From The Climate Realism

By Anthony Watts

An article in the Carbon Brief (CB), “UK newspaper editorial opposition to climate action overtakes support for first time,” documents a clear shift towards climate realism in the United Kingdom: for the first time since CB began tracking editorials, more UK newspaper editorials are expressing skepticism towards the climate alarmist narrative and questioning the wisdom of various policies imposed to fight climate change, than are endorsing climate disaster claims and restrictions on energy use. Whatever one thinks of CB’s framing, the underlying trend it reports is real—and it aligns with a broader, global rise in climate realism.

The figure below from CB clearly shows the shift.

Note that shift began in 2022, with the steepest drop in alarmist articles and the biggest increase in articles endorsing a more realistic assessment of climate change and climate policies beginning in 2024 with the crossover complete in 2025.

Internationally, The Heartland Institute’s expanding global footprint has played a visible role in that change. The formal launch of Heartland UK/Europe, described in “The Heartland Institute Solidifies Its Global Impact by Founding Heartland UK & Europe,” reflects growing demand across the United Kingdom and Europe for fact-based critiques of climate alarmism and policy overreach. Heartland UK/Europe’s leadership under Lois Perry has emphasized transparency, cost-benefit analysis, and the difference between measured climate trends and speculative worst-case modeling—messages that resonate with editors and commentators increasingly wary of net-zero orthodoxy.

That shift did not appear out of nowhere, it a clear result of the strategies that have been introduced by Heartland UK/Europe coupled with growing international skepticism over the need for costly and disruptive “climate action” policies.

A perfect example of an event driving that shift is the recent counter to the World Economic Forum in Davos put on by The Heartland Institute, which announced:

The Heartland Institute hosts the World Prosperity Forum January 19–23 in Zurich, Switzerland, bringing together international leaders and policymakers to challenge the globalist, leftist agenda advanced each year at the World Economic Forum.

While the World Economic Forum promotes a centralized, top-down vision for the global economy, the World Prosperity Forum advances a prosperity-focused, freedom-focused vision rooted in free markets, individual liberty, and rising living standards.

In the United States, climate realism has gained ground as voters and policymakers have grown more skeptical of costly “net-zero” mandates that promised but failed to produce sweeping benefits, instead delivering higher energy prices and grid fragility. The rollback or weakening of major federal climate initiatives during the Trump years—combined with U.S. withdrawal from several symbolic international commitments—punctured the aura of inevitability that once surrounded global climate governance. Since then, debate has widened, and the assumption that “there is no alternative” to sweeping climate action has eroded.

It is notable that CB itself acknowledges in the article that most critical editorials are not disputing the existence of climate change, but rather questioning policy responses—what it labels “response scepticism.”

That distinction is central to the rise of climate realism. Factual websites such as Climate at a Glance and Climate Realism are filled with data-driven examples showing that many headline claims about worsening extremes, accelerating sea-level threats, or imminent tipping points are not supported by long-term observations. The result has been a growing willingness among editors to challenge whether expensive climate policies are justified by the evidence.

Carbon Brief frames this trend as a “backlash,” but another interpretation is that it reflects either or both the triumph of truth over falsehoods over time or a normal democratic correction. As claims of impending catastrophe collide with real-world outcomes—stable or improving human well-being, declining climate-related deaths, and resilient economies—media institutions are reassessing whether fear-based messaging still holds credibility. That reassessment is visible not only in the UK, but across Europe, North America, and beyond.

In that sense, the Carbon Brief article unintentionally underscores a positive development: facts are beginning to compete with fear. Climate realism—grounded in observed data, historical context, and economic reality—is no longer confined to a handful of dissenting voices. It is increasingly part of mainstream debate, amplified by organizations like The Heartland Institute and Heartland UK/Europe and reinforced by the growing body of evidence compiled at Climate at a Glance and Climate Realism. The world is noticing, and the media conversation is finally starting to catch up.