IPIE Submission to the Australian Select Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change Prevalence and Impacts of Mis-/Dis-information on Climate Change and Energy

The International Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE) urges the Australian government to implement mandatory standardized climate disclosure to stop greenwashing, create transparent tracking systems for climate communication funding to expose hidden influence networks, and integrate climate information literacy and 'inoculation' strategies into education curricula to build public resilience.

• Corporate greenwashing is a widespread threat where companies use symbolic narratives instead of concrete actions to misrepresent environmental commitments. A review of 725 corporate sustainability reports found most companies engage in this practice, with the airline industry specifically having 44% of its carbon footprint statements identified as misleading.
• Climate misinformation is sustained by a "coordinated climate change countermovement" involving fossil fuel, plastic, and agrichemical industries. This movement uses opaque funding mechanisms, such as donor-advised funds and anonymous streams to think tanks, to mask economic interests and influence policy.
• Education is a critical enabler of information integrity, yet students' vulnerability to misinformation increases with age and social media use. Effective resilience can be built through 'inoculation' methods: fact-based inoculation (providing accurate science early) and technique-based inoculation (training learners to identify rhetorical strategies like cherry-picking data).

APA

International Panel on the Information Environment (2025). IPIE Submission to the Australian Select Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change Prevalence and Impacts of Mis-/Dis-information on Climate Change and Energy. https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/643ecb10be528d2c1da863cb/6a72f4d96750579d5165fd55_Aus%20submission%20final.pdf

Chicago

International Panel on the Information Environment. IPIE Submission to the Australian Select Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change Prevalence and Impacts of Mis-/Dis-information on Climate Change and Energy. 2025. https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/643ecb10be528d2c1da863cb/6a72f4d96750579d5165fd55_Aus%20submission%20final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=International Panel on the Information Environment |title=IPIE Submission to the Australian Select Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change Prevalence and Impacts of Mis-/Dis-information on Climate Change and Energy |date=2025 |url=https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/643ecb10be528d2c1da863cb/6a72f4d96750579d5165fd55_Aus%20submission%20final.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{internationalpanelontheinformationenvironment2025ipie, author = {{International Panel on the Information Environment}}, title = {{IPIE Submission to the Australian Select Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change Prevalence and Impacts of Mis-/Dis-information on Climate Change and Energy}}, publisher = {International Panel on the Information Environment}, year = {2025}, url = {https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/643ecb10be528d2c1da863cb/6a72f4d96750579d5165fd55_Aus%20submission%20final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }