UNESCO Report Reveals Escalating Threats to Climate Science and Information Integrity

UNESCO’s latest quadrennial report on World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development paints an alarming picture of climate science under siege. The comprehensive analysis comes at a critical juncture as 2025 draws to a close—a year marked by systematic dismantling of climate information resources, rampant disinformation, and targeted attacks on scientific expertise.

One notable counterpoint emerged from COP30 with the launch of the Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change, now endorsed by 20 nations spanning from Austria to Uruguay. The declaration represents a coordinated effort to combat the growing crisis of climate disinformation.

The report details how scientific evidence about climate change faces deliberate obstruction despite mounting global climate emergencies. In June 2024, while a climate denier with over 150,000 followers used selective temperature data to mislead the public about worsening heat waves, an extreme nine-day heatwave affected nearly five billion people worldwide—an event scientists determined was made at least three times more likely due to climate change.

Access to reliable climate information has grown increasingly difficult. Government agencies across North America and Latin America have systematically removed critical climate resources from public websites over the past 15 years. The 2025 purge included vital climate risk assessment tools, agricultural adaptation guidance, and national climate reports. Even established databases tracking extreme weather events and their economic impacts have disappeared, forcing researchers and citizens to rely on archived materials or independent organizations.

The human toll of these information gaps is substantial. More than 60% of the global population endured prolonged extreme heat in 2024, with heat-related mortality among seniors increasing by approximately 85% between the early 2000s and 2021, according to the World Health Organization and Lancet Countdown reports.

Climate science has progressed remarkably in recent decades. From the IPCC’s 1995 acknowledgment of “discernible human influence on global climate,” research has advanced to pinpoint specific corporate responsibility. A groundbreaking April 2025 study in Nature attributed between $791 billion and $3.6 trillion in heat-related losses between 1991 and 2020 to emissions from a single integrated energy company.

The report identifies the fossil fuel industry and its political allies as primary drivers of climate disinformation. A 2023 paper in Science revealed that scientists employed by major energy corporations accurately predicted global warming as early as the late 1970s, while their employers publicly undermined this science—exaggerating uncertainties, discrediting climate models, and promoting misinformation.

These tactics mirror what the report calls the “disinformation playbook”—a systematic approach to derailing science-based policy that includes hiring compromised researchers, manufacturing doubt, harassing scientists, purchasing credibility, and manipulating government officials. Many individuals deploying these strategies previously used similar methods on behalf of the tobacco industry.

Social media platforms and search engines are identified as enabling accomplices, profiting from climate disinformation that captures user attention and drives advertising revenue. An interactive database launched in April 2025 documented a 24% increase in climate denier content on a major video platform between 2021 and 2024, with conspiracy theories about climate policy as “control instruments” comprising nearly 40% of denial content.

The silencing extends beyond corporate science to academic and government research. A 2023 Global Witness survey revealed widespread online harassment of climate scientists, undermining their credibility and productivity. Female scientists reported particularly severe impacts on their work output due to targeted abuse.

The report concludes by highlighting emerging solutions, including the UN’s Global Digital Compact launched in September 2024 and the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change introduced at the Rio G20 summit. These multilateral efforts aim to restore trust in science, hold digital platforms accountable, and educate journalists about recognizing and countering disinformation tactics.

As 2026 approaches, the UNESCO report serves as both warning and call to action—underscoring the critical importance of defending information integrity as a foundation for effective climate policy and global cooperation.