A leading U.S. climate science denial group has been attempting to scupper major EU climate reforms by forging alliances with far-right figures, DeSmog and The Guardian can reveal. 

The Heartland Institute, which has for decades been at the forefront of denying the scientific evidence for man-made climate change, claims that it worked with politicians in Austria and Hungary in an attempt to stall the EU’s Nature Restoration Law last year. 

In a post on its website published on 10 January, the Heartland Institute claimed that it helped to encourage Hungarian lawmakers to withdraw their support for the legislation in March. The Nature Restoration Law, which eventually passed in June, sets targets for restoring degraded ecosystems, habitats, and species across the EU.

The Heartland Institute claims that it was assisted by Austrian Members of European Parliament (MEPs) Harald Vilimsky and Roman Haider, who represent the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and have forged close ties with the institute in recent years. 

Following several meetings between Vilimsky, Haider, and Heartland Institute president James Taylor, the latter was invited in March to speak in the European Parliament. 

“During the session, Taylor explained why there is no climate crisis according to the best available data, and he warned of the economic, political, and geopolitical suicide that net zero would bring,” the Heartland blog post states. “After the session, Taylor met informally with many of the Hungarian MEPs, continuing the conversation over dinner.”

Csaba Molnar, an MEP for the Hungarian Democratic Coalition, told DeSmog it is “more than plausible” that Hungary withdrew its support for the Nature Restoration Law due to the influence of the Heartland Institute. 

Vilimsky and Haider are vocal opponents of EU climate policies – known as the Green Deal – and have called into question long-established climate science. 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”.

Lena Schilling, an MEP for the Austrian Green Party, accused the FPÖ of “rolling out the red carpet for climate change deniers who are trying to undermine EU legislation and accelerate the destruction of our planet.”

She added: “It’s a disgrace and a betrayal of citizens who expect their political representatives to protect them from disasters and security threats… Responsible politicians should enforce a firewall against the fossil fuel industry, reject partnerships with them, and make sure these lobbyists do not have access to decision-making.”

Heartland is known “for its persistent questioning of climate science”, according to Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway in Merchants of Doubt. The group received at least $676,000 between 1998 and 2007 from U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil. Heartland has also received donations from foundations linked to the owners of Koch Industries – a fossil fuel giant and a leading sponsor of climate science denial.

“It is really bad news to see the Heartland Institute moving to Europe,” said Kenneth Haar, a researcher and campaigner at the pro-transparency pressure group Corporate Europe Observatory. “At this point in time we should be scared that we will see a revival of grotesque climate denialism. The far-right – the natural environment of the Heartland Institute – is in a much stronger position nowadays than only a few years ago, and with that comes the risk of undermining any attempt to get rid of fossil fuels.”

The Heartland Institute announced in December that it was establishing a new UK-EU branch that would provide “resources to conservative policymakers throughout Europe”. The branch was opened by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, a climate science denier and fossil fuel advocate, while its launch was attended by former Conservative prime minister Liz Truss, and the party’s current shadow trade minister Andrew Griffith. 

Both Farage and Truss were in Washington DC this week to celebrate the inauguration of Donald Trump, during which the new president pledged to withdraw the U.S. from the flagship 2015 Paris Agreement. Trump, who received more than $32 million from the oil and gas sector for his 2024 campaign, also declared a “national energy emergency” and promised to “drill, baby, drill” for new fossil fuels.

These policies mirror the 10-point wishlist delivered to Trump’s transition team by the Heartland Institute, which urged the incoming president to adopt a radical anti-climate, pro-fossil fuel agenda.

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

Heartland and Europe

The Heartland Institute’s blog post suggests that the anti-green lobby group has been working with Vilimsky and Haider since at least February 2023, when the pair attended Heartland’s International Conference on Climate Change. 

However, over the past year, the Heartland Institute’s campaigns in Europe have “quickly grown to a torrent”, according to the group.

