Climate disinformation is no longer just an obstacle to progress on climate action; it has become a geopolitical and security issue. At last year’s COP, under the Brazilian presidency, information integrity was placed on the agenda for the first time, culminating in the Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change. The declaration commits signatories to prioritise countering climate disinformation, with several EU Member States signed on. This signals a growing recognition that false narratives about climate change are no longer an isolated problem, but one that has implications for the EU’s own security interests.
For decades, climate disinformation was largely used to attack climate science. Today, the landscape looks very different. Disinformation campaigns increasingly target the politics of climate action. Nefarious actors push narratives on the high costs of the transition, undermining trust in democratic institutions and framing climate cooperation as ideological or coercive. These narratives appear to be effective because they do not reject the existence of climate change, but instead weaponise economic anxiety, such as the cost-of-living crisis, and contribute to political polarisation to stall climate action.
Recent developments in the U.S. demonstrate how political leaders and fossil fuel interests promote misleading narratives to undermine climate action. President Trump has a long track record of spreading false claims about climate change, including repeated attacks on Germany’s energy transition. More broadly, U.S. climate disinformation is closely intertwined with the political power of the fossil fuel industry. This is evident not only in rhetoric but also in recent U.S. actions against Venezuela, where claims over Venezuelan oil demonstrate how the U.S. government’s prioritisation of fossil fuels continue to shape American foreign policy interests – while ignoring and discrediting the scientific consensus on the energy transition. Furthermore, in the U.S. National Security Strategy, the Trump administration labelled climate action and net-zero policies as ‘disastrous ideologies’ that ‘harm’ Europe, threaten the U.S. and benefit geopolitical rivals. Lastly, the U.S. withdrawal from the UNFCCC, the only country to do so, further underscores this dynamic, signalling how deeply fossil fuel interests and climate scepticism are entrenched in U.S. foreign policy. For the EU, this matters because U.S.-driven climate disinformation does not stay confined to domestic politics. It can spill into other countries and threaten the credibility of EU climate action. In addition, the U.S. leaving the UNFCCC under the guise of false claims about climate change could set a precedent for other countries to do the same.
As climate disinformation increasingly intersects with geopolitics and security, misleading narratives can undermine cooperation on the energy transition and inflame political debates across borders at a time when international cooperation is most needed. These dynamics are also evident in several strategically important EU partner countries. Russia-backed narratives framing climate action as ‘Western imperialism’ have gained traction in parts of Africa. In South Africa, foreign-driven climate disinformation from the U.S. and Russia has amplified domestic rhetoric, casting climate action as a threat to jobs. In Brazil, disinformation linked to agribusiness and fossil fuel interests intensified ahead of COP30. To make matters worse, generative AI is making it easier to produce and amplify misleading content at scale, allowing false narratives to spread faster.
Against this backdrop, the EU already has a range of policies, institutions and tools to address climate disinformation. Europe has been a first mover in regulating digital platforms through instruments like the Digital Services Act, while supporting fact-checking and public awareness through initiatives such as the European Digital Media Observatory. Internationally, the External European Action Service monitors foreign information manipulation through its FIMI mandate, in addition to operating the EUvsDisinfo platform to debunk disinformation messages. While these efforts position the EU as a leader on information integrity, they remain largely domestically focused, leaving significant opportunities for the EU to play a stronger global leadership role in collaboration with partner countries.
Our briefing, Understanding the Global Climate Disinformation Landscape and Strengthening the EU’s Response, argues that the EU can go further. Climate disinformation is a global challenge, and so must be the response. As multilateral action accelerates with the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change, the EU has both the tools and the credibility to help anchor information integrity as a core pillar of global climate cooperation.
This publication marks the start of a deeper research focus on climate disinformation at NewClimate Institute. It is a rapidly evolving space, sitting at the intersection of climate, geopolitics and security. As climate impacts intensify and political polarisation grows, understanding and countering climate disinformation will only become more central.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of NewClimate Institute or the funder.
