Centre for Information Integrity

‘A war of the truth’: Europe’s heatwaves are failing to spur support for climate action

 7/4/2025

Guardian

Ajit Niranjan & Elsie McDowell

As heatwaves engulfed large swathes of Europe and North America last week – the latest in a stream of deadly extremes made worse by fossil fuel pollution – green groups are frustrated that increasingly violent weather has not spurred the urgent support for climate action they had expected. Governments across the rich world continue to roll back policies to stop the planet from heating, while far-right parties that deny climate science lash out at environment rules even as disasters unfold. Their voters, while rarely climate deniers themselves, seem to tolerate their energetic attacks on environmental policy, if not support them.

‘This is a fight for life’: climate expert on tipping points, doomerism and using wealth as a shield

 6/24/2025

The Guardian

Jonathan Watts

Dr Genevieve Guenther, an American climate communications specialist, is the founding director of End Climate Silence, which studies the representation of global heating in the media and public discourse. Last year, she published The Language of Climate Politics: Fossil Fuel Propaganda and How to Fight It, which was described by Bill McKibben as “a gift to the world”. In the run-up to the Global Tipping Points conference in July, Guenther talks to the Guardian about the need to discuss catastrophic risks when communicating about the climate crisis.

93 Experts and Organizatons in Open Letter: Governments Should Curb Climate Disinformation

 11/14/2024

Climate Action Against Disinformation

As world leaders gather for COP29 climate negotiations in Baku, with the G20 Summit in Brazil fast approaching, a group of 51 organizations and 42 climate & information integrity experts are calling for action to address climate disinformation. This call to action comes as Brazil, the host of the upcoming G20 Summit, is spearheading a global initiative with the UN , aiming to counter misinformation and disinformation that hinder climate action. This initiative is expected to be officially announced at the G20 Summit on November 19th and 20th.

Advancing policy solutions against climate disinformation: third session of the workstream

 8/19/2025

Forum on Information Democracy

On July 3, 2025, the Partnership for Information and Democracy convened its third closed-door session as part of its workstream on strengthening information integrity on climate change and other environmental issues. Co-chaired by Brazil and Armenia, the meeting marked a shift from diagnosing the challenges of climate disinformation to exploring concrete policy solutions.

Climate Clarity Hub

 4/1/2024

EU Disinfo Lab

Warm welcome to the Climate Clarity Hub, a platform that consolidates knowledge and expertise on climate mis/disinformation. We want to confront climate pessimism, call for action, sharing knowledge, analysis, content, resources, anecdotes both from an ecological activism perspective and within the counter-disinformation community.

Climate Deniers Waiting in the Wings as Trump Reclaims Presidency

 11/8/2024

Desmog

Joe Frassier & Sharon Kelly

Meet those aiming to capitalize on Trump’s re-election by slashing climate action, from Koch network fixtures to Project 2025 and beyond. Judging from Trump’s track record and recent statements, antipathy toward environmental regulations and decarbonization incentives seems an all but certain theme. And many of Trump’s first-term appointees — including some potentially poised to return to power — have histories of active climate crisis denial and delay. Former Trump officials spent the past four years lobbying for energy companies (including those they’d recently regulated), and contributed to the Heritage Foundation’s “Mandate for Leadership” document, the foundation of the now-notorious Project 2025 initiative.

Climate Disinformation Database

 4/1/2025

DeSmog

DeSmog

In DeSmog’s Climate Disinformation Database, you can browse our extensive research on the individuals and organizations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming.

Climate misinformation is rife on social media – and poised to get worse

 1/21/2025

Colorado Newsline

Jill Hopke

The decision by Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to end its fact-checking program and otherwise reduce content moderation raises the question of what content on those social media platforms will look like going forward. One worrisome possibility is that the change could open the floodgates to more climate misinformation on Meta’s apps, including misleading or out-of-context claims during disasters.

Climate Misinformation Is Rife on Social Media—And Poised to Get Worse

 1/28/2025

Energy Mix

Jill Hopke

The decision by Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to end its fact-checking program in the United States and otherwise reduce content moderation raises the question of what content on those social media platforms will look like in future. One worrisome possibility is that the change could open the floodgates to more climate misinformation on Meta’s apps, including misleading or out-of-context claims during disasters, writes Jill Hopke, Associate Professor of Journalism at DePaul University, for The Conversation.

Climate misinformation turning crisis into catastrophe, report says

 6/19/2025

The Guardian

Rampant climate misinformation is turning the crisis into a catastrophe, according to the authors of a new report. It found climate action was being obstructed and delayed by false and misleading information stemming from fossil fuel companies, rightwing politicians and some nation states. The report, from the International Panel on the Information Environment (Ipie), systematically reviewed 300 studies. The researchers found climate denialism has evolved into campaigns focused on discrediting solutions, such as the false claims that renewable energy caused the recent massive blackout in Spain

Climate Obstruction: On the State and Spread of Climate Disinformation in Canada.

 1/1/2025

Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy

While climate denial historically defined opposition to climate action, the discourse is increasingly shifting into new territory online: climate delayism. These delay tactics leverage discourses that accept the existence of climate change, but nevertheless downplay its urgency and sow doubt in potential solutions.

Climate Obstruction: The State and Spread of Climate Disinformation in Canada.

 1/1/2025

Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy

Part I of this report traces the distinct history and development of Canadian “petroculture,” and the regional and national identities that have formed around it. Part II examines the key players active in Canada’s climate (dis)information ecosystem, while Part III evaluates trends in the Canadian public’s resonance with five prominent climate delay narratives. The report employs a mixed methods approach, using both quantitative and qualitative analysis to probe Canadians’ attitudes toward climate delay narratives and climate solutions.

Climate Science 2050: National Priorities for Climate Change Science and Knowledge Report

Government of Canada

The changing climate is impacting Canada’s economy, infrastructure, environment, health, and social and cultural well-being. Climate change science adds to our understanding of how to reduce future warming by mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, how to reduce the risks from warming, and how to reduce vulnerability to climate change. Thus, it supports climate action based on evidence. Implementation and coordination of science activities must reflect the diversity of Canadians’ regional and equity-based experiences of climate change. Climate change multiplies risks for all communities and regions, but may do so in different ways, and the impacts may be felt differently. Science planning must also address the broader context of Canada’s progress toward a circular economy and sustainable development.

CLIMATE SOLUTION DENIAL IS THE LATEST MISINFORMATION TREND: REPORT

 6/23/2025

Carboncopy

Continued and intentional spread of climate disinformation, fake news, and information manipulation is decreasing public trust regarding climate action There’s a pervasive hindrance in the climate action front — misinformation. And it’s deliberate, according to a new report by the International Panel on Information Integrity (IPIE). Titled ‘Facts, Fakes, and Climate Science’, it is the first global, systematic assessment of information integrity on climate change. It says that the continued and intentional spread of climate disinformation, fake news, and information manipulation is decreasing public trust regarding climate action, making it somewhat ineffective and challenging.

Combatting Climate Disinformation in the Pacific: The Role of Media and Information Literacy

 12/6/2024

UNESCO

On 12 November 2024, UNESCO hosted a breakout session titled “Information Integrity Advancing Climate Action: Tackling Disinformation for a Sustainable Future” in Brisbane, Australia. This event was part of the regional conference Disinfo Pacific, which explored global strategies and approaches to address the escalating threats of disinformation.

Covering the Planet: Assessing the State of Climate and Environmental Journalism Globally

 6/5/2024

Internews

A new report from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network (EJN) and Deakin University, “Covering the Planet: Assessing the State of Climate and Environmental Journalism Globally,” documents urgent challenges confronting climate and environmental journalists across the globe, including 39% experiencing threats as a result of their work; and almost two-thirds feeling obliged to use climate skeptics as sources for “balance.”

DATA MONITOR | MARCH 2025: German elections: AfD-led disinformation puts climate action at stake

 3/18/2025

CAA

The results are in. On a record-breaking turnout, over half of Germany’s national election votes went to centre-right or far-right parties. Was this due to growing negativity towards climate policies? Unclear – migration, security and the economy dominated the campaigns, while most voters expect more climate protections overall. Less unclear – anti-climate sentiment and climate disinformation are growing as an electoral tactic in Germany and elsewhere. This activity distorts reality; threatening climate action despite widespread public support. In this data monitor we look at climate misinformation spread during the German election period primarily on X, Telegram and TikTok; how this activity was supported by platform and media amplification; and how all of this is part of a wider trend helping climate denying parties gain more power worldwide.

Davos 2024: Extreme Weather and Misinformation Top Global Risks

 1/10/2024

U.S. News

Victoria Waldersee

Risk specialists see extreme weather and misinformation as most likely to trigger a global crisis in the next couple of years, a World Economic Forum (WEF) survey released on Wednesday said. While extreme weather was identified as the bigger risk in 2024, misinformation and disinformation came second and were found to be the most severe global risk over the next two years.

DeBriefed 7 July 2023: World’s run of hottest days; Shipping’s climate reckoning

 7/7/2023

Carbon Brief

Joe Goodman

An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change. Carbon Brief speaks to Jennie King, head of climate research and policy at the Institute of Strategic Dialogue (ISD), about the revival of online climate misinformation ahead of the next round of UN climate talks.

Denmark and Sweden among 6 countries, COP30 host and UN behind Call for Climate Information Integrity

United Nations

The Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change is launching a call to action for concrete solutions to address disinformation and related tactics seeking to delay and derail climate action. The Global initiative is a coalition that brings together the UN, UNESCO, UNFCCC, Brazil, and six other countries (Chile, Denmark, France, Morocco, the United Kingdom, and Sweden) along with civil society partners. The call is part of the Global “Mutirão” (Call to Action) convened by the COP30 Presidency through the Action Agenda to accelerate and scale up the implementation of solutions to the climate crisis.

DISINFO UPDATE

 11/21/2024

EU Disinfo Lab

What is the state of disinformation in EU member states following the last EU elections? To address challenges identified during the elections, we’re launching a round of updates to our existing factsheets on the disinformation landscapes across Europe and expanding coverage to the remaining EU countries, thanks to the support from the US Mission to the EU. This resource is designed for the community to gain a clearer view of the ongoing efforts in addressing disinformation across the EU.

Disinformation pushes wildfire blame away from climate change.

 8/7/2025

CBC Listen

Matt Allen

A new report from Climate Action Against Disinformation is highlighting the various false claims online that attribute wildfires to causes other than climate change. Michael Khoo is a policy co-chair with the organization.

Eight of the top 10 online shows are spreading climate misinformation

 4/21/2002

Yale Climate Connections

YCC Staff

Often backed by large advertising budgets, a new breed of climate denial is gaining popularity. About one in five U.S. adults and 37% of adults under 30 say they regularly get news from social media influencers, according to Pew. Of the 10 most popular online shows, eight have spread false or misleading information about climate change, a Yale Climate Connections analysis found. That analysis builds on recent work by Media Matters for America, a journalism watchdog organization, which found that right-leaning influencers now dominate digital media like podcasts and streams.

Environmental Risks Dominate Ten-year Horizon: Global Risks Report 2025

 2/13/2025

SDG Updates

Misinformation and disinformation emerged as the top risk over the next two years, according to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Risks Report 2025, followed by extreme weather events and state-based armed conflict. As with last year’s report, over the ten-year horizon, perceived risks are dominated by environmental concerns. The report derives from the results of an annual ‘Global Risks Perception Survey,’ which brings together insights on the evolving global risks landscape from over 900 experts, policymakers, and industry leaders.

Environmental Risks Dominate Ten-year Horizon: Global Risks Report 2025

 2/13/2025

SDG Updates

SDG Updates

Misinformation and disinformation emerged as the top risk over the next two years, according to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Risks Report 2025, followed by extreme weather events and state-based armed conflict. As with last year’s report, over the ten-year horizon, perceived risks are dominated by environmental concerns. The report derives from the results of an annual ‘Global Risks Perception Survey,’ which brings together insights on the evolving global risks landscape from over 900 experts, policymakers, and industry leaders.

Exposing fossil fuel disinformation, one lie at a time

 5/22/2025

David Suzuki Foundation

Jodi Stark

Here is the revised version written in third person: --- Big Oil lobbyists have enlisted political allies to disseminate disinformation, some of which has become so widespread that distinguishing fact from fiction is increasingly challenging for the public. This piece aims to clarify the misinformation being circulated during this pivotal moment in Canadian politics. In what is a critical decade for climate action, it is essential to reduce emissions across all sectors and transition from fossil fuels to a clean energy economy. As the country’s largest emitter, the oil and gas industry must be held accountable.

Extreme Weather, Extreme Content: How Big Tech Enables Climate Disinformation in a World on the Brink

 11/12/2024

CAAD

As COP29 gets underway, the consequences of climate change are ever more extreme. So too with climate mis- and disinformation, now ubiquitous online. CAAD’s latest report uncovers the prevalence and nature of online climate dis- and misinformation, which rages on for another year. As extreme weather events due to climate change become more commonplace, the world needs more than ever to take effective, multi-lateral action. But the digital information landscape is dangerously polluted, obscuring the truth and delaying the urgent action we need to protect our future. Big Oil and Big Tech are facilitating an ongoing reframing of extreme weather events, as well as ready solutions to the crisis, turning them into fodder for opposition to climate action.

Fake climate news thriving as politics and AI turbocharge disinformation crisis

 2/7/2025

Euractiv

Xhoi Zajmi

Extreme weather events will continue to trigger disinformation. False claims, conspiracy theories, and AI-generated content are expected to surge, driven by political and technological shifts in the United States. Global Witness, an international NGO, predicts climate disinformation will become more urgent than ever this year, based on trends observed in 2024, related to weather events such as Hurricane Helene or the Los Angeles wildfires.