Vilimsky was a keynote speaker alongside Farage at the Heartland Institute’s 40th anniversary fundraiser in Chicago, Illinois, during which he urged pro-Trump groups to forge closer ties to far-right Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. 

“The two people who can bring Europe closer together are Donald Trump and Viktor Orbán,” said Vilimsky, who announced that he is organising conferences on behalf of the Heartland Institute – including one scheduled for Spring 2025. 

Orbán, who has severely restricted political, media, and judicial freedoms in Hungary, is a global sponsor of anti-climate groups. And while the Heartland Institute claims to have influenced Orbán’s lawmakers over the Nature Restoration Law, it has coordinated closely with Trump’s team and allies for years. In 2019, Trump’s White House physicist consulted the group on how to challenge climate science.

The Heartland Institute also advised Project 2025 – the radical and controversial blueprint for a second Trump presidency produced by the Heritage Foundation. The 900-page document proposes reversing policies on climate action, slashing restrictions on fossil fuel extraction, scrapping state investment in renewable energy, and gutting the EPA. 

“A big risk with the Heartland Institute is that they belong to the ultra-conservative group of foundations that not only support Trump – they assist him in very concrete ways,” said Kenneth Haar of Corporate Europe Observatory. “In particular, that happens through Project 2025, which includes attacks on immigrants and on the justice system, as well as on any climate policy. We can see their arrival as yet another sign of the Trumpist camp’s attempt to change Europe.”

Vilimsky’s FPÖ is a radical, anti-immigrant party that proposes halting all asylum into the country, and stripping naturalised Austrians of citizenship if they are found guilty of committing a crime. The FPÖ received the largest vote share in Austria during June’s EU elections as far-right and populist parties gained considerable ground. 

Vilimsky himself has said that Austria should close the borders and repatriate all “illegal” migrants. He has claimed that migration brought terrorism to Europe and that it has taken away the rights of the “indigenous population”. Vilimsky has also said that the EU’s support for Ukraine in its war against Russia is “wrong” and has called for a referendum in Austria on sanctions against Russia.

These new alliances between the Heartland Institute and radical European figures build on partnerships established by the group over several years. 

In February 2020, the German investigative outlet Correctiv reported that Heartland had been working with the climate denial group EIKE, which has close ties to the far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). Heartland also helped to launch the career of German influencer Naomi Seibt, a supporter of the AfD who has vocally denied climate science and gained her reputation attacking climate activist Greta Thunberg.

“Climate denial is one of the most toxic exports the U.S. has to offer,” climate scientist Michael Mann told DeSmog. “The same coalition of polluters and plutocrats who have sponsored climate denial propaganda in the U.S. are clearly expanding the battlefield in their war on global climate action. It is villainous and should be called out.”

However, in its campaign to undermine EU climate policies, the Heartland Institute has not only been working with the far-right.

The group’s blog post on 10 January also states that it has been working closely with the Polish trade union Solidarity to “fight” the green transition and defend the country’s continued use of coal power. 

In October, Solidarity organised for Taylor to visit Poland and meet with MEPs including former prime minister Beata Szydlo, as well as “leaders of heavy industry and agriculture and scientists at one of the country’s top research universities”.

At the end of the visit, Heartland and Solidarity signed a partnership agreement and committed to oppose the United Nations’s “oppressive climate change agenda” and the EU Green Deal. 

According to the blog post, Solidarity asked Heartland “to plant a flag in Poland and create and lead a trans-European or transatlantic alliance of public-policy and grassroots entities to fight the climate activist agenda”.

Solidarity told The Guardian that it shares a “common approach to climate hysteria with the Heartland Institute”. It added: “We organise and engage in campaigns against the European Green Deal and associated unjust and anti-social policies of the EU… Denying climate change… is neither our goal or label.”
The Heartland Institute, FPÖ, Harald Vilimsky, Roman Haider, and Beata Szydlo were approached for comment.