Trump administration is targeting UK in misinformation campaign about climate change and energy

NEW ORLEANS, UNITED STATES, 15 DECEMBER 2025 – The UK is being targeted by the Trump Administration in a campaign of misinformation about energy and climate change, according to the findings of new analysis presented today (15 December) at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in New Orleans.

In his presentation on ‘Countering the Threat to UK Democracy from Increases in Climate Misinformation’, Bob Ward, Policy and Communications Director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science, will point out that parts of the UK media are helping the misinformation campaign by failing to challenge President Trump and other members of his administration when they make false claims about energy and climate change in interviews.

The result is that the UK’s democratic processes are being undermined by sustained campaigns of misinformation that are designed to significantly mislead British citizens about net zero and other policies.

He will highlight an interview broadcast by GB News in November 2025 during which President Trump was allowed to several false claims, including that climate change is a hoax and that China has not deployed any wind turbines.

Mr Ward will also criticise Ofcom for failing to take action against GB News despite official complaints that the interview breached the Broadcasting Code.

He will point out that Chris Wright, Mr Trump’s Energy Secretary, also made inaccurate statements during an interview with the BBC in September, including that there has been no increase in wildfire activity in western United States.

Mr Wright wrongly suggested in an article in ‘The Economist’ in July 2025 that further production of oil and gas in the North Sea would lower energy bills for British consumers.

Mr Ward will strongly criticise the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), which is paid by some newspapers to handle complaints, for failing to take action against inaccurate and misleading articles on energy and climate change.

He will provide the example of an article written by Andrew Neil for the ‘Daily Mail’ in July 2024 which contained several false claims, including that the Government’s plans for solar farms would threaten food security even though they would cover less than 0.5 per cent of agricultural land.

IPSO admitted it cannot evaluate technical issues, usually allowing them as “a matter of opinion”, and refuses to consult experts about complaints.

Mr Ward will say: “It is no secret that Britain’s media regulation system remains weak and ineffective, allowing audiences to be subjected to propaganda masquerading as journalism. However, there has been an upsurge in misinformation about energy and climate issues over the past couple of years, and the regulatory failures are now undermining British democracy.

“The British public expect media organisations and regulators to uphold standards of accuracy, but too often the ideological obsessions of editors are allowed to trump facts. The feebleness of our media regulation is being cynically exploited, for example, by President Trump and his administration to target the British public with nonsense claims, such as climate change is a hoax.”