“Nobody can deny that the UK is getting warmer and high temperatures are becoming a clear threat to homes, nature and food security,” read the lengthy news report, which explored the devastating effect of British wildfires on families in recent years.
The article’s conclusions, written after the wildfires in Suffolk last week, were no surprise given the UK’s changing climate. However, the fact that the piece appeared in the Telegraph, the rightwing title that has been a leading critic of green policies, did raise eyebrows among some readers.
Praising the analysis, the independent MP Rosie Duffield noted it was from an outlet “hardly known for their raging lefty/net zero/climate change agenda”.
Even more intriguing was the fact that the essay came after two other notable Telegraph climate pieces. The first was by the columnist Tim Stanley, who set off a debate on the right with an article headlined: “Climate change is real – and the right needs to get serious about it.”
Then came a piece by the Telegraph’s respected world economy editor, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, who has long argued that the costs of climate change could not be ignored. He accused Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative party leader, of choosing “an abominable political moment to flirt with climate nihilism”, citing her opposition to net zero targets and purge of candidates who back them. “There comes a point when you have to conclude that the Tories have gone Trumpian on the existential issue of our time,” he wrote.
Such is the Telegraph’s reputation as the Conservative party’s bible that Badenoch felt it necessary to respond directly, insisting she was opposed to the “political programme” of achieving net zero by 2050, rather than denying the climate crisis altogether.
Even Allister Heath, the Sunday Telegraph editor, known for his opposition to green policies, wrote a piece concluding that “the war against global warming has been lost” – though he concluded Britain must simply adapt.
The flurry of pieces has caused some climate change experts to wonder whether the Telegraph’s view – and the wider debate on the right – may be shifting. It comes with the newspaper under new ownership, having been bought by the German media powerhouse Axel Springer. The owner of Politico and Die Welt has plans to make the Telegraph a global player on the centre right.
“The Telegraph has got itself into a really awkward spot, especially with its new owner no doubt looking on closely,” said Leo Hickman, the editor of the specialist climate change publication Carbon Brief. “With large parts of Europe suffering an extreme summer of drought, wildfires and heat-related excess deaths, the Telegraph’s long-running history of platforming climate-sceptic commentary now looks even more badly misjudged and discordant.”
In fact, Axel Springer’s approach to the issue is not unified – and its all-powerful chief executive, Mathias Döpfner, has previously said he was “all for climate change” because of the innovation it could bring.
According to Telegraph insiders, the series of pieces did not come from an internal order to shift tone. One said its editor, Chris Evans, was simply “an old-school Fleet Street editor – he likes whatever is causing noise”.
Most believe the pieces by Stanley and Evans-Pritchard in effect marked a Conservative party schism spilling out on to the pages of its favourite outlet, with centre-right voices speaking up after Badenoch’s decision to ban candidates who did not follow the party line on net zero.
Bob Ward, the policy and communications director at the LSE’s Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, said: “We’re seeing a little bit of what has happened in the United States, where a noisy and very vocal group on the right of the right wing have been dominating the discussion about climate.
“The centre right has largely disappeared from view … It is a brave piece [from Stanley], but all he’s doing is looking out the window. Actually, there are a large number of Conservative supporters who feel similar to him.”
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Another source said the Telegraph’s own internal reader research showed many wanted action on climate change.
The pieces have been welcomed by pro-green Tories, often isolated in recent years. “It has been great to see such an active debate on the right about the best approach,” said Sam Hall, the director of Conservative Environment Network.
However, others who monitor climate coverage conclude that taken as a whole, there has been no real shift in the Telegraph’s approach, with recent stories linking rewilding and the emptying countryside to wildfires. While the Telegraph’s editorial column noted the Stanley and Evans-Pritchard pieces, it ultimately backed Badenoch’s approach.
Richard Wilson, the director of the Reliable Media campaign group, said: “We’ve seen cases before where a paper has sought to reposition itself as becoming more grounded in scientific reality around climate change – such as the Daily Express’s ‘green crusade’. Sadly, that change was not sustained.
“For a credible ‘conversion’ at the Telegraph, I think we’d need to see an end to the wider pattern.”
Carbon Brief’s Hickman added: “The week ended with editors giving the final word to Kemi Badenoch, who used it to simply double down on her own net zero scepticism. What on earth must the Telegraph’s readers – and new owner – make of this vertiginous rollercoaster of denial?”
The Telegraph was approached for comment.
