Europe Faces Challenge: Can It Combat Climate Disinformation?

Climate disinformation has evolved from a mere impediment to climate action into a significant geopolitical and security concern, according to experts monitoring global information trends. This shift was formally recognized at last year’s Conference of the Parties (COP) under Brazil’s presidency, when information integrity was placed on the international climate agenda for the first time.

The resulting Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change, signed by several EU Member States, represents a watershed moment in addressing false climate narratives. Signatories committed to prioritizing efforts to counter climate disinformation, acknowledging that these false narratives now pose direct threats to European security interests.

“The landscape has changed dramatically,” notes a report from NewClimate Institute. “Climate disinformation once primarily attacked the science itself. Today, campaigns increasingly target the politics of climate action.”

These sophisticated disinformation operations now focus on stoking economic anxiety, undermining democratic institutions, and framing climate cooperation as ideological or coercive. Their effectiveness stems from their subtlety – rather than denying climate change outright, they exploit legitimate concerns like the cost-of-living crisis to stall meaningful action.

The United States has become a central player in this evolving disinformation landscape. President Trump’s administration has consistently promoted misleading narratives about climate initiatives, including specific attacks on Germany’s energy transition. These efforts reflect the deep entanglement between U.S. climate disinformation and the political influence of fossil fuel interests.

Recent U.S. actions toward Venezuela further demonstrate how fossil fuel priorities continue to shape American foreign policy, often at the expense of acknowledging scientific consensus on the energy transition. The Trump administration’s National Security Strategy went so far as to label climate action and net-zero policies as “disastrous ideologies” that harm Europe and benefit geopolitical rivals.

Perhaps most concerning is the U.S. withdrawal from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), making it the only nation to abandon this fundamental climate agreement. This move signals the profound influence fossil fuel interests exert on American foreign policy and creates a dangerous precedent that could inspire other nations to follow suit.

The implications for the European Union are significant. U.S.-driven climate disinformation readily crosses borders, potentially undermining the credibility of EU climate initiatives and complicating international cooperation at a critical juncture for addressing climate change.

This pattern extends beyond American borders. Russia-backed narratives depicting climate action as “Western imperialism” have gained traction across parts of Africa. In South Africa, foreign-driven climate disinformation from both the U.S. and Russia has amplified domestic concerns about job losses. Meanwhile, in Brazil, misinformation campaigns linked to agribusiness and fossil fuel interests intensified ahead of COP30.

The proliferation of generative artificial intelligence tools has exacerbated these challenges, making it easier to produce and spread misleading content at unprecedented scale and speed.

The European Union has positioned itself at the forefront of addressing these challenges through regulatory frameworks like the Digital Services Act and support for fact-checking initiatives such as the European Digital Media Observatory. The External European Action Service monitors foreign information manipulation through its FIMI mandate and operates the EUvsDisinfo platform to counter disinformation campaigns.

While these efforts establish the EU as a leader in information integrity, they remain primarily focused on domestic concerns. The NewClimate Institute argues that significant opportunities exist for the EU to expand its leadership role globally by collaborating more closely with partner countries.

“Climate disinformation is a global challenge, and so must be the response,” states the Institute’s recent briefing, “Understanding the Global Climate Disinformation Landscape and Strengthening the EU’s Response.” As multilateral action accelerates through initiatives like the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change, the EU possesses both the tools and credibility to establish information integrity as a central pillar of global climate cooperation.

The publication marks the beginning of a deeper research focus on climate disinformation at NewClimate Institute, examining the intersection of climate policy, geopolitics, and security. As climate impacts intensify and political divisions grow, understanding and countering climate disinformation will become increasingly vital to global climate action.