Marshall Wace Tripled Fossil Fuel Bets to $2.8bn
Get the Energy newsletter
Daily energy & climate — solar, EVs, oil, the policy fights and tech bets shaping the transition. Free.
- Marshall Wace Asset Management nearly tripled its fossil fuel investments in Q1 2026 to $2.8bn (£2.1bn), with Chevron the biggest mover — shareholding rising from $196m to $864m — per Guardian/DeSmog analysis of SEC filings.
- New Marshall Wace stakes also included ConocoPhillips ($163m), Shell ($72m), Devon Energy ($35m), and major holdings in oilfield services firms SLB and Halliburton (up 500-fold); renewable energy holdings fell 30% to $415m in the same quarter.
- Sir Paul Marshall — Marshall Wace chair and CIO, and GB News co-owner — has dismissed net zero as "an ideology of fear and destruction" and called climate concern "climate derangement syndrome" at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference on 23 June.
- GB News aired 953 attacks on climate science and action around the 2024 general election, and UK regulator Ofcom is investigating whether a repeated interview with Donald Trump breached impartiality rules after the president called climate change "a hoax."
- Marshall Wace told the Guardian the analysis is "partial and inaccurate," saying its $90bn long-short portfolio includes short positions excluded from SEC filings, and stressed Marshall's personal GB News stake is "totally unconnected" to the fund.
- US-Israeli attacks on Iran sharply raised oil prices and valuations, but Marshall Wace increased its share count in fossil companies by at least 50% beyond that price-driven boost, while selling roughly 60% of its ExxonMobil holding (leaving $47m).
- Climate campaigners including Stop Funding Heat, the Green party, Greenpeace UK, and former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams accused Marshall of "cashing in on climate chaos" and urged institutional investors to divest from Marshall Wace.
Why it matters: The numbers undercut Marshall's public climate skepticism: globally, clean energy investment now outpaces fossil fuel funding 2-to-1, yet Marshall Wace quadrupled Chevron while cutting renewables 30%. With Ofcom already probing GB News over a Trump climate interview and 953 attacks logged during the 2024 election cycle, regulators now have a concrete financial record to weigh against the channel's editorial stance.
