasted the government for banning new North Sea oil and gas licences, and has celebrated the Conservative Party’s pledge to scrap the 2008 Climate Change Act, which forms the legal basis of the UK’s 2050 net zero target.
DeSmog can also reveal that the IEA received £164,667 in donations from News International – Murdoch’s UK media stable – between 1991 and 2000. This is the first time that one of Murdoch’s companies has been found to have donated to a UK pressure group.
According to David McKnight in Murdoch’s Politics, News International was “deeply involved” with the IEA during this period, with its co-founder Lord Harris of High Cross (Ralph Harris) acting as a director of Murdoch’s Times Newspapers Holdings from 1988 to 2001, and the Sunday Times co-publishing several pamphlets with the IEA.
News International was rebranded in 2013 to News UK and currently owns The Times, Sunday Times, Times Radio, The Sun, TalkTV, talkSport, and Virgin Radio UK.
Murdoch has described himself as a climate change “sceptic”, has given a prominent platform to fossil fuel advocates and narratives, and has been described by leading scientists as a “climate villain”.
His media outlets have also favourably covered IEA findings and narratives, including those calling on the government to ditch climate targets and ramp up fossil fuel extraction, and have given a regular platform to the group’s senior staff members.
“This revelation confirms what many of us suspected: the fossil fuel industry has weaponised its profits to exert undue influence over the policy agenda, through organisations like the IEA,” said Labour MP Clive Lewis. “Without checks on corporate power, the health of our democracy is undermined – and this is one such example.”
Robert Palmer, deputy director of the campaign and research group Uplift, said: “These historic payments give us a window into the enormous fossil fuel lobby that has spent decades trying to shape our politics and media to increase their profits and strip back regulation, regardless of the harm to ordinary people and the natural world.
“Today, the costs to the rest of us are obvious: we have an energy system that impoverishes people through unaffordable bills, as well as mounting climate costs, whether that’s flooded homes, rising food prices or extreme heat and wildfires.
“Thankfully, the influence of the oil and gas companies and their proxies is starting to wane in this country as we shift to renewable energy. People increasingly realise that the oil and gas giants want us – our resources and money – a lot more than we need them.”
The IEA and BP declined to comment. Shell and ExxonMobil did not respond on the record.
The IEA’s Political Influence
The IEA and its Tufton Street counterparts have been effective in shaping political debate and persuading politicians to adopt their causes.
The group is close to former UK prime minister Liz Truss, with former IEA director-general Mark Littlewood claiming in 2022 that Truss had spoken at IEA events more than “any other politician over the past 12 years”.
Despite the economic turmoil caused by Truss’ policies – which former Downing Street advisor Tim Montgomerie claimed had been “incubated” by the IEA – its spokespeople are still regularly given a platform by the BBC and other mainstream media channels. The IEA claimed it was featured in the media over 5,000 times in the year to March 2024 – equivalent to 14 times a day.
In its 2022 annual accounts, the group stated that “the diversification of the UK broadcast landscape, notably the launch of GB News and TalkTV, has increased opportunities for IEA commentary”. GB News and Murdoch-owned TalkTV launched in 2021 and 2022 respectively, and have regularly promoted climate science denial.
The IEA also remains influential within the Conservative Party. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch’s head of policy, Victoria Hewson, is the former head of regulatory affairs at the IEA – a position she held from 2018 to 2022.
In July 2022, Hewson wrote an article for the IEA’s website in which she called the UK’s net zero target a “huge own goal”. Since Hewson’s appointment, Badenoch has ditched the Conservative Party’s commitment to the 2050 target.
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