DENY, DECEIVE, DELAY

The report identifies a resurgence of climate denial and the rise of 'delayism' during COP27, highlighting how fossil fuel-linked entities used Meta's advertising tools for greenwashing and how Twitter's algorithms surfaced the #ClimateScam hashtag despite lower engagement than pro-climate terms. It details a 'narrative playbook' where climate action is framed as an elitist plot or a 'culture war' issue, often overlapping with anti-vaccine and right-wing conspiracy communities.

• Between 1 September and 23 November 2022, fossil fuel-linked entities ran 3,781 active ads on Facebook and Instagram, spending approximately USD $3-4 million. Energy Citizens, a PR group for the American Petroleum Institute, produced more daily ads than all other monitored pages combined.
• The hashtag #ClimateScam saw a significant spike on Twitter starting in July 2022, accruing over 362,000 mentions from 91,000 unique users by December. Despite having lower volume and engagement than #ClimateCrisis or #ClimateEmergency, Twitter's organic search and hashtag suggestions frequently recommended #ClimateScam as a top result during COP27.
• State-owned oil companies and initiatives used 'nature-rinsing' tactics on Meta to project green credentials. The Saudi Green Initiative promoted goals to plant 10 billion trees and reach carbon neutrality by 2060, while Petrobras and the Chinese National Petroleum Company (CNPC) touted sustainable transitions and carbon capture and storage (CCS) despite continuing high fossil fuel production.
• Carbon Major companies, including Shell, Chevron, and ExxonMobil, used advertising to promote Net Zero goals and technologies like biofuels and hydrogen, which the report notes is often contradictory to their actual investment portfolios.
• Anti-climate narratives at COP27 shifted toward 'culture wars' and conspiracism. The most engaging content often framed climate actors as 'alarmist' or presented climate action as part of a 'Great Reset' plot by global elites to exert control and destroy capitalism.
• The 'Loss and Damage' mechanism negotiated at COP27 was co-opted by right-wing actors who framed it as 'climate reparations' and an unfair transfer of wealth from the Global North to the developing world, often linking this to the UK's cost of living crisis.
• A small group of high-influence accounts drives a large portion of climate misinformation. Twelve identified actors produced 388 posts that garnered 343,862 shares between 29 October and 27 November 2022, with many of these accounts also promoting claims about electoral fraud and COVID-19 vaccinations.
• Network analysis reveals a strong overlap between climate misinformation and other conspiratorial communities. In the COP27 network, 22.27% of the map comprised COVID-sceptic figures, an increase from 12.35% in 2021.

APA

Climate Action Against Disinformation (n.d.). DENY, DECEIVE, DELAY. https://caad.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/DDD_ExposingClimateDisinfo-COP27.pdf

Chicago

Climate Action Against Disinformation. DENY, DECEIVE, DELAY. n.d. https://caad.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/DDD_ExposingClimateDisinfo-COP27.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Action Against Disinformation |title=DENY, DECEIVE, DELAY |url=https://caad.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/DDD_ExposingClimateDisinfo-COP27.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climateactionagainstdisinformationnddeny, author = {{Climate Action Against Disinformation}}, title = {{DENY, DECEIVE, DELAY}}, institution = {Climate Action Against Disinformation}, url = {https://caad.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/DDD_ExposingClimateDisinfo-COP27.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }