Rumores Renovables

The report identifies a predominantly right-leaning, Spain-based network that drives anti-renewable energy discourse in Spanish. It highlights how these actors use conspiratorial narratives—such as claims that wildfires are intentionally set to clear land for wind farms—and leverage cross-platform tactics to amplify misinformation. The analysis shows that while anti-renewable posts make up less than half of a sampled set, they generate 66% of total engagement, indicating a high impact relative to their volume.

• The Spanish-language anti-renewables conversation is primarily driven by right-leaning accounts from Spain. The largest group in the analyzed network comprises 34% of accounts and shows explicit support for the far-right Spanish political party VOX.
• Anti-renewable narratives have a disproportionate impact on engagement. In a sample of posts, those promoting anti-renewable narratives accounted for less than 50% of the posts but generated 66% of the total engagement.
• A prominent narrative claims that forest fires are intentionally set to clear land for renewable energy projects. This claim appeared during Spain's July 2022 wildfires and the March-April 2023 Asturias wildfires, and has also been linked to fires in Hawaii and Greece.
• Other core anti-renewable narratives include claims that wind turbines kill whales (specifically citing the film "Thrown To The Wind"), that solar panels pollute groundwater with lead and cadmium, and that the energy transition is a business designed to enrich global elites.
• The volume of anti-renewable content peaks in correlation with extreme weather events or policy updates. Examples include peaks following the Asturias forest fires in April 2023 and an announcement by Mexican President López Obrador regarding the purchase of gas plants and a wind farm.
• Anti-renewable actors employ specific dissemination tactics, including translating English or Greek content into Spanish to fit local contexts and using multiple social media assets to boost reach, such as various regional VOX Facebook pages posting identical content.

APA

G., C. L., & Lakatos, S. (2023). Rumores Renovables. GreenLatinos. https://www.greenlatinos.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/graphika-report_rumores-renovables_ENG.pdf

Chicago

G., Cristina López, and Santiago Lakatos. Rumores Renovables. GreenLatinos, 2023. https://www.greenlatinos.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/graphika-report_rumores-renovables_ENG.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=G. |first1=Cristina López |last2=Lakatos |first2=Santiago |title=Rumores Renovables |publisher=GreenLatinos |date=2023 |url=https://www.greenlatinos.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/graphika-report_rumores-renovables_ENG.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{g2023rumores, author = {G., Cristina López and Lakatos, Santiago}, title = {{Rumores Renovables}}, institution = {GreenLatinos}, year = {2023}, url = {https://www.greenlatinos.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/graphika-report_rumores-renovables_ENG.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }