Misinformation and disinformation are major threats to climate action.

Climate change misinformation and disinformation create a distorted perception of climate science and solutions; meanwhile they weaken the public mandate for effective domestic and international policies aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Universal definition

Problem & Solution

Our policy asks

Universal definition

Climate disinformation and misinformation refers to deceptive or misleading content that:

Undermines the existence or impacts of climate change, the unequivocal human influence on climate change, and the need for corresponding urgent action according to the IPCC scientific consensus and in line with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement;

Misrepresents scientific data, including by omission or cherry-picking, in order to erode trust in climate science, climate-focused institutions, experts, and solutions; or

Falsely publicises efforts as supportive of climate goals that in fact contribute to climate warming or contravene the scientific consensus on mitigation or adaptation.

Problem

Disinformation distorts climate realities, weakens policy support, and threatens urgent action for a liveable future.

Climate change misinformation and disinformation are major threats to climate action. They create a distorted perception of climate science and solutions; meanwhile they weaken the public mandate for effective domestic and international policies aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Outright climate denial no longer has as much traction in mainstream media, but continues to flourish across social media, with algorithms often amplifying the worst and most extreme content. Discourses of climate delay also continue to pervade the mainstream media and social media platforms around topics such as net zero policy, and pose a real threat to implementing targets or agendas in line with the urgency of the threat. In parallel, digital advertising and monetisation through social media and the open web diversify opportunities to spread climate mis/disinformation – including ‘greenwashing’ – and, in many cases, create active financial incentives to do so.

More than 20 leading climate and anti-disinformation organisations established a global coalition in the summer of 2021, to safeguard public debate and mitigate information attacks against the COP26 summit. These efforts led to the creation of a universal definition of climate mis/disinformation; initiated a long-term process for decision makers to acknowledge the threat; spotlighted climate disinformation threats; provided insight for media outlets globally; and helped decision makers to understand the scale of the problem. It also inspired Google to roll out a global climate misinformation policy across all its monetised products and services including YouTube and to ban disinformation adverts that deny the existence of climate change or humanity’s impact on the climate. While good progress, these efforts were only the initial steps of what is needed to solve the problems detailed above.

In the fight against climate mis/disinformation and its impact on climate action, it’s essential for civil society to urge platforms, governments, and regulators to confront climate denial and delay narratives. Initial steps involve securing transparency and recognition of misinformation on platforms, alongside advocating for supportive international and national legislation.

The next two years will see pivotal moments amplifying climate disinformation, including the COP28 summit, key elections, significant IPCC reports, updated NDC announcements, and climate financing milestones. Encouragingly, there’s potential for robust policies from governments and tech platforms, building upon the progress already achieved, and necessitating collective efforts to push for increased and effective measures against climate mis/disinformation.

Solution

Driving transparency, global cooperation, and policy initiatives to combat climate disinformation's harmful effects.

Our Policy Asks

Governments should require that social media, advertising technology, broadcast and publishing companies:

Produce and publicize a transparent company plan

Produce and publicize a transparent company plan to stop the spread of climate disinformation, greenwashing, hate speech, and content that jeopardizes public health and security on their platforms that includes:

Community content standards,
An enforcement mechanism for violation of the standards,
A greater allocation of resources to monitor content in all languages and local dialects,
An explanation of any fact-checking processes, and,
A robust public input mechanism for content flagging.

Release assessments publicly

Release publicly available assessments of how product or design changes affect the spread of climate disinformation and hate speech before they are implemented.

Allow academics access to non-personal data

Allow public interest researchers and academics to access non-personal data related to content, including user generated content, promoted content and paid advertising.

Adopt the definition of climate disinformation

Adopt a universal definition of climate disinformation and misinformation

Prevent the monetisation of disinformation

Prevent the monetisation of climate disinformation aligned with the definition through advertisements and search, including “greenwashing.”

Report annually on the prevalence disinformation

Report annually on the prevalence of foreign interference and coordinated climate disinformation influence operations, as well as fossil fuel industry-sponsored disinformation efforts on their services.

Engage in public communications to educate users

Engage in public communications to educate users on detecting and limiting the spread of disinformation