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The hedge fund run by the co-owner of GB News almost tripled its investments in fossil fuel companies in the first quarter of 2026 to $2.8bn (£2.1bn), the Guardian can reveal.
Critics have accused Sir Paul Marshall of “cashing in on climate chaos” and have claimed the news channel, which frequently attacks climate science and action, was “working in its owner’s financial interests”.
Marshall is the chair and chief investment officer of Marshall Wace Asset Management, one of the world’s biggest hedge funds. Analysis by the Guardian and DeSmog shows the biggest increase in Marshall Wace’s declared fossil fuel investments was in oil company Chevron. Marshall Wace tripled its shareholding, boosting its value from $196m at the end of December to $864m at the end of March.
Marshall Wace had no stakes in ConocoPhillips, Shell, or the major fracking firm Devon Energy at the end of December, but by the end of March held stakes of $163m, $72m, and $35m respectively. In contrast, Marshall Wace’s investment in renewable energy and battery companies fell by 30% over the quarter, to $415m. A Marshall Wace spokesperson said the analysis was “partial and inaccurate” but declined to provide alternative figures.
Globally, investment in clean energy is rising rapidly, while fossil-fuel investment stagnates, with twice as much money now going into green energy, according to the International Energy Agency.
Marshall said last year that the UK had been infected by “climate derangement syndrome” and that the extent to which global heating was being caused by human actions was “still subject to debate”. Marshall told the rightwing Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference on 23 June that net zero was “an ideology of fear and destruction, giving a new excuse for state interference and to deconstruct meritocracy”.
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 has been caused by human emissions and activities. “Net zero is not an arbitrary slogan, rather it is dictated by the laws of physics,” said climate scientist Prof Sir Brian Hoskins recently. “To halt warming, net greenhouse gas emissions must stop.”
Mothin Ali, a co-deputy leader of the Green party, said: “By boosting investments in fossil fuels, Paul Marshall is cashing in on climate chaos. GB News is little more than a propaganda channel – a platform where climate denial is routinely amplified.”
Richard Wilson, the director of Stop Funding Heat, said: “As Brits swelter in record heat, Paul Marshall’s employees at GB News have spent months cheerleading for more drilling, dismissing climate action as a scam, and urging tax cuts for oil and gas. Now we learn Marshall has been increasing his [hedge fund’s] fossil fuel investments throughout. This isn’t journalism. It’s a channel working in its owner’s financial interests.”
Wilson added: “Investors can play their part by steering clear of Marshall Wace, the hedge fund whose profits prop up this toxic TV channel.” Marshall also owns The Spectator and Unherd.
Angharad Hopkinson, a political campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said: “Marshall’s investments in fossil fuels show that he is not just sceptical of the green transition, he is actively betting against it.”
A spokesperson for Marshall Wace said: “This is a partial and inaccurate picture. Marshall Wace is a large equity long-short fund with some $90bn of assets under management and has thousands of exposures globally, which change daily as strategies are managed by multiple managers in line with commitments to our clients, most of which are large institutions and pension funds.
“Position disclosures are only made in countries where this is a regulatory requirement and typically do not include short positions. Public filings therefore give a completely misleading picture of Marshall Wace’s overall net exposures, including in oil and gas.”
They added: “Paul Marshall is one of more than 40 partners [in Marshall Wace] and none of them is involved in GB News editorial policy nor is the wider firm. Paul Marshall is one of multiple investors in GB News, but he does so in a personal capacity and it is totally unconnected to Marshall Wace. He is not involved in GB News editorial choices.”
A GB News spokesperson said: “We don’t expect the Guardian to understand independent fearless journalism – but ours is just that. We make independent editorial decisions in accordance with our editorial charter – which is undoubtedly why we are, and are proud to be, Britain’s number one news channel.”
Marshall, an evangelical Christian who worships at the prominent Holy Trinity Brompton church and has amassed a personal net worth of £950m, was criticised in March by church leaders, including the former archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. They said his statements on climate were “misleading” and that he should declare his financial interests in fossil fuels, a request to which he did not respond.
The Rev Dr Darrell Hannah, the chair of Christian climate campaign Operation Noah, said: “Faith leaders are speaking out about climate misinformation because human-caused global overheating is the most urgent moral issue of our time.
“That a fellow Christian like Marshall has, by all indications, done nothing to stop his own news channel from spreading misinformation about this public emergency – and that Marshall is, according to this analysis, supercharging global heating via his hedge fund – is not just regrettable, it’s unconscionable.”
The analysis of Marshall Wace compared regulatory filings to the US SEC, in which the hedge fund declares its investments in US-listed equities and some foreign companies.
The US-Israeli attacks on Iran sharply raised oil prices and company valuations, boosting the value of fossil fuel investments, but Marshall Wace also increased the number of shares it held in fossil fuel companies by at least 50%.
This included large new stakes of between $135m and $260m each in another four fossil fuel companies, including oilfield services giants SLB and Haliburton. Its shareholding in the latter increased 500-fold. Marshall Wace sold about 60% of its ExxonMobil holding during the quarter, leaving it at $47m. Options to buy or sell shares – about 6% of the total investment value declared to the SEC – were excluded from the analysis.
While Marshall Wace’s fossil fuel investments nearly tripled, the total value of all investments declared to the SEC fell from about $110bn to $100bn over the quarter.
Most of Marshall Wace’s green energy holdings are in two companies, GE Vernova and NextEra Energy, both of which are major renewables players but still manufacture or operate some fossil gas facilities. Marshall Wace also holds investments in pure-play electric vehicle manufacturers, 85% of which are in Tesla. The value of these investments fell by 12% over the quarter to $909m.
GB News broadcast 953 attacks on climate science and climate action around the 2024 general election, according to a report. The channel has been accused of broadcasting climate change denial.
The broadcasting regulator Ofcom is investigating whether GB News breached rules on “due impartiality and material misleadingness” in a repeat showing of an interview with Donald Trump in November. Complainants said the US president’s claims about climate change being “a hoax” had gone unchallenged.
Methodology note: The analysis is based on regulatory filings by Marshall Wace to the US SEC in which it declares its investments in US-listed equities and some foreign companies (via American Depositary Receipts). The analysis compared the filing for 31 March 2026 to that for 31 December 2025, the two most recent filings. Investments of more than $1m were included. Options to buy or sell shares (about 6% of the total investment value declared) were excluded.
Fossil fuel investments included in the analysis were exploration and production companies and oil and gasfield services companies. It did not include companies operating refineries, pipelines, fuel shipping tankers, LNG terminals or those holding land or royalty rights.
Renewable investments included in the analysis were solar, wind, battery, geothermal, energy storage and hydropower companies. GE Vernova is a manufacturer of energy equipment and NextEra is a renewable-energy-heavy utility company. The analysis did not include most energy utilities, which predominantly use fossil gas, and companies working on electricity grids or electric vehicle charging, fossil gas-powered fuel cells, lithium production or nuclear power.
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