The co-owner of GB News, a British TV channel that has treated climate science like a piñata, has donated £28m to Church of England institutions that are, in a twist, actually trying to fight the climate crisis. Christian leaders are raising what they call “serious questions” about Sir Paul Marshall’s generosity, given that his personal views and the channel’s frequent broadcasts are “in direct opposition” to the Church of England’s stance that saving the planet is part of safeguarding God’s creation.
Marshall, a hedge fund manager and self-described Christian who recently diagnosed the UK with “climate derangement syndrome,” funneled at least £13m to Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) church and the Church Revitalisation Trust (CRT) via his Sequoia Trust between 2018 and 2025, according to a Guardian analysis of Charity Commission filings. HTB is the Church of England’s largest congregation, with about 4,000 members, and home to the evangelical Alpha Course, which claims to have reached 37 million people in over 175 countries. Marshall has been a pew-warming member since 1997.
The CRT, run from HTB, has planted more than 100 evangelical churches across the UK, and Marshall sits on its board as a director. Critics worry the cash could soften the church’s climate stance, which currently includes a net-zero-by-2030 roadmap and divestment from fossil fuels. Rev Dr Darrell Hannah, chair of Christian climate charity Operation Noah, said: “As the climate crisis intensifies, we’re increasingly concerned that a fellow Christian - one with more money and power than virtually any other Christian in the UK - continues to share problematic and highly influential views on the most important issue of our time. This cannot go unchallenged.” Operation Noah, for context, bullied nearly every UK denomination into dumping fossil fuel investments.
Marshall’s views, Hannah noted, are “in direct opposition to those of the Church of England,” and said the donations warrant “serious questions.” Meanwhile, GB News has broadcast 953 attacks on climate science and action around the 2024 general election, including calling global heating “the climate scam” and warning of government-imposed “enforced veganism.” Marshall, with a net worth of £950m, also owns the Spectator magazine and UnHerd website, and has donated generously to schools and the London School of Economics.
The Church of England, HTB, and CRT did not respond to the Guardian’s questions. A spokesperson for Marshall countered that he “generally agrees with Christian and Anglican teaching on the environment and climate change,” but just doesn’t “subscribe to net zero by 2050 due to the serious negative impact on poor people, their communities and the economy.” Instead, he prefers to let “human innovation” handle things. Central banks, regulators, and the 2006 Stern review have all found that climate action costs far less than inaction, but who’s counting?
In March, over 120 church leaders, including former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and two current bishops, criticized Marshall’s views and GB News’s climate attacks. They also raised the £1.8bn in fossil fuel investments reportedly held by Marshall’s hedge fund in 2023. Marshall responded that whether humans cause global heating is “still subject to debate,” despite 192 national governments signing off on reports stating that about 100% of global heating since 1950 is human-caused.
Marshall chairs the Sequoia Trust, a charity for “children/young people … the general public/mankind,” run from his hedge fund’s offices, with a market value of £477m as of June 2025. HTB, where he worships, received £5m between 2018 and 2024, and its environment policy encourages “sustainable lifestyles.” CRT got £13m in donations and grant commitments over the same period. The trust’s 2024-25 accounts no longer name donation recipients but recorded £10.2m given to faith-based institutions; Marshall declined to say how much went to HTB and CRT.
The broadcasting regulator Ofcom is investigating whether GB News breached impartiality rules over a repeat interview with Donald Trump, in which his “climate hoax” claims went unchallenged. The network said it “stands firmly by its journalism and editorial standards” and declined to comment on Marshall’s church donations.