Uncontrolled climate misinformation turns the crisis into disaster, according to authors of a new report.

As the Guardian reports, it has been found that the action on the climate has been obstructed and is delayed by false and misleading information coming from fossil fuel companies, right -wing politicians and some national states. The report, by the International Information Environment Committee (IPie), systematically examined 300 studies.

Researchers have found that the refusal of some about climate change has evolved into campaigns focusing on the depreciation of solutions, such as false allegations that renewable energy has caused the recent massive power outage in Spain.

Online bots and trolls greatly enhance false narratives, the researchers say, playing a key role in promoting climate lies. Experts also say that political leaders, civil servants and regulators are increasingly targeted to delay climate action.

Climate misinformation – the term used in the exposure for both deliberate and unintentional false information – is causing increasing concern. Last Thursday, UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights and Climate Change, Elisa Morgera, called for criminalization of misinformation. On Saturday, Brazil, which will host the upcoming climate summit (COP30), will rally the nations behind a separate UN to combat climate misinformation.

“It’s a major problem,” said Dr. Klaus Jensen, the University of Copenhagen, who was one of the heads of the IPie rating. “If we do not have the right information available, how will we vote for the right purposes and politicians, and how will politicians turn clear elements into the necessary action?

Jensen added: “We have about five years to reduce emissions by half and by 2050 to become neutral with carbon. Without the right information, we are not going to get there. Therefore, the climate crisis that translates into climate disaster is possible, unless we handle the problem of integrity of climate information. “

Morgera reported in its report last week that countries should “impede” information systems, after decades of misinformation by the strong fossil fuel industry.

He said that states should “criminalize misinformation and false presentation (green rinsing) by the fossil fuel industry”. UN Secretary -General Antonio Guterres called for June 2024 a ban on advertising by fossil fuel companies, calling companies “gods of climate chaos”.

The UN is leading an international effort called the worldwide initiative to integrity of climate change information. Brazil will call on countries to strengthen the measures to combat climate of climate of climate negotiations in Bonn, Germany, with the United Kingdom, France, Chile, Morocco and other countries to have already signed the initiative. Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO CEO, said: “Climate -related misinformation is uncontrolled on social media.”

The IPie report is a comprehensive evaluation of who produces misinformation of the climate, how it spreads it, what impact it has and how it can be fought. He concludes: “misleading information has undermined public confidence in science on climate and other basic social institutions. This crisis of integrity of information intensifies and exacerbates the climate crisis. “

The misinformation ranges from the industry promoted by mineral gas as “low carbon fuel” to strange conspiracy theories, such as fires in southern California this year were designed by officials to destroy the trading tunnels.

As the Guardian reports, among the findings is that the fossil fuel industry has been involved in a “double deception” of the public, first, denying the reality of climate change, concealing its responsibility and blocking the climate action, and secondly, using “green”. The report states that other sectors have also promoted climate misinformation: US power companies, livestock farming, airlines, tourism and fast food.

Donald Trump, who has described the science of the climate “a giant farce” and “nonsense”, is recognized as “basic influencer”, “whose reasonable errors, unfounded claims and selective use of findings were largely republished. The report states that Russian intelligence services have used troll to disseminate climate change misinformation.

However, Jensen said the problem was deeper than social media. “Alliances of industry and conservative think tanks are actually targeting misinformation in the basic people who make decisions. These links are very concerned because it is something that brings to the conspiracy. “

In the European context, the right populist parties “actively violate climate science,” the report said, including the AfD in Germany, Vox in Spain and the national alarm in France. The media with conservative or right -wing political ideologies give priority and enhance denial, skepticism and conspiracy theories about climate change, the report said.

Measures to combat climate misinformation include regulation to improve the control of social networking companies, such as EU digital services law, and the requirement of fossil fuel companies to submit standardized statements on their emissions. Jensen said that some legal cases against those who cause misinformation of the climate are already ongoing. In the long run, improved climate training will allow citizens to detect misinformation.

Jensen also said that more research was needed, as studies to date have largely concerned the misinformation in English and western nations.