Search Climate Insights Directory
453 results
New Year’s Message 2024
The WACC President highlights the escalation of the climate crisis, economic instability, and misinformation in 2023, urging members to pursue communicative, digital, and gender justice to restore trust in media and foster peaceful coexistence.
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Document type: Statement
Analysis of Fossil Fuel Industry OPEC Disinformation Strategy at COP28
The briefing details a coordinated effort by the fossil fuel industry, OPEC, and the UAE to derail fossil fuel phase-out efforts at COP28 through greenwashing, the promotion of unproven technologies like CCS, and the use of fake social media accounts and lobbyists. It highlights how these tactics influenced the Global Stocktake text to avoid direct calls for a phase-out, instead emphasizing 'zero and low emissions technologies'.
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Document type: Briefing
Seeing the Forest and the Trees: The Global Challenge of Regulating Social Media for Democracy
The document examines the dual nature of social media as a tool that both supports and undermines democratic processes. It highlights how platforms enable protest movements like 'Black Lives Matter' and 'Rhodes Must Fall' to shift political agendas, while simultaneously allowing negative actors to deploy misinformation and surveillance. The author argues that because these platforms are privately owned and monetise interaction, they create a complex regulatory ecosystem requiring a holistic response rather than a binary view of the technology as purely good or bad.
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Document type: Research paper
Why we’re calling for the law to be used to phase out fossil fuels at COP28
ClientEarth calls for global leaders at COP28 to implement bold legal actions to phase out fossil fuels. The organization emphasizes the need to eliminate the $7 trillion in global fossil fuel subsidies reported by the IMF for 2022 and to combat greenwashing and disinformation used by the fossil fuel industry to delay climate action. ClientEarth advocates for bans on fossil fuel advertising and sponsorship, citing precedents such as the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and its own legal actions against companies like BP, KLM, and Total.
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Document type: Statement
CLIMATE MIS-/DISINFORMATION BACKGROUNDER
The document provides a comprehensive framework for understanding climate mis- and disinformation, detailing how a coordinated 'counter-movement' of fossil fuel interests and conservative actors uses tactics like greenwashing, astroturfing, and science denial to obstruct political action. It distinguishes between misinformation (unintentional) and disinformation (deliberate) and highlights the role of social media 'mis-/disinfluencers'. To counter these trends, the briefing recommends systemic platform policies, government regulation, and psychological interventions such as prebunking and debunking.
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Document type: Briefing
CLIMATE OF MISINFORMATION: RANKING BIG TECH
The report evaluates Meta, TikTok, Twitter/X, YouTube, and Pinterest using a 21-point assessment system focused on policy content, transparency, advertising, privacy, and enforcement. Pinterest is identified as the industry leader, while Twitter/X is ranked lowest. The analysis highlights systemic failures across most platforms, including a lack of universal definitions for climate misinformation, poor enforcement of existing rules, and a failure to address greenwashing.
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Document type: Report
Policy Digest #12
The document is divided into two main sections: a report on regulatory developments in Canada, Ireland, the UK, and the US regarding online streaming, safety codes, advertising, and AI; and a snapshot of literature on climate disinformation. The latter highlights the shift from outright climate denial to 'delay discourses' and 'culture wars' frames, the role of fossil fuel interests in seeding misinformation, and the impact of fringe websites and algorithmic amplification on digital platforms.
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Document type: Briefing
10 climate change myths debunked
The document debunks ten common climate change myths, asserting that over 99% of climate scientists agree human activity is overheating the planet. It argues that the current rate of carbon release is unprecedented in 66 million years and that while the climate has changed naturally before, the current rapid change is caused by burning fossil fuels. The guide highlights that the US is the largest cumulative emitter of greenhouse gases in history, followed by China. It further states that current global temperatures are approximately 1.2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels, which is already intensifying extreme weather. Finally, it emphasizes that humanity possesses the necessary tools and technologies to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and that a significant portion of the global population is concerned about climate change.
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Document type: Guide
Misinformation Alert: Four misleading food and climate narratives
The document highlights the critical link between food systems and climate change, noting that while agriculture is a high environmental cost and vulnerable to rising temperatures, misinformation is increasingly shaping the views of 'Persuadables' on climate action. It aims to equip communicators with strategies to address four major misleading narratives in the food and climate information environment.
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Document type: Briefing
Tech Accountability and Safety Data Access
The guide examines the critical need for public interest researchers to access social media data to monitor platform accountability and systemic risks. It details the current landscape of regulatory frameworks in the EU and US, identifies technological, legal, and fragmentation barriers, and categorizes the types of data required—user-generated, platform curation, and platform decision-making data—to advance collective knowledge and ensure regulatory compliance.
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Document type: Guide
Las mejores prcticas para el periodismo climtico
The document outlines a set of professional standards for climate journalism, emphasizing the need to connect climate causes to news stories, avoid false balance by excluding climate deniers, and integrate climate perspectives across all reporting beats. It advocates for humanizing stories through local perspectives, highlighting climate justice for marginalized and indigenous groups, and reporting on a diverse range of solutions beyond just technology. Additionally, it warns journalists against 'greenwashing' and misinformation from powerful interests, while advising on the use of appropriate imagery and the importance of mental health care for reporters covering traumatic climate impacts.
