Extinction Rebellion target notorious climate-denial think tank in latest protest

Extinction Rebellion activists have occupied the central London offices of Policy Exchange – a climate crisis denial lobbyist funded by fossil fuel crooks that pretends to be a think tank.

Policy Exchange: some sort of think tank, allegedly…

Protestors entered Policy Exchange’s notorious Westminster offices on Monday 29 July to demand an end to a campaign of lies and disinformation that has slowed climate action and led directly to long jail sentences for activists:

‼️ HAPPENING NOW ‼️climate denying, fossil fuel lobbyists @Policy_Exchange, who drafted the repressive PCSC Act are held to account by #ExtinctionRebellion #RebelForTruth#FossilFuelsAreKillingUs #PolicyExchange
🧵 pic.twitter.com/os22WiREIV

— Extinction Rebellion UK 🌍 (@XRebellionUK) July 29, 2024

A crowd of other protestors assembled a four-metre high tripod, topped by the Grim Reaper in front of the main door:

Fake crude oil, thrown by the protestors, appeared to be pouring out of the building’s windows into the street:

Others lit smoke flares, banged drums and waved a large banner demanding: “Policy Exchange Cut the Ties to Fossil Fuels”. Extinction Rebellion also occupied the think tank’s office:

Extinction Rebellion campaigner Francesca Garlake said:

These offices are the very heart of climate crisis denial in the UK. Policy Exchange are not a think tank – they are a lie factory funded by the fossil fuel industry to stop or slow down action to tackle the accelerating climate crisis that threatens to kill billions.

Policy Exchange spokespeople are constantly in our newspapers, on the BBC, and online posing as academic experts. In reality, they are lobbyists who are paid by oil and gas criminals like ExxonMobil to lie about the danger and urgency of the crisis setting the planet on fire.

Policy Exchange is poisoning our democracy, bending our political leaders to the will of their oily paymasters. One of their so-called ‘reports’ designed the repressive new laws that recently put five peaceful protestors in jail for up to five years.

Extinction Rebellion are demanding that the secretive, right-wing think tank – which played an influential role in the crafting of the anti-protest Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act – cut its ties to the fossil fuel industry, reveal who its funders are, end its charitable status, and publish minutes of all its meetings with government ministers.

They are also calling on the Labour government to repeal the anti-democratic law.

Extinction Rebellion: Policy Exchange is a fossil fuel proxy

Policy Exchange – which receives funding from fossil fuel companies including ExxonMobil – lobbied hard for the government to pass legislation targeting Extinction Rebellion.

Its 2019 report “Extremism Rebellion” called for protest laws to be “urgently reformed in order to strengthen the ability of police to place restrictions on planned protest and deal more effectively with mass law-breaking tactics.”

Sections of the then home secretary Priti Patel’s controversial policing bill, which became the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act in 2022, appear directly inspired by the Policy Exchange report.

Extinction Rebellion campaigner Dr Jessica Upton said:

Despite the secrecy surrounding its funding, the so called charity, Policy Exchange, is known to be paid by fossil fuel companies like ExxonMobil (Esso in the UK) to lobby for extended fossil fuel extraction in a climate and ecological emergency, and for the draconian new anti-protest laws which are an affront to our democracy.

Ministers have already raised concerns at Policy Exchange’s links to the fossil fuel industry and its influence on the drafting of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act.

The impact of this new law is already being felt. Last week activists from Just Stop Oil were jailed for four years for taking part in a peaceful protest against new fossil fuel licensing, with founder Roger Hallam given five years for speaking at a public zoom meeting, sentences considered disproportionate by the majority of the UK public and condemned by Michel Forst, the UN Special Rapporteur on environmental defenders.

Cut the ties, or cut it out

Extinction Rebellion activist Marcus Bailie said:

We are here today to demand Policy Exchange Cut the Ties to fossil fuels, and we call on the government to clean up this stain on our democracy.

We demand full disclosure of all lobby group funding, for their meetings with the government to be documented transparently, the end of charitable status for any lobby group funded by big oil and the other high carbon vested interests which are causing so much harm to people and planet. And we demand the repeal of the Police, Courts, Crime and Sentencing Act.

Policy Exchange also promotes a variety of other policies useful to big emitters but harmful to democracy and the environment.

It has been building a case for curtailing the judiciary from carrying out judicial reviews, it has advocated for fracking, and it promotes the UK’s worst carbon emitter Drax – which has emitted 117 million tonnes of CO2 since 2014 and received £6 billion in subsidies for cutting down and burning forests.

Policy Exchange also met with an Energy Department minister and officials to discuss the government’s North Sea oil and gas policies in February 2021, just weeks before the government gave the green light to continued exploration of oil and gas in the North Sea.

Climate campaigner Dr Sara Melly, a clinical psychologist, from Winchester, said

This new Labour government has a perfect opportunity to demonstrate it really is about change, by acting decisively on fossil fuel funded lobby groups that are out to increase the destruction of our life support system, our only living planet.

Featured image and additional images via Extinction Rebellion