Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva set the tone during the opening session, declaring that the battle for truth has become just as crucial as the fight to reduce emissions. COP30 must mark “a new defeat for climate deniers,” he declared.
On Wednesday, 12 nations – including Brazil, Canada, France, Germany and Spain – connected the first-ever Statement on Climate Change Information Integrity, pledging to combat the flood of false content and protect those on the front lines of the truth: journalists, scientists and environmental researchers.
The statement, unveiled as part of the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change, calls for concrete steps to dismantle webs of climate lies and protect evidence-based voices from harassment and attacks.
João Brant, Brazil’s secretary for digital policies, said the goal is simple but urgent: “to create a wave of truth.”
The initiative, launched in June, is a partnership between Brazil, the United Nations Department of Global Communications and UNESCO.
Disinformation: a direct threat to COP30
Frederico Assis, COP30 special envoy for information integrity, warned that the stakes could not be higher. “Disinformation, driven by obscurantist worldviews, fuels political extremism and puts lives at risk,” he told UN News, adding that there is a real danger of interference in climate negotiations.
“It is widely recognized that disinformation can affect and compromise every part of the COP process – the diplomatic negotiations process, the agenda or mobilization and the summits. All our efforts will be at risk if we fail to properly combat disinformation, which arises from denial,” Mr. Assis said.
He highlighted the role of algorithms that amplify “conspiratorial and manipulative” content, often using “sophisticated tactics to spread false messages.” Its mandate: to keep the issue in the public eye and mobilize political, religious and social leaders, civil society and the media to address it.
Cracking the code behind climate lies
For the first time, information integrity is on the official COP agenda – a long-awaited step, according to UNESCO’s Guilherme Canela.
Speaking to UN News, Mr. Canela stressed that the global initiative aims to expose the mechanisms behind climate disinformation.
“We still know very little about what is behind all this. For example, who funds these publications and why do they spread faster than other types of content? How does this happen? If we do not understand these mechanisms, it is very difficult to design effective strategies to combat this phenomenon. The heart of this global initiative is precisely to finance, especially in the Global South, investigative journalism and research projects to find out what is really happening,” he said.
The Global Climate Change Information Integrity Fund, established under this initiative, has already attracted 447 proposals from nearly 100 countries. Backed by an initial million dollars from Brazil, the fund is supporting its first round of projects – almost two-thirds of which come from developing countries.
Mr Canela called it “very gratifying” to see this issue “so strongly adopted at COP30”.
The Changing Tactics of Disinformation
Maria Clara Moraes, UN-verified champion and co-founder of the Marias Verdes platform, knows the battle well. With more than half a million followers on TikTok, she says combating climate misinformation is “entirely possible, but also extremely difficult.”
She warns that these campaigns are highly organized and “backed by powerful forces, particularly the fossil fuel industry.” Their stories, she says, “change disguise” over time.
“There are several types of disinformation. One of the most powerful is saying that it’s too late, that nothing can be done or that events like COP30 make no difference. That’s also disinformation. Saying, ‘It’s not working, it’s too slow, too complex, too frustrating’. But yes, it’s important. We need to constantly reaffirm the value of multilateralism and the importance of spaces like this,” she said.
A generation that refuses to give up
Despite the challenges, Ms. Moraes told us she sees hope in younger generations. By producing content rooted in science and sustainability, she says awareness of the climate emergency is rapidly increasing.
According to her, young people are “a great source of hope and optimism”. She urges everyone to play their part in creating “micro-revolutions” through everyday choices that support climate action and lead to systemic change.
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Originally published at Almouwatin.com
