Church leaders criticise Christian owner of GB News over channel’s climate attacks | GB News
The co-owner of GB News and “committed” Christian Sir Paul Marshall has been criticised by a group of church leaders over the TV channel’s attacks on climate science and action.
The hedge fund manager was also challenged over his own statements, which were called “misleading”, by the 100-strong group, which includes the former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and two current bishops.
Marshall said recently that the UK had been infected by “climate derangement syndrome” and that efforts to cut planet-heating emissions were “impoverishing people”.
The Christian leaders also raised the £1.8bn of fossil fuel investments reportedly held in 2023 by the hedge fund Marshall manages and asked him to be transparent about any personal conflicts of interest.
Marshall responded that “the Gospel entreats us to look after the vulnerable” but that pursuing an “ideological” net zero policy was “a path of unilateral economic disarmament and self-harm”. He also said the extent to which global heating was being caused by human actions was “still subject to debate”.
The world’s climate scientists, in reports signed off by 192 national governments, have been clear for more than a decade that about 100% of global heating since 1950 was caused by human emissions and activities.
The open letter from the church leaders said: “British Christians have often led the way in calling for change and modelling a new way of living in spite of pushback from powerful interests,” citing the campaign to end the slave trade.
“We note with concern a number of your past statements, including your assertion that decarbonisation is ‘leading the way in wrecking our industrial base’, ‘impoverishing our people’ and ‘sacrificing our energy security’. We are concerned these statements are misleading,” they wrote. “As many economists and experts have shown, decarbonisation is a huge growth opportunity, which will save trillions of dollars in the long-term, alongside improving our health and wellbeing, and contributing to the UK’s national security.”
They added: “If you have personal financial interests in fossil fuels, we ask, in the spirit of transparency, that you declare these interests before making public statements about the climate crisis.”
Marshall, who has said he is a “committed Church of England Christian”, said: “I share the concerns for stewardship of the planet, which is currently in a gradual warming cycle. This has to be balanced with a commitment to human flourishing.
“For that reason I do not support the current policy of unilateral net zero, which the UK is pursuing out of step with the rest of the world. It is undermining the country’s long-term prosperity, imposing excess costs on businesses, discouraging new growth industries and having an outsized negative impact on the elderly and the poor.”
More than 100 countries, responsible for about 82% of global carbon emissions, have net zero policies and dozens more are considering them. The UK’s net zero economy grew by 10% in 2024, according to the Confederation of British Industry.
Marshall, who was worth £850m in 2025, said: “I am an active investor in renewable technology, as is [his hedge fund] Marshall Wace. However, I don’t believe in penalising oil and gas. The UK should have a strategy of energy abundance, combining renewables with a range of energy sources, including oil and gas.”
The Christian leaders cited research that found GB News broadcast 953 attacks on climate science and climate action in the period immediately before and after the 2024 general election.
Clare Fussell, at the Christian climate charity Operation Noah and a signatory of the letter, said: “With the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, the urgency of moving away from fossil fuels has never been clearer. We urge media outlets, including GB News, to uphold standards of fair and responsible reporting on climate issues, and to avoid misleading audiences.”
Marshall said he was not involved in the editorial decisions of GB News. The news channel has lost £131m since its launch in 2021, according to Press Gazette.
A spokesperson for GB News said: “It is an affront that Operation Noah lectures GB News on fair, responsible reporting and avoiding misleading audiences, while denying us the courtesy of a right or reply. GB News stands behind its journalism as an independent Ofcom-regulated broadcaster, compliant with the code. We champion open debate and engage diverse perspectives. This is a cornerstone of democracy, and the basis of our success as Britain’s number one news channel.”
Marshall wrote a letter to the Christian leaders, seen by the Guardian, in which he said: “I agree that the planet is in a gradual warming cycle, although I believe the extent to which this is anthropogenic is still subject to debate.”
Global temperatures are rising about 10 times faster than the average rate after previous ice ages.
Marshall said he differed on the right policy response. “If renewables are competitive, they should not need subsidy and oil and gas should not need penalisation.”
Fossil fuels benefitted from $1.3tn in explicit subsidies in 2022 and $5.7tn in implicit subsidies, according to the International Monetary Fund. The International Energy Agency said in 2023 that 96% of new large-scale solar and onshore windfarms had lower electricity generation costs than new coal and gas plants.
Marshall said to the Christian leaders: “The gospel entreats us to look after the vulnerable and I urge you to reflect on how high energy costs and restricting access to cheap oil and gas affects so many people.”
Rising global heating caused by fossil fuel burning kills one person a minute, according to a major report on the health impact of the climate crisis published in October in the Lancet.
