Article by Marta Kasztelan, Adam Barnett and Sam Bright republished from DeSmog.

Lois Perry, who helps to run Reform Friends of Israel, is one of the figures behind a new Heartland Institute branch in central Europe.

A close ally of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has helped to launch the central European offshoot of a U.S. climate denial group alongside far-right figures.

Lois Perry – executive director of Heartland UK-Europe – claimed on social media last week that she was “In Poland to launch [the] Heartland Institute Central Europe”.

The U.S.-based Heartland Institute has described itself as “the world’s most prominent think tank supporting scepticism about man-made climate change”, and has strong ties to U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.

At the launch of the new branch in Warsaw on 13 May, Perry appeared alongside Mariusz Zagórski, a speechwriter for Poland’s former president Andrzej Duda of the national conservative Law and Justice Party. Zagórski, who will be the branch’s official representative, told DeSmog it would “propose solutions” on energy costs and “evaluate climate policy”.

The Heartland Institute’s U.S. president James Taylor was also in attendance. Taylor is a Trump ally who has dismissed what he calls the “mythical global warming crisis”.

They were joined by representatives from Law and Justice, the far-right Confederation Party, and unnamed “guests from the U.S., Great Britain, and Austria”. The event was hosted by the Stanczyk Club, a space co-owned by the influential conservative legal advocacy group Ordo Iuris, which campaigns to restrict LGBT and abortion rights, and has co-authored a plan to dismantle the EU.

As revealed by DeSmog, the Heartland Institute has been working with far-right parties in recent years to oppose EU climate legislation, while Farage helped to launch Heartland UK-Europe in December 2024. The group didn’t respond to DeSmog’s requests for comment but previously said that it “stands resolute in its mission to advance sound science, economic prosperity, and individual liberty”.

Perry – a former UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader who ran the anti-net zero lobby group CAR26 – is the strategy director of Reform Friends of Israel, a group affiliated with the party that officially launched in February.

Perry has repeatedly claimed to be advising Reform on its climate and energy policy, and told a conservative Polish TV channel this week that she has an “unofficial but very close role” in the party. Perry has said it’s her “personal belief” that climate change “is happening” but “is not man made”. In reality, the world’s foremost climate science body, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has said that “it is a statement of fact, we cannot be any more certain; it is unequivocal and indisputable that humans are warming the planet”.

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Raphaël Kergueno of Transparency International EU told DeSmog that the Heartland Institute’s growing presence in Europe was “emblematic” of “lobbying efforts in Brussels” from pro-Trump groups.

“This European Parliament mandate has seen a notable uptick in lobbying by MAGA-affiliated organisations, including by the Heartland Institute,” he said.

Kenneth Haar, a researcher and campaigner at the transparency watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory, added: “All over Europe we see climate policies under pressure from corporate interests, and from the political right. Views that were regarded as absurd and fringe only a few years ago are now part of the debate.”

Poland Plans

According to Zagórski, the keynote address at the Warsaw event was delivered by Szymon Sikorski of Kraków Agricultural University, who said that climate change is “not necessarily caused by humans”, but is the result of “more complex and long-term effects.”

Zagórski told DeSmog after the event that Heartland wants to do for Poland and central Europe what it does in the U.S. — draft energy policy for politicians.

“The Heartland Institute has been evaluating the availability of various energy sources in different U.S. states,” he said, pointing to a report adopted by lawmakers in Louisiana. Zagórski added: “We want to prepare similar reports for countries in our region, to propose such solutions to our decision-makers.”

Zagórski, who sits on the advisory board of Poland’s farmers’ union Solidarity, told DeSmog he would work closely with Perry in London and Heartland’s base in Chicago to create a political nucleus in Poland.

“Warsaw is a hub for many strong conservative groups, farmers’ unions, and organisations that criticise or perhaps evaluate climate policy,” he said – adding that the launch event proved that “Warsaw can be a hub from which these activities can be organised.”

