Sir Chris Hohn says he is "not ashamed" of funding Extinction Rebellion, arguing the group helped raise public awareness of the climate emergency. He personally donated £50,000 in 2019 and his foundation added £150,000. While some XR tactics prompted arrests and new police powers, Hohn warns the UK must accelerate the transition to a zero‑carbon economy to avoid higher long‑term food and energy costs.
City Billionaire Says He's 'Not Ashamed' to Fund Extinction Rebellion and Urges Faster Net‑Zero Action
Extinction Rebellion has faced fierce criticism regarding its disruptive tactics - Extinction Rebellion/AFP via Getty Images
Sir Chris Hohn, the hedge fund founder behind The Children's Investment (TCI), has defended his decision to donate to Extinction Rebellion, saying he is "not ashamed" to have supported the group's public awareness work despite its disruptive tactics.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Sir Chris — whose net worth is reported at around $13.6bn — said the activists "did an important job" in shining a spotlight on the climate emergency and forcing more people to confront the issue.
"I'm not ashamed to say that I funded them for public awareness-raising because a lot of people have been asleep on this issue. We didn't support anything illegal but they did an important job in their peaceful work in raising public awareness," he said.
Sir Chris personally gave £50,000 to Extinction Rebellion in 2019, and his charitable arm, the Children's Investment Fund Foundation, contributed a further £150,000 as the movement gained traction.
Since then, some activists have escalated tactics: protesters glued themselves to trains, blocked bridges and brought central London traffic to a standstill; one demonstration saw activists spray an estimated 1,800 litres of fake blood over the Treasury from a fire engine. Co-founder Roger Hallam was jailed in 2024 over his role in organising a protest that blocked the M25, and the government granted police new powers in 2023 to tackle disruptive protests.
Sir Chris Hohn said Extinction Rebellion had succeeded in forcing more people to confront climate change - Dan Kitwood/AFP
Sir Chris used his platform to warn against slowing the transition away from fossil fuels. "We're running out of time to fix the problem," he said. "It is a case of decarbonise or die." He argued that delaying action would raise long‑term costs for food and energy and that many critics misunderstand the economic trade-offs of decarbonisation.
The comments come amid a wider political debate in the UK about the pace and cost of reaching net‑zero emissions. Reports have suggested ministers are weighing changes to some climate commitments as they consider the economic impact on households. Conservative politician Kemi Badenoch has been a prominent critic of current net‑zero targets, describing them as unrealistic and economically risky.
Born to a legal secretary and a Jamaican-born mechanic who moved to the UK in the 1960s, Sir Chris founded TCI in 2003. The hedge fund, which at one time employed Rishi Sunak, manages roughly £60bn in assets.
Context: The debate over Extinction Rebellion highlights a wider dilemma for democracies: how to balance disruptive protest methods that raise public awareness against the social and legal costs of disruption, while policymakers decide how aggressively to pursue climate targets.
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