Climate Fiction: A Powerful Tool Against Misinformation in the Climate Crisis

Climate change has dominated global discourse recently, from CILIP’s Green Libraries conference to developments at COP30. The scale of the crisis becomes increasingly difficult to ignore, yet many struggle to separate climate facts from misinformation. The Met Office’s recent presentation on climate misinformation highlighted the crucial importance of digital, AI, and climate literacy in navigating today’s complex information landscape.

Scientists have been warning about the need for drastic climate action since the 1980s, yet public understanding remains fragmented. Many people know little about the topic, actively avoid climate news, or even deny climate change altogether. According to recent data, the spread of false information was voted as the greatest perceived threat to humanity globally in 2025, overtaking global warming, which had consistently topped the list in previous years.

The information ecosystem available to people significantly shapes their perception of threats. In the UK, eroding trust in media has been largely attributed to the proliferation of misinformation. The International Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE) has released a sobering report warning that coordinated misinformation campaigns are systematically undermining public understanding and hindering climate progress worldwide.

Research conducted by The Reading Agency revealed that people primarily learn about environmental issues through news articles (89%), television (69%), and social media (49%). This reliance on digital platforms makes the public particularly vulnerable to misinformation, especially considering how bots can spread false information across multiple accounts, creating an illusion of legitimacy.

Climate Fiction as a Learning Tool

“Cli-Fi,” a term coined by journalist Dan Bloom in 2007 and popularized when Margaret Atwood retweeted it in 2012, refers to literature that explores climate issues. The genre encompasses various styles, from speculative fiction to subgenres like “solar punk,” all examining our relationship with the environment.

Climate fiction has gained prominence in recent years, partly due to the establishment of the Climate Fiction Prize, which celebrates novels that meaningfully engage with the climate crisis. The organizers define climate fiction not as a distinct genre but as “a lens through which to view literature,” exploring how contemporary fiction reflects and responds to what they call “the preeminent challenge of our times.”

Books offer distinct advantages over news media in communicating complex climate information. News coverage often suffers from a disconnect between scientific expertise and journalistic communication skills, resulting in fragmented or oversimplified reporting. Books, by contrast, provide space for deeper exploration and allow readers to engage with the material at their own pace.

Jenny Thatcher from Friends of the Earth emphasizes that climate education needs to extend beyond science lessons to demonstrate “what got us to this point and also crucially what can be done about it.” Scientist and author Naomi Oreskes notes, “When anything is important, we have to find different ways of saying it for different audiences in different contexts.”

Addressing Climate Anxiety Through Stories

Another barrier to climate education is the growing phenomenon of climate anxiety. The Reading Agency’s research found that 74% of respondents felt social media negatively impacted their emotions about environmental issues, with 66% reporting the same about news articles. Fiction offers an alternative approach to engage with difficult topics.

Stories possess a unique capacity to foster empathy and make abstract concepts tangible. Similar to how powerful photography can inspire environmental care—as noted by biologist Casper Tyberg who takes nature photos “to restore wonder” because “you can’t protect what you don’t know”—climate fiction helps readers emotionally connect with environmental issues.

The impact of storytelling on public discourse has been demonstrated by works like Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which has influenced discussions around reproductive rights. The novel and its adaptation helped frame reproductive autonomy as an urgent human rights issue by making abstract concepts visceral and relatable.

Research has shown that reading for pleasure enhances empathy and helps readers understand their own and others’ identities. This empathetic capacity is vital for climate justice, as the climate crisis disproportionately affects economically disadvantaged communities, indigenous peoples, people of color, and countries in the Global South.

Critical Thinking and Media Literacy

Climate fiction spans from dystopian warnings to utopian visions. Dystopian narratives like Agustina Bazterrica’s “Tender is the Flesh” use shock to prompt reflection on current practices, while utopian stories offer hopeful alternatives that counteract despair and showcase human ingenuity and cooperation.

Reading fiction develops critical thinking skills through interpreting symbols, connecting plot elements, assessing character motivations, and drawing conclusions. These cognitive skills, along with vocabulary building and comprehension, are essential components of media literacy—the ability to navigate complex information landscapes, distinguish credible sources from falsehoods, and make informed decisions.

With human adaptation now representing our primary defense against the climate crisis, encouraging thoughtful, empathetic, and curious climate engagement is crucial. Climate literature plays a vital role in shifting perspectives by bringing climate narratives to life, transforming statistics into stories that resonate on a human level.

As we face growing challenges from climate misinformation, fiction offers a powerful tool for building resilience—not just through the knowledge it imparts but through the critical thinking skills and empathetic understanding it fosters.