Fake news offers unexpected opportunities for trusted media

 6/17/2024

DW

Cathrin Schaer

Disinformation is acknowledged as one of journalism's, if not the democratic world's, biggest problems. Fake news and misleading visuals have deepened social division and interfered with elections, as well as having other destructive aspects. And generative artificial intelligence, or AI, where, for example, advanced computing allows users to make a minutes-long video from one photograph of a politician, is only about to make things worse. However, at DW's annual Global Media Forum (GMF) in Bonn there was some unexpectedly positive news regarding the increase and spread of disinformation.

Falsehoods and forecasts: Our 2025 predictions for climate disinformation

 2/6/2025

Global Witness

Global Witness

They share their predictions for climate disinformation in 2025, as a new US president, extreme weather, and COP30 all place increasing pressure on social media platforms.

Falsehoods and forecasts: Our 2025 predictions for climate disinformation

 2/6/2025

Global Witness

We share our predictions for climate disinformation in 2025, with a new US president, extreme weather and COP30 all heaping pressure on social media platforms Climate disinformation is misleading climate information which is shared with an agenda in mind – to deceive people, promote a political view, make money or stir up tension.

Falsehoods and forecasts: Our 2025 predictions for climate disinformation

 2/6/2025

Global Witness

We share our predictions for climate disinformation in 2025, with a new US president, extreme weather and COP30 all heaping pressure on social media platforms.

Flame Wars: Misinformation and Wildfires in Canada’s Climate Conversation

Fossil fuel companies funding and supplying misleading climate education to Canadian schools, new report shows

 2/18/2025

CAPE

CAPE

Amid concerns about rising misinformation, disinformation and corporate influence, a new report by the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) and For Our Kids with support from the Raffi Foundation for Child Honouring reveals that oil and gas companies have funded and supplied misleading climate education to children across Canada.

From oil ads to Russian interference: These are the climate lies to look out for at COP28

 11/29/2023

Euronews

Lottie Limb

Misinformation is exacerbating the climate crisis, experts warn as world leaders prepare to meet for COP28 in Dubai. In 2023, any lingering doubts about the scientific facts of climate change and the imperative to address them seem to have dissipated. However, a report by the Climate Action Against Disinformation (CAAD) coalition highlights a resurgence of outright denial and the emergence of new insidious tactics by major oil entities and deceptive actors online.

Global Call to Counter Climate Disinformation Launched Ahead of COP30 in Brazil

 7/18/2025

Climate Action

An international effort to combat climate disinformation has this month issued a call to action, as part of the build-up to COP30 held in Belém, Brazil, in November 2025. The Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change, backed by the UN, UNESCO, UNFCCC, Brazil, and six other countries (Chile, Denmark, France, Morocco, the UK, and Sweden), is calling on stakeholders worldwide to submit solutions to counter climate-related disinformation and manipulation. The call to action is part of the Global “Mutirão”, convened by the COP30 Brazilian Presidency through the official Action Agenda, and aims to accelerate real, scalable responses to one of the most under-acknowledged threats to climate action: the erosion of public trust in science and multilateralism due to disinformation.

Global Risks 2024: Disinformation Tops Global Risks 2024 as Environmental Threats Intensify

 1/10/2024

World Economic Forum

Drawing on nearly two decades of original risks perception data, the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2024 warns of a global risks landscape in which progress in human development is being chipped away slowly, leaving states and individuals vulnerable to new and resurgent risks. Against a backdrop of systemic shifts in global power dynamics, climate, technology and demographics, global risks are stretching the world’s adaptative capacity to its limit.

Global Risks Report 2025: Conflict, Environment and Disinformation Top Threats

 1/15/2025

World Economic Forum

The 20th edition of the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report, released today, reveals an increasingly fractured global landscape, where escalating geopolitical, environmental, societal and technological challenges threaten stability and progress. While economic risks have less immediate prominence in this year’s survey results, they remain a concern, interconnected with societal and geopolitical tensions.

Heat: Harmful Environmental Agendas & Tactics

 6/23/2025

EU Disinfo

The HEAT project shows that climate disinformation undermines democratic resilience and evidence-based policymaking by fuelling distrust, polarisation, and resistance to climate action. This report urges EU institutions to recognise it under the Digital Services Act (DSA), either explicitly as a systemic risk or as part of existing risks to democracy, public health, and civic discourse. Platforms are currently exploiting this lack of clarity on the status of climate disinformation to avoid action. Very large online platforms must be held to the same standards of accountability with regard to this systemic risk as are applied to other systemic risks. The findings reflect a shifting disinformation landscape where climate debates are increasingly entangled with conspiracy theories, culture war rhetoric, foreign influence, and systemic distrust. This report offers an evidence base for targeted responses and lays the groundwork for monitoring future campaigns around climate, energy, and democratic legitimacy in Europe.

Hot Air: The danger of Climate Misinformation

 4/8/2025

Tortois

Bex Sander, J. Vasagar & Joe White

The climate has shifted: 2024 was the hottest year in history, with record-breaking temperatures in the atmosphere and warmer oceans ushering in what scientists have described as a dangerous new era of wildfires and floods amplified by climate change. The political climate has shifted too. Even for politicians who accept the scientific consensus, the high short-term costs of tackling climate change pose a daunting challenge. See also: A new interactive tool from Tortoise shows how online untruths about the climate are growing, changing shape and spreading. https://www.tortoisemedia.com/data/hot-air

How ‘sophisticated’ climate misinformation gets to the heart of power

 6/20/2025

Climate Home news

Matteo Civillini

Climate misinformation campaigns run by fossil fuel firms and right-wing populist groups have become more sophisticated and capable of influencing policy-making through “backdoor channels”, according to the authors of a major new report. Based on a review of over 300 scientific papers, the study from the International Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE) found that the dissemination of false and misleading information has shifted from denying the existence of climate change to sowing doubt over its causes and solutions.

How ‘sophisticated’ climate misinformation gets to the heart of power

 6/20/2025

Climate Home news

Matteo Civillini

Climate misinformation campaigns run by fossil fuel firms and right-wing populist groups have become more sophisticated and capable of influencing policy-making through “backdoor channels”, according to the authors of a major new report. Based on a review of over 300 scientific papers, the study from the International Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE) found that the dissemination of false and misleading information has shifted from denying the existence of climate change to sowing doubt over its causes and solutions.

How can media react to disinformation, climate change?

 6/18/2024

DW

Cathrin Schaer

Recent reports from a variety of institutions, including the World Economic Forum, say the world is currently facing two challenges, both of which can be considered extremely urgent for humanity. One is disinformation, when false images and deliberately inaccurate information, often known as "fake news," undermine democracy and deepen social divisions. The other is climate change, which is devastating the environment and will eventually see parts of the planet become uninhabitable. The former is mostly considered a short-term problem, the latter a long-term one.

How fake news made Spain's floods more dangerous

 11/8/2024

The Local / AFP

The disinformation inundating social media during Spain's catastrophic floods gave life-threatening advice to desperate people, hampered the crucial work of emergency services and exploited fear, anger and grief, an AFP investigation has found. The European nation's worst floods in a generation have killed more than 210 people, left dozens missing and submerged entire towns in mud, particularly in the eastern Valencia region.

How FEMA tries to combat rumors and conspiracy theories about Milton and Helene

 10/9/2024

NPR

Huo Jingnan

With a second massive hurricane set to hit the United States in less than two weeks, the Federal Emergency Management Agency also has to contend with a deluge of rumors and conspiracy theories about its response and policies. One challenge for FEMA and local first responders is that prominent political figures, including former President Donald Trump, have amplified falsehoods, politicizing the storm response less than a month ahead of the presidential election. Without naming Trump and his allies, local Republican officials have pushed back against some of the false narratives that have been spreading.

How to Fight Climate Change Misinformation

 2/5/2025

Environment Defense Fund

Misinformation is a proven danger — and it poses a serious threat to the public support that’s needed to solve the climate crisis. But misinformation can be hard to spot, and even more difficult to report and correct. This how-to guide shares tips and tools for fighting climate misinformation, plus step-by-step instructions for identifying misinformation and reporting it on social media platforms.

How wildfires expose Canada's climate disinformation problem

 6/17/2024

National Observer

Marc Fawcett-Atkinson

Right-wing influencers and websites – including many that attacked pandemic-era public health measures – leveraged last year’s record-breaking wildfires to spread climate disinformation, researchers say.

Hurricane Helene’s ‘historic flooding’ made worse by global heating, Fema says

 9/30/2024

Guardian

Edward Helmore

The head of the US disaster relief agency has called Hurricane Helene, which has killed nearly 100 people, a “true multi-state event” that caused “significant infrastructure damage” and had been made worse because of global heating. The storm killed at least 91 people, according to state and local officials in South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia. Officials feared more bodies would be discovered.

Inside Trump’s campaign to censor climate science

 8/4/2025

LSE

Pallavi Sethi

As climate disasters intensify, the Trump administration is not just denying science but actively censoring it. Pallavi Sethi examines how efforts to erase climate data in the US undermine scientific institutions, threaten global climate preparedness and deepen inequalities in a warming world.

Is the Climate Crisis a Disinformation Crisis?

 7/25/2025

Green Economy Coalition

Jean McLean

It’s no longer news that we are living through a dangerous and widening gap between what we know about the climate crisis—and what we do about it. But what should be shocking is how deliberately that gap is being engineered. Across the globe, powerful interests are hijacking our media and communication systems to distort climate facts, seed doubt, and delay action. This is not just an information failure—it’s an information assault. It’s fuelling distrust, polarisation, and fragmentation at a time when we need unity, truth, and bold leadership more than ever. The science is unambiguous. Climate change is real, caused by human activity, and escalating fast. But instead of responding with urgency and ambition, our societies are swamped in inertia. Why? Partly, because our information environment is being poisoned.

Leonard Leo-linked group attacking efforts to educate judges on climate

 9/29/2024

Guardian

Dharna Noor & Alice herman

A rightwing organization is attacking efforts to educate judges about the climate crisis. The group appears to be connected to Leonard Leo, the architect of the rightwing takeover of the American judiciary who helped select Trump’s supreme court nominees, the Guardian has learned. The Washington DC-based non-profit Environmental Law Institute (ELI)’s Climate Judiciary Project holds seminars for lawyers and judges about the climate crisis. It aims to “provide neutral, objective information to the judiciary about the science of climate change as it is understood by the expert scientific community and relevant to current and future litigation”, according to ELI’s website.

Macron joins Lula to Take a Stand Against Climate Disinformation

 6/5/2025

CAAD

Today, June 5, 2025, France and Brazil published the “Joint France-Brazil press release: accelerating climate action.” Within this significant declaration aimed at bolstering global climate efforts, they also expressed firm support for upholding information integrity in the fight against climate change. The two nations explicitly called on other countries to join efforts to “combat climate disinformation,” under the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change, highlighting the necessity of a united front against false or misleading narratives.

Nearly half of journalists covering climate crisis globally received threats for their work

 6/5/2024

Guardian

Nina Lakhani

Almost four out of every 10 journalists covering the climate crisis and environment issues have been threatened as a result of their work, with 11% subjected to physical violence, according to groundbreaking new research. A global survey of more than 740 reporters and editors from 102 countries found that 39% of those threatened “sometimes” or “frequently” were targeted by people engaged in illegal activities such as logging and mining. Some 30%, meanwhile, were threatened with legal action – reflecting a growing trend towards corporations and governments deploying the judicial system to muzzle free speech.

New UN initiative aims to counter climate disinformation

 11/19/2024

United Nations

As the dangers posed by climate change become increasingly evident worldwide, the need for reliable and accurate information on the impact of the environmental crisis is more crucial than ever. To address this, the United Nations, together with the Organization’s education and science agency, UNESCO and the Brazilian government, launched the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change on Tuesday. The joint effort announced at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Brazil aims to strengthen research and measures to address all disinformation which has the effect of delaying or derailing climate action.

Not just social media: Report claims mainstream French media is spreading climate disinformation

 4/10/2025

Euro News

James Bailey

A new AI-powered study in France has discovered climate misinformation is rife. And it’s not just confined to social media either, with many major news and TV outlets implicated in the findings. The research focused on news and information programs from 19 French TV and radio channels, including both public and private broadcasters. Only programmes officially classed as ‘news’ by French regulator ARCOM were included. Using a prototype AI tool, thousands of news segments were scanned for climate-related keywords and statements. AI-flagged segments were then manually reviewed by experts to verify whether they contained climate disinformation using scientific and journalistic criteria.

On Amazon destruction, will Brazil President Lula’s ‘disinformation space’ be penetrated? (commentary)

 5/22/2025

Mongabay

Philip M. Fearnside

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva lives in a “disinformation space,” to use the term coined by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to describe U.S. President Donald Trump. Lula is surrounded by sources of constant disinformation on environmental matters, such as his minister of transportation, the minister of mines and energy, and the head of Petrobras, Brazil’s state-owned oil company. Who can tell President Lula, without mincing words, that he is leading Brazil on a suicidal path to a climate disaster? Brazil would be devastated if a tipping point is passed and global warming escapes from human control, which is very close to happening.

Polluting Education: The Influence of Fossil Fuels on Children’s Education in Canada

 2/18/2025

CAPE

This report documents the fossil fuel industry’s extensive influence on climate education for elementary and secondary school students. At least 39 oil and gas companies and 12 industry-tied organizations, including Shell, TC Energy and Pathways Alliance, are involved in climate education, either by supplying education materials directly to schools, through government partnerships, or funding third-party nonprofit providers of such materials. The reach of these programs extends to every province in Canada.

Polluting Education: The Influence of Fossil Fuels on Children’s Education in Canada

 2/18/2025

CAPE

CAPE

This report documents the fossil fuel industry’s extensive influence on climate education for elementary and secondary school students. At least 39 oil and gas companies and 12 industry-tied organizations, including Shell, TC Energy and Pathways Alliance, are involved in climate education, either by supplying education materials directly to schools, through government partnerships, or funding third-party nonprofit providers of such materials. The reach of these programs extends to every province in Canada.

