DENY, DECEIVE, DELAY

The report identifies a shift from outright climate denial to 'discourses of delay'—narratives that accept climate change but justify inaction. During COP26, four primary delayist narratives trended: 'Hypocrisy and Elitism', 'Absolutionism', 'Unreliability of Renewables', and 'Ineffective Electric Vehicles'. The authors argue that a small group of 'repeat offender' influencers and right-wing media outlets drive the majority of this content, often leveraging algorithmic amplification on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. The report concludes with seven policy recommendations, including the adoption of a unified definition of climate disinformation and stricter enforcement against repeat offenders.

• Climate opposition has evolved from outright denial to 'discourses of delay', which accept the existence of climate change but 'justify inaction or inadequate efforts'.
• Four key 'discourses of delay' were identified on social media during COP26: 'Hypocrisy and Elitism', 'Absolutionism', 'Unreliability of Renewables', and 'Ineffective Electric Vehicles'.
• The 'Hypocrisy and Elitism' narrative was the most active around COP26, portraying the summit as elitist and highlighting alleged double standards, such as the use of private jets by delegates.
• The 'Absolutionism' narrative seeks to excuse a country from climate action by pointing to the perceived failings of other states, frequently targeting China and India in Western contexts.
• Disinformation regarding the unreliability of renewables often uses unrelated images or false claims, such as the debunked assertion that COP26 was powered by diesel generators.
• A small number of 'repeat offender' accounts generate a disproportionate amount of anti-climate content; 16 Twitter accounts amassed 507,000 interactions, far exceeding 148 other known sceptic accounts.
• Climate sceptic communities on social media often overlap with other 'culture war' and anti-science groups, including those focused on COVID-19 and anti-vaccine sentiment.
• Authoritative sources on Facebook, such as those in the Climate Science Center, receive significantly less engagement than climate sceptic actors, with the latter garnering 12 times the level of interaction.
• Mainstream media outlets, specifically the Daily Mail, The Telegraph, and the Wall Street Journal, serve as vectors for laundering climate scepticism and 'discourses of delay' into the mainstream.
• Carbon Majors use sponsored advertising to spread disinformation; for example, ExxonMobil spent over $4 million on 1,211 Facebook and Instagram ads containing energy and climate mis- and disinformation.

APA

Institute for Strategic Dialogue (n.d.). DENY, DECEIVE, DELAY. https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Summative-Report-COP26.pdf

Chicago

Institute for Strategic Dialogue. DENY, DECEIVE, DELAY. n.d. https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Summative-Report-COP26.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Strategic Dialogue |title=DENY, DECEIVE, DELAY |url=https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Summative-Report-COP26.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforstrategicdialoguenddeny, author = {{Institute for Strategic Dialogue}}, title = {{DENY, DECEIVE, DELAY}}, institution = {Institute for Strategic Dialogue}, url = {https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Summative-Report-COP26.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }