US and Europe Climate Deniers Join Forces

Climate deniers at the pro-Trump think tank Heartland Institute are joining forces with far right Members of European Parliament (MEPs) to target environmental policies, inducing warnings of a “revival of grotesque climate denialism.”

For the past two years, Heartland representatives from the U.S. have been speaking in the European Parliament, campaigning against established climate science.

In December, the Heartland Institute announced it was opening a new UK-EU with the collaboration of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, a climate science denier and fossil fuel advocate. The launch was attended by former prime minister Liz Truss.

Both Farage and Truss were in Washington DC this week to celebrate the inauguration of Donald Trump, as the new F(elon)OTUS withdrew the U.S. from the flagship 2015 Paris Agreement.

Among the allied EU climate science deniers are Harald Vilimsky and Roman Haider, who represent the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ).  Vilimsky has called the EU Green Deal “eco totalitarianism” and has claimed its supporters are the “eco Taliban,” while Haider has called the climate crisis “conceited bullshit.”

German MEP Daniel Freund noted that leaders of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) are calling for all wind turbines to be torn down, even as they produce cheap electricity.

Trump received more than $32 million from Big Oil in his 2024 campaign, and promised to “drill, baby, drill” for more fossil fuels as he claimed a “national energy emergency.”

Heartland Institute delivered a 10-point wishlist to the Trump transition team, urging FOTUS to adopt a radical anti-climate, pro-fossil fuel agenda. Heartland also advised Project 2025.

Heartland Institute senior fellow Anthony Watts has stated that Trump’s climate policies are epitomised by two phrases: “slash and burn,” and “scorched earth.”

The Guardian, DeSmog