Key Takeaways Climate-related disinformation surged 267 percent between July and September, with over 14,000 examples documented before COP30 in Brazil. Artificial intelligence tools are being used to...
A video purporting to show massive flooding in the Brazilian city hosting this year's UN climate summit exemplifies how artificial intelligence is fueling a surge in climate disinformation that threatens to undermine global action on climate change.
A report released Thursday by the Coalition Against Climate Disinformation reveals a dramatic escalation in false climate information as the world prepares for COP30, the annual UN climate conference scheduled for November in Belem, Brazil.
The findings highlight how AI technology has made it cheaper and easier than ever to create and spread misleading content about climate science and policy.
The Coalition Against Climate Disinformation and the Observatory for Information Integrity documented a 267 percent surge in COP-related disinformation from July to September, identifying more than 14,000 examples of false or misleading climate content during that period.
Several videos circulating on social media suggested Belem would be unsuitable to host the crucial international conference.
However, investigators determined that one widely shared flood video was actually filmed in Tbilisi, Georgia, while another recycled footage from two years ago, according to the CAAD report.
This pattern reflects a broader trend of AI-generated climate content throughout 2025.
Earlier this year, AFP investigated a document falsely claimed to have been written by Elon Musk's Grok 3 AI that wrongfully dismissed the credibility of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's climate models.
Despite growing public support for climate action, the persistence of AI-supercharged disinformation sustains what researchers describe as an undercurrent of hostility toward climate science.
"This is the impact of climate disinformation," CAAD stated in the report. "Big Carbon's spending and Big Tech's algorithms are preventing us from seeing and hearing one another online. Instead, we're exposed to one lie after another."
Research shows that more than 80 percent of people want stronger climate action, and 69 percent say they would contribute one percent of their monthly income to support it.
Yet both UN Environment Assembly attendees and the general public vastly underestimate this willingness to mobilize, according to the findings.
Carlos Milani, a professor at Rio de Janeiro State University, noted that false narratives can lead to intimidation of scientists and activists. "Climate denial in Brazil is pushed most explicitly by far-right figures, a small group of anti-environmentalist activists and ultra-conservative leaders," he said, according to AFP.
The United Nations and governments are beginning to respond to the threat posed by climate disinformation. For the first time, information integrity has been placed on the UN climate agenda.
The European Union's Digital Services Act aims to increase transparency and accountability among platforms and advertisers.
At the 2024 G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, the UN, UNESCO, and the Brazilian government formally launched the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change, which has been joined by nations in Africa, Europe, and Latin America.
Ana Toni, COP30 CEO, emphasized the importance of addressing disinformation to protect multilateral climate efforts.
"If we begin to doubt the system we are part of and abandon multilateralism, that's exactly what disinformation and fake news want: to isolate us and bring things to a halt," she said, according to the official COP30 website.
CAAD expressed cautious optimism about these developments. "With information integrity for the first time placed in the UN agenda, we're finally headed in the right direction," the coalition stated.
Brazil, as host of COP30, has announced its commitment to prioritizing information integrity at the upcoming climate summit and to expanding efforts in leading the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change.
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