Speaking at the launch, Tomasz Sakiewicz, the head of right-wing Polish broadcaster TV Republika said: “For years, I’ve been advocating for the creation of think tanks, as they have them in the U.S.” – adding that the Heartland Institute could “inspire” Poland with “certain blueprints” modelled on America.

Farage, Perry, and Heartland

In September 2024, Farage spoke at a fundraiser for the Heartland Institute in Chicago, where he called for the group to set up a branch “across the Pond”.

Three months later, the Reform leader was the star speaker at the launch of Heartland UK-Europe in London. Perry, who reportedly first met Farage on his GB News show, was appointed its executive director.

At Reform’s annual conference in September 2025, at which Heartland hosted an event on energy policy, Perry told Politico that she had “held conversations with policymakers within Reform” and was advising the party.

Farage also joined Heartland at a gathering in January this year at a Mayfair club, with attendees including former Conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss.

Reform, which is leading UK-wide polls and won 14 councils in this month’s local elections, campaigns to scrap climate policies and dramatically increase the UK’s fossil fuel production.

The Heartland Institute, which was founded in 1984 and originally worked with tobacco giant Philip Morris to deny the harms caused by smoking, received at least $676,000 (around £500,800) between 1998 and 2007 from U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil.

Heartland previously told DeSmog that its “support comes from a diverse array of individuals and organisations who share our vision for a freer, more prosperous world.”

As DeSmog revealed, Reform has received £24 million from donors with fossil fuel interests – more than two thirds of its total income since being founded in 2019.

A number of senior Reform figures deny the scientifically established contribution of carbon dioxide to climate change. Farage himself has claimed it’s “absolutely nuts” for CO2 to be considered a pollutant.

On her recent trip to Poland, Perry promoted Reform’s political agenda. In an interview with 13 Piętro, a podcast on TV Republika – an outlet close to the Law and Justice Party – Perry described net zero as “the deliberate de-industrialisation of the United Kingdom”, adding: “We’re going to abolish it on day one. No more subsidies, no more net zero.”

Perry added: “I did a conference recently with a bunch of woke net zero fanatics. And I stood up and said, ‘I advise Nigel Farage on all net zero policy, and I advise all of you guys to go think about getting another job, because the money is being switched off.’”

Reform was contacted for comment.

MAGA World

Perry has also claimed that the Heartland Institute “has been extremely influential in helping to shape policy at the highest level” in the Trump administration.

In May, she and Taylor attended CPAC events in Hungary and Poland alongside key Trump supporters – including Kristi Noem, the U.S. government’s then head of Homeland Security. 

Taylor claimed that he “met with some very influential people at the top of the Law and Justice party” during CPAC Poland, while Perry said they “made some extraordinary progress in Poland and Hungary and some massive connections”.

Poland’s current President Karol Nawrocki, a Law and Justice Party ally who was elected last May, is a Trump supporter and earlier this month floated the idea of a national referendum on the EU’s climate policies.

In May 2025, days before Poland’s presidential election, Trump’s allies gathered at CPAC Poland to rally support for Nawrocki. Noem used the event to promise U.S. military assistance if Nawrocki won the vote.

However, last week, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth unexpectedly cancelled a planned deployment of 4,000 troops to the country.

The U.S. State Department is reportedly seeking to fund ideological allies in Europe, while Trump acolytes have campaigned across the continent in support of far-right parties.

However, they lost an ally with the defeat of Viktor Orbán in last month’s Hungarian elections, despite U.S. Vice President JD Vance campaigning for the now former Hungarian prime minister ahead of the vote.

Orbán’s government had significant ties to Reform, with senior figure Matthew Goodwin receiving direct funds from the Hungarian state, and Reform politicians including Farage publicly praising Orbán’s regime as a model for the UK.

“The recent change in government in Hungary has made it much more difficult to launch alt-right initiatives in that country today,” said political and disinformation analyst Anna Mierzynska. “That is why they are trying in Poland.”

Article by Marta Kasztelan, Adam Barnett and Sam Bright republished from DeSmog.