April 15th, 2024
How an Oxford student’s inquiry sparked a battle against climate change denial
We often note that matters start with ELF that go on to achieve a high profile in the press sometimes years later. Some of you may have been following the press interest in a story about the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), a charity set up by Nigel Lawson, which has supported much of the climate change denial movement. It is associated with Tufton Street, a far right leaning think tank. The most recent news piece last month reported the Good Law Project’s involvement with three MPs taking up the legal case.
But the stories roots lie with ELF, and before us the wit and persistence of an Oxford University student, who came to ELF for help.
In October 2021 ELF received an enquiry concerning the GWPF from Alfie Hoar a student, who was looking for support in his interactions with the Charity Commission (CC) and his complaint to them regarding the true nature of the GWPF, the CC’s dismissal of his complaint and failure to review the organisation’s charitable purpose. He has given permission for his first enquiry to ELF to be published which describes the background.
I’m contacting you cocerning the charitable status of the Global Warming Policy Foundation. The Foundation has the status of ‘educational charity’, yet it acts as a lobbying group against green action and consistently espouses climate change denial. I coordinated a letter to the Charity Commission calling for them to revoke the Foundation’s status. The letter was signed by 74 top scientists in climate-related areas operating within the UK, yet the Foundation has failed to act.
By not at least reviewing the Foundation’s work and considering its status, I believe the Commission is failing at its legal regularity duty. The reports of the Foundation, which constitute the majority of their output, consistently push an anti-renewable energy narrative, downplaying or outright dismissing the effects of climate change (contradicting the scientific literature).
ELF sought assistance from within its professional network, picked up by Jack Robirosa then at Hodge Jones Allen. Jack gave an initial view that the case had merits and that Alfie could potentially challenge the CC’s decision not to review the charitable purposes of the organisation.
The relevant law was under the Charities Act 2011. Section 1(1)(a) says that a charity is an institution which is established for charitable purposes only. A charitable purpose is made up of two conditions. First it must fall within one of the general purposes set out in section 3(1) – education in this case. The charitable purpose must also be for the public benefit. Section 4(2) of the Act says there should be no presumption of public benefit based on a particular description.
Jack thought that the focus should be on whether there was a public benefit to the controversial and unpopular views promoted, i.e. the detriment should not outweigh the benefit. He thought that in rejecting the complaint the Commission had not sought to grapple with this issue. Our route was to demonstrate that GWPF was not just showing the other side of the argument on climate change, but that it was actively spreading misinformation which was detrimental to the public benefit and counter to all scientific evidence.
Jack also had the idea of contacting the Good Law Project. Alfie’s case was picked up by them, one of our most valued UK contributors to all sorts of legal justice issues, including environmental justice. And the rest is history.
We would like to take a moment to thank Alfie for his contribution, he is the one who started it all. It is a great example of what an individual can do, tenacious and an investigative mind turned to the workings of an organisation like GWPF. We like to think too that ELF’s involvement set the case running. The back story is seldom told.