On Wednesday, 12 nations – including Brazil, Canada, France, Germany and Spain – signed the first Declaration on Climate Change Information Integrity, committing to fight the avalanche of false content and protect those on the front lines of the truth: journalists, scientists and environmental researchers.
The statement, presented within the framework of the Global Initiative for Climate Change Information Integrity, calls for concrete measures to dismantle networks of climate lies and protect evidence-based voices from harassment and attacks.
João Brant, Brazil’s Secretary of 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.
“There is widespread recognition that disinformation can affect and compromise every part of the COP process: the diplomatic negotiations process, the action agenda or mobilization and summits. All our efforts will be at risk if we do not adequately address disinformation, which arises from denialism,” Assis said.
He highlighted the role of algorithms that amplify “conspiratorial and manipulative” content, often using “sophisticated tactics to spread false messages.” Their mandate: keep the issue in the public eye and mobilize political, religious and social leaders, civil society and the media to respond.
Cracking the code behind climate lies
For the first time, information integrity has appeared on the official COP agenda, a milestone that UNESCO’s Guilherme Canela said was long overdue.
Speaking to UN News, Canela highlighted that the global initiative aims to expose the machinery that drives climate disinformation.
“We still know very little about what is behind this. For example, who finances these publications and why do they spread faster than other types of content? How does that happen? If we do not understand these mechanisms, it is very difficult to design effective strategies to combat this phenomenon. The core of this global initiative is precisely to finance, especially in the Global South, investigative journalism and investigative projects to discover what is really happening,” he said.
The Global Climate Change Information Integrity Fund, created under the initiative, has already attracted 447 proposals from almost 100 countries. Backed by an initial $1 million from Brazil, the fund is supporting its first round of projects, nearly two-thirds of them coming from developing countries.
Canela described it as “very gratifying” to see the topic “adopted with such force at COP30.”
The changing tactics of disinformation
María Clara Moraes, UN verified champion and co-founder of the Marías Verdes platform, knows the battle well. With more than half a million followers on TikTok, he says fighting climate misinformation is “entirely possible, but also extremely challenging.”
He warns that these campaigns are highly organized and “backed by powerful forces, particularly the fossil fuel industry.” His narratives, he says, “change disguises” over time.
“There are several types of misinformation. One of the most powerful is saying that it is too late, that nothing can be done or that events like COP30 do not make a difference. That is also misinformation. Saying: ‘This is not working, it is too slow, too complex, too frustrating’. But yes, it is important. We must constantly reaffirm the value of multilateralism and the importance of spaces like this,” he said.
A generation that refuses to give up
Despite the challenges, Ms. Moraes told us that she sees hope in the younger generations. By producing content based on science and sustainability, he says awareness of the climate emergency is growing rapidly.
According to her, young people are “a great source of hope and optimism.” Urges everyone to play their part in creating “micro-revolutions” through everyday decisions that support climate action and drive systemic change.
UN News is reporting from Belémgiving you front-row coverage of everything happening at COP30.