Press Release - It’s Time to Confront Climate Disinformation: Why COP29 Should Not Ignore a Growing Threat

 11/12/2024

International Panel on the Information Environment

An expert group of tech and climate change researchers from the International Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE) have expressed concern over the exclusion of climate mis and disinformation from the official agenda of COP29. With the world grappling with worsening climate impacts, the IPIE’s Scientific Panel on Information Integrity about Climate Science emphasizes that failing to address climate mis and disinformation poses a threat to global climate action and public trust in science. Despite the urgent need to combat this challenge, it is conspicuously absent from the agenda, raising concerns about the effectiveness of the conference’s deliberations on climate policy and action.

Rampant conspiracy theories are hindering hurricane relief efforts, say officials

 10/9/2024

CBC

Mark Gollom

As Hurricane Milton bears down on Florida, some of the dialogue on social media includes baseless theories that the storm has been geo-engineered, that the government is involved in hurricane creation and that such storms are being directed to hit predominantly Republican areas. It's just an example of the series of false claims and conspiracy theories that have accompanied Milton, which is expected to make landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday, and Hurricane Helene, which also hit Florida and other southeastern U.S. states two weeks ago.

Report: Climate Obstruction: On the State and Spread of Climate Disinformation in Canada

 1/1/2025

Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy

Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy

Report: Climate Obstruction: On the State and Spread of Climate Disinformation in Canada

Responding to Climate Disinformation: FAQS and Resources for Local Governments

 4/1/2025

Local Governments for Sustainability

Local Governments for Sustainability

Climate misinformation and disinformation are on the rise and Canadian local governments are not immune to their impacts. As populist parties increase their electoral strength, governments, environmental organizations, and advocates of climate policies face challenges from well-orchestrated networks.

Scientists slam Trump administration climate report as a ‘farce’ full of misinformation

 8/1/2025

The Guardian

Dharna Noor & Oliver Milman

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposal to undo the 2009 “endangerment finding”, which allows the agency to limit planet-heating pollution from cars and trucks, power plants and other industrial sources. Hours later, the Department of Energy (DOE) published a 150-page report defending the proposal, claiming scientific concern about the climate crisis is overblown. In a Fox News interview, Chris Wright claimed the report pushed back on the “cancel culture Orwellian squelching of science”. But Naomi Oreskes, a history of science professor at Harvard University and expert in climate misinformation, said its true purpose was to “justify what is a scientifically unjustifiable failure to regulate fossil fuels”.

Scores of suspicious accounts on X promote the Azerbaijan government’s messages on COP

 10/29/2024

Global Witness

We were interested to see how Azerbaijan’s leadership of the conference was being discussed online. Ahead of last year’s COP, two investigations uncovered inauthentic X accounts praising the UAE’s presidency of the conference. In addition, the Azerbaijan government has a track record of using coordinated inauthentic accounts on Facebook to target the country’s journalists and democracy activists as well as using bots and troll farms on X to criticize Armenia. We looked at the conversation on X on the hashtags #COP29 and #COP29Azerbaijan. We uncovered a network of 71 suspicious accounts that give the impression of grassroots support for the Azerbaijan government

Spotting climate misinformation with AI requires expertly trained models

 4/14/2025

Science News

Ananya

Conversational AI chatbots are making climate misinformation sound more credible, making it harder to distinguish falsehoods from real science. In response, climate experts are using some of the same tools to detect fake information online.

The Climate Information Integrity Summit: Brasilia 2025: Climate Information Integrity Summit Sets Stage for COP30 Action

 3/26/2025

CAAD

CAAD

Over 120 key actors from governments, multilateral organizations, and local and international non-profit organizations convened in Brasília for the Climate Information Integrity Summit to discuss concrete steps towards safeguarding the integrity of climate information in the lead-up to COP30. The high-level event, organized by FALA, the Conscious Advertising Network, and the Climate Action Against Disinformation coalition, heard from over 30 leading international and national voices. These experts shared their experiences and perspectives on the current challenges of information ecosystems that obstruct effective climate action. The discussions focused on developing a clear pathway to ensure climate information integrity, with COP30 identified as a pivotal moment for significant progress.

The climate lockdown conspiracy: You can’t fact-check possibility

 12/12/2024

Misinformation Review

Marco Meyer et al

The climate lockdown conspiracies claim that a clandestine group of elites are planning to use climate change as a justification to enact widespread lockdowns and curtail freedoms. This conspiracy draws on a wide range of unconnected real-world events and suggests that their possibility of happening again is all the proof required. The focus on possibility instead of reality demonstrates the deep-seated philosophical differences between conspiracy theories and the fact-checking processes that counter them.

The Global Source of Scientific Knowledge About the World's Information Environment.

 11/20/2024

IPIE

Algorithmic manipulation, bias, hate speech, misleading information, deep fakes and other acts have created a global information environment crisis and an existential threat to humanity. The cost is billions of dollars, millions of lives and an erosion of trust in science, our institutions and each other. Led by top scientists of different disciplines from around the world, the IPIE is a global response. Together, IPIE scientists provide neutral assessments on the condition of the information environment –– allowing policymakers to take meaningful action before it's too late. Mission: To provide the most actionable scientific knowledge about threats to the world’s information environment.

The Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union joins the Climate Action Against Disinformation (CAAD) Coalition

 3/20/2025

Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung

EU.Boell

Climate Action Against Disinformation (CAAD) is a global coalition of over 50 leading climate and anti-disinformation organisations demanding robust, coordinated and proactive strategies to deal with the scale of the threat of climate misinformation and disinformation. Zora Siebert, Head of Programme - EU Democracy and Digital Policy: "We are thrilled to join Climate Action Against Disinformation ! It's an honour to be part of this powerful global coalition of climate and anti-disinformation organisations. Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time, and climate disinformation is a serious barrier to climate action. Let’s roll up our sleeves and stop the spread together!"

Trump reports distort science to justify rollback of key climate protections, experts warn

 8/27/2025

Euro News

Seth Borenstein & Michael Phillis

Two key documents from the Trump administration aimed at revoking the long-standing finding that climate change is dangerous were filled with errors, bias and distortions, according to dozens of scientists surveyed by The Associated Press. One of the reports argues that sea ice decline in the Arctic has been small, but uses data from the Antarctic to make the point. It uses a French-focused study on climate-related crop losses for a claim about the US — a generalisation the author said didn’t work because of significant differences in climate and agriculture. And after saying decades-old wildfire statistics aren’t reliable, the report reproduces them in a graphic anyway, making it appear fires were worse a century ago than they have been more recently.

Trump seeds disinformation as he sets course for a possible Oval Office return

 10/8/2024

CNN

Stephen Collinson

Following Hurricane Helene, and with another storm on the way, Trump is falsely claiming the White House is diverting disaster relief aid to unrelated migrant programs. This is false, but Trump, while president, did repurpose FEMA funds to help finance his hardline immigration policies. The Republican nominee often insists that his legal troubles are proof of Democratic election interference. But he’s the one who tried to subvert the will of voters in 2020 in the most flagrant attempt to overturn an election in American history.

What are climate misinformation and disinformation and what is their impact?

 4/22/2025

LSE

Climate misinformation refers to the spread of inaccurate information about climate change that can arise from human error, while climate disinformation is driven by a deliberate intent to spread knowingly false information. Regardless of intent, “scientifically misleading information” can have “negative implications for climate policy”, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said.

Who is Importing Donald Trump’s Anti-Climate Agenda to Germany?

 2/21/2025

DeSmog

Annika Joeres, E. Kolb & K. Huth

Donald Trump may have only recently re-entered the Oval Office, but his radical anti-climate ideas are on the march across the globe. A CORRECTIV investigation can reveal that politicians, think tanks, and economists are now spreading Trump’s ideologies in Germany – right up to the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its leader Friedrich Merz, the front-runner in the race to be Germany’s next leader, with federal elections due to take place on 23 February.

Why All Climate Misinformation Should Be Seen as Disinformation

 5/15/2025

CIGI

Andrew Heffernan

In the lead-up to Canada’s federal election, climate policy was one of the most hotly debated and deeply polarizing issues. Amid party platforms, campaign promises and heated debates, Canadians were also flooded with misleading narratives, questionable statistics and emotionally charged claims about everything from carbon pricing to oil and gas development. And while much of this may appear to be innocent misinformation — shared by well-meaning individuals who believe what they’re posting — it’s time we acknowledge a harder truth: almost all misinformation, especially about climate change, is the downstream product of coordinated disinformation campaigns.

Why All Climate Misinformation Should Be Seen as Disinformation

 10/15/2025

CIGI

Andrew Heffernan

In the lead-up to Canada’s federal election, climate policy was one of the most hotly debated and deeply polarizing issues. Amid party platforms, campaign promises and heated debates, Canadians were also flooded with misleading narratives, questionable statistics and emotionally charged claims about everything from carbon pricing to oil and gas development. And while much of this may appear to be innocent misinformation — shared by well-meaning individuals who believe what they’re posting — it’s time we acknowledge a harder truth: almost all misinformation, especially about climate change, is the downstream product of coordinated disinformation campaigns.