Climate KIC takes stand against climate disinformation at COP30
As COP30 started in Belém, Brazil—dubbed the “COP of Truth” by President Lula—Climate KIC has joined a coalition of over 90 climate and anti-disinformation organisations to demand governments take action against the wave of climate misinformation threatening global progress.
While extreme weather events intensify and the 2025 UNEP Emissions Gap Report finds that available new climate pledges under the Paris Agreement have only slightly lowered global temperature rise over this century, coordinated disinformation campaigns continue to obstruct climate action. A new report by the Coalition Against Climate Disinformation (CAAD) even finds that despite increasing support for policies to address climate change, the persistence of online falsehoods, supercharged by AI, helps sustain an undercurrent of hostility towards science.
These disinformation campaigns, which are designed to create a false perception of public division and delay the energy transition, are often financed by fossil fuel interests.
Why information integrity matters
“The integrity of what we receive as information and what knowledge we generate from it is fundamental to our ability to protect the communities and ecosystems we care about,” says Dr. Kirsten Dunlop, CEO of Climate KIC. “Cognitive security has become a critical priority as AI-enabled parallel realities start to redirect reality. Every falsehood that delays climate action translates into children breathing toxic air, families displaced by floods, and communities facing heatstroke and hunger. We’re not talking about abstract future risks; these are real people suffering real consequences today because organised campaigns are deliberately slowing our response to the climate crisis.“
At a press conference hosted by the Union of Concerned Scientists on climate action at COP30, speakers emphasised the pervasive and increasingly sophisticated nature of disinformation. They highlighted that disinformation can take many forms, posing real-time harm to communities—especially during extreme weather events where it can hinder the work of first responders. In the political realm, it weakens public trust and obstructs the decisions needed to confront climate change. Proposed solutions include understanding the tactics of disinformation actors, strengthening fact-checking, and enforcing greenwashing laws like those emerging in the EU.
Speakers stressed that democracy itself is at risk—even in Brazil—and that recognising disinformation as a public issue and democratising media is essential. ClientEarth’s recent report, Digital Distortion, reinforces these concerns, revealing how social media platforms amplify misleading climate narratives in pursuit of advertising revenue, further endangering public safety in the short term and eroding political will for climate action in the long term.
Recent studies from the International Panel on the Information Environment also demonstrate that organised climate obstruction activities are also directly sabotaging international cooperation and making Paris Agreement goals unattainable, threatening public health and human rights globally, as well as democratic institutions.
A historic opportunity to take action
Recently, the IPCC has recognised the impact of climate disinformation, while the EU Parliament officially acknowledged the threat. The Global Initiative on Information Integrity for Climate Change, co-led by the UN, UNESCO, and Brazil, also provides a framework for governments to follow. But it needs the political will of all parties to transform into meaningful action.
The coalition is therefore calling on COP30 delegates to move beyond mere acknowledgement to mandatory, verifiable action. They demand that governments:
- Recognise information integrity as a prerequisite for effective climate action;
- Use legislative powers to curb platforms profiting from manipulative content;
- End greenwashing, platform manipulation, and monetisation of disinformation.
If we don’t protect information integrity, the climate action demanded by the vast majority of people globally will continue to be derailed by vested interests using the same playbook once deployed by Big Tobacco.
As the coalition states in their letter: “Let’s ensure truth and transparency are protected to drive the climate action this generation, and the next, deserve.” By joining this call, Climate KIC is helping to ensure that COP30 becomes not just the “COP of Truth” in name, but in action.