Climate Disinformation Takes Center Stage at COP30 as Nations Launch Landmark Declaration

Climate disinformation and information integrity have made their debut on the agenda of the UN climate summit this year, marking a significant shift in how global leaders are addressing obstacles to climate action.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva set the tone when opening COP30 on Monday in the Amazonian city of Belem, calling for world leaders to “defeat” those who deny climate science. “We live in an era in which obscurantists reject scientific evidence and attack institutions. It is time to deliver yet another defeat to denialism,” Lula declared, promising that COP30 will be the “COP of truth” in what he described as an era dominated by “fake news and misrepresentation.”

UN Secretary-General António Guterres reinforced this message in the lead-up to the summit, emphasizing that the world must “fight mis- and disinformation, online harassment and greenwashing.” Guterres insisted that “scientists and researchers should never fear telling the truth.”

On Wednesday, the summit witnessed a historic moment with the launch of the Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change by the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change. This represents the first formal commitment by nations to safeguard information integrity and combat climate disinformation.

The timing of this initiative comes as climate misinformation has surged dramatically. According to a joint report from Climate Action Against Disinformation and the Observatory for Information Integrity, COP-related disinformation increased by 267 percent between July and September this year. Keywords related to the UN climate summit appeared 14,000 times alongside negative descriptors like “failure,” “catastrophe,” “disaster,” and “joke.”

Charlotte Scaddan, senior advisor on information integrity for UN Global Communications, highlighted the dangerous convergence of two critical challenges at the declaration’s launch. “The world is at a critical juncture where two of humanity’s most pressing challenges have become quite dangerously intertwined,” she said, noting that diminishing trust in information represents a “deeply concerning trend” globally, with climate change being “weaponised” to polarize societies and undermine democratic processes.

“The winners in this disinformation economy are fossil fuel interests, certain political actors, and digital influencers who are monetizing outrage and lies,” Scaddan added.

The declaration has attracted strong support from civil society. Earlier on Wednesday, hundreds of organizations, Indigenous groups, individuals, and global leaders signed an open letter urging governments to champion ambitious and mandatory action at COP30 to uphold information integrity. Signatories included Paris Agreement architect Christiana Figueres, Laurence Tubiana of the European Climate Foundation, Climate Action Network International, and 350.org.

The letter described the degradation of the information ecosystem as not just a climate crisis but a “multi-faceted global emergency.” It cited studies by the International Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE) and Climate Social Science Network showing that organized climate obstruction activities are “actively delaying the human response to the crisis, directly sabotaging international cooperation, making the Paris Agreement goals unattainable, and putting the lives of millions at risk.”

The declaration contains six key commitments, including ensuring climate information accuracy while protecting free speech, supporting independent media to report accurately on environmental issues, making evidence-based information accessible to everyone, and building capacity to identify threats to information integrity.

It also calls on the private sector to commit to information integrity in their business practices and ensure transparent, human rights-responsible advertising practices.

“In endorsing this Declaration, we reaffirm our shared responsibility to ensure that societies around the world are empowered with the knowledge and information they need to act urgently and decisively in the face of the climate crisis,” the declaration states.

Twelve countries have signed the declaration so far: Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Uruguay.

The Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change itself is a partnership between the Brazilian government, the UN, and UNESCO, announced at the G20 Leaders Summit in Rio de Janeiro in November 2024. UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay emphasized at its launch that “Without access to reliable information about climate disruption, we can never hope to overcome it.”

With Belgium, Canada, Finland, and Germany recently joining as new members, the initiative now has 13 participating countries, signaling growing international recognition of the vital link between information integrity and effective climate action.