Klaus Bruhn JensenExternal link, a professor at the University of Copenhagen,External link says in recent years climate denialism has evolved into structured campaigns focused on discrediting climate solutions.
“It’s a sort of muddying of the waters – strategic scepticism – which attempts to question and de-legitimise solutions long supported by climate science,” he told Swissinfo.
Jensen co-led a comprehensive study by the Zurich-based International Panel on the Information EnvironmentExternal link (IPIE), published in June, which reviewed 300 scientific papers on climate misinformation from the past decade.
Fossil fuel companies, right-wing populists, think tanks, and some states have shifted from outright denial to sowing doubt about climate solutions, the panel found. The aim is to erode trust and delay political and economic interventions, including the transition to clean energy.
Jensen points to the way in which critics swiftly blamed solar and wind energy for the massive blackout in Spain and Portugal on April 28. This was amplified on social media for weeks before the Spanish government finally declaredExternal link last month that the national grid operator and private power generation firms were responsible for an energy blackout caused by the power grid’s lack of capacity to control grid voltage.
“This is a good example of how unconfirmed suggestions, a sort of ‘perhaps it could be this’, or ‘I wonder if this is the case’ were floated and picked up by certain news media,” he notes.
But it is not only the public who we should be worried about, says the Danish professor. A key finding is that misinformation increasingly focuses on reaching political leaders, civil servants, and regulators, often via under-the-radar channels.
Usual suspects – but more organised
The interests behind this misinformation are largely unchanged from 10–20 years ago but now form more organised coalitions. These include fossil fuel companies allied with political groups.
The report outlines how the fossil fuel industry has engaged in a “dual deception”: denying climate change and its role in it, while using greenwashing to appear sustainable. Other sectors, including US electricity firms, animal agriculture, airlines, tourism, and fast food, have also spread climate misinformation.
The report cited a study based on 725 corporate sustainability reportsExternal link that found major gaps between companies’ environmental claims and actual practices. Legal filings from polluting industries involved in climate litigation have also been used to spread narratives that downplay their role in the crisis.
The IPIE says research over the past decade indicates the formation of a coordinatedExternal link “climate change countermovementExternal link” operating across different industries and sectors, including the industries of fossil fuel, plastic and agrichemical production.
Researchers have documented extensive organised collaboration among fossil fuel companies, states, and political actors to deny the scientific evidence about climate change and delayExternal link policies and interventions. And diverse interest groups, associations, lobbies and think tanks often work in tandem to resist or slow down mitigating solutions, the review says.
‘A giant hoax’
In the US, climate change has become a divisive issue. President Donald Trump, who has called climate science a “giant hoax” and withdrawn the US from the Paris Agreement for a second time, is a key influencer “whose logical fallacies, unfounded claims, and cherry-picking of findings were heavily” reposted by other social media users, including many bot accounts, the report says.
Think tanks serve as bridges between political parties, policymakers, and fossil fuel interests, the panel notes. US think tanks like the Heartland InstituteExternal link and the Heritage Foundation promote climate-denial views. The Heritage Foundation coordinated the “Project 2025”External link blueprint, which calls for an end to “climate fanaticism” and the rollback of US funding for climate action at home and abroad. Similar think tanks are active in Europe, Jensen said.
Bots and eco-nationalism
Russia is also a “prominent player” in recent years; Russian intelligence has used troll farms to disseminate disinformation about climate change on social media, the report says.
Meanwhile, in Europe, right-wing populist parties are “actively contravening climate science”, the panel says. It highlights the positions of Spain’s Vox Party, Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) and France’s Rassemblement National (RN).
“They use what’s referred to as eco-nationalism, the idea that the use of fossil fuels is essentially part of national identity, arguing ‘don’t tell us to stop using them because in doing so, you are questioning our national identity’,” said Jensen.
“But it’s not clear that they are central to the effort. What is certain is that they are used on both sides of the debate – by both the climate activists and the climate deniers. It’s fair to say that the role of bots is one of creating even more polarisation in the debate about climate action and climate policy,” said the Danish professor.
UN tries to tackle misinformation
Climate misinformation is a growing global concern. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warnedExternal link that misinformation undermines climate action.
In response, the United Nations, UNESCO, and Brazil launched the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate ChangeExternal link last year. This will be discussed at the COP30 meeting in Belém, BrazilExternal link, this November.
The UN special rapporteur on human rights and climate change, Elisa Morgera, wants to see governments get tougher. She recently calledExternal link for misinformation and greenwashing by the fossil fuel industry to be criminalised and presented a new reportExternal link advocating for stronger measures to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The IPIE report, meanwhile, urges mandatory carbon footprint reporting from corporations and public institutions to enhance transparency. In Europe, the EU Digital Services ActExternal link could help enforce moderation of climate-related content on social media.
And better climate education is needed for both the public and policymakers to improve general scientific literacy and to correct specific falsehoods, it says.
However, further misinformation research is also needed, as current studies are overwhelmingly on English-language content and Western countries.
“In Africa, Latin America and Asia, there’s very little research on this issue. What is disconcerting is that we don’t know whether similar processes are happening in the Global South,” said Jensen.