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Document type: Guide
10 research-driven ways to supercharge your climate comms
The document outlines ten strategies to make climate communications more effective for 'Persuadables' in the UK. Key recommendations include leading with personal benefits rather than climate science, avoiding adversarial approaches to misinformation, and removing middle-class 'class codes' by using diverse, non-London-centric messengers. It suggests engaging men through manual job market opportunities, platforming non-white voices to address historical mistrust, and using humor to increase approachability. Additionally, the guide advises matching hope with concrete plans, leveraging hyperlocality to tap into community pride, broadening the definition of 'climate action' to include community-led efforts, and utilizing traditional media channels like local newspapers and billboards over social media, which was found to be the least trusted channel.
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Document type: Guide
The Fossil Fuels behind Forest Fires in California
The document argues that major carbon producers are responsible for a significant portion of the increasing wildfire risk in western North America. It attributes 48% of the rise in fire-danger conditions since 1901 and 37% of the cumulative burned forest area since 1986 to emissions from 88 major fossil fuel and cement companies. In California, wildfires between 2017 and 2021 caused over $21 billion in economic damages and released an average of 53 million metric tons of CO2-equivalent annually. The report calls for corporate accountability, legal access to justice, and state-level policies to reduce emissions, improve forest health, and protect vulnerable communities.
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Document type: Fact sheet
The Fossil Fuels behind Forest Fires in Colorado
The Union of Concerned Scientists analysis attributes 48 percent of the rise in fire-danger conditions in western North America since 1901 and 37 percent of the cumulative burned forest area since 1986 to emissions from the 88 largest fossil fuel and cement companies. In Colorado, over 5,000 wildfires burned more than 1 million acres between 2017 and 2021, including the record-breaking 2020 Cameron Peak Fire. The document argues that these companies should be held accountable for the costs of climate change and recommends that state governments implement policies to reduce human-ignited fires, increase forest health resources, and protect vulnerable communities.
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Document type: Fact sheet
The Fossil Fuels behind Forest Fires
The Union of Concerned Scientists finds that 37% of the cumulative burned forest area in western North America since 1986 is attributable to emissions from 88 of the world's largest carbon producers. The report links these emissions to a rise in vapor pressure deficit (VPD), which increases atmospheric 'thirst' and dries out vegetation, thereby amplifying wildfire risk. It argues that these corporations should be held legally and financially accountable for climate damages, including the costs of wildfire suppression and recovery.
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Document type: Report
The Fossil Fuels behind Forest Fires in Oregon
The Union of Concerned Scientists analysis attributes 48 percent of the rise in fire-danger conditions in western North America since 1901 and 37 percent of the cumulative burned forest area since 1986 to emissions from the 88 largest fossil fuel companies and cement manufacturers. In Oregon, over 10,000 wildfires burned nearly 3.7 million acres between 2017 and 2022, including the 2021 Bootleg Fire which burned more than 400,000 acres. The document argues that these companies should be held accountable for the costs of climate change and wildfire resilience, and recommends state-level policies to reduce human-ignited fires, improve forest health, and protect vulnerable communities.
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Document type: Fact sheet
The Fossil Fuels behind Forest Fires in Washington
The Union of Concerned Scientists analysis finds that 48% of the rise in fire-danger conditions in western North America since 1901 and 37% of the cumulative burned forest area since 1986 are attributable to emissions from the 88 largest fossil fuel companies and cement manufacturers. In Washington state, nearly 8,000 wildfires burned over 2.5 million acres between 2017 and 2022. The document argues for holding these companies accountable and urges state governments to implement resilience-building policies, including reducing human-ignited fires, improving forest health, and protecting vulnerable communities.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Strategic guide: can ChatGPT help us improve climate comms?
The document introduces ChatGPT as a tool for climate communications, detailing its application in analyzing web-based media sources and using personas based on the British press to understand bias.
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Document type: Guide
BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE ROBERT BRULLE, CENTER FOR CLIMATE INTEGRITY, CHESAPEAKE CLIMATE ACTION NETWORK, JUSTIN FARRELL, BENJAMIN FRANTA, STEPHAN LEWANDOWSKY, NAOMI ORESKES, GEOFFREY SUPRAN, and the UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE AND AFFIRMANCE
The brief asserts that Defendants had actual knowledge of the catastrophic risks of fossil fuel combustion as early as the late 1950s, confirmed through internal research and industry-wide consensus. It details a coordinated strategy to manufacture doubt via public relations campaigns, funding of contrarian scientists, and the use of 'shadow groups' to undermine scientific consensus. The document highlights a contradiction where companies protected their own physical assets from sea-level rise while publicly denying such risks. Finally, it argues that current 'net zero' pledges and natural gas promotions constitute ongoing greenwashing and deception.
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Document type: Legal commentary
Strategic Guide: Crisis communications during misinformation spikes
The document is a strategic guide designed to help climate organisations manage crisis communications during spikes of misinformation. It uses the example of '15-minute cities' in Oxford, which evolved from a traffic calming scheme into an international conspiracy theory, to illustrate the need for resilience. The guide offers tips for creating a crisis communications plan, an analysis of why the 15-minute city theory is effective, and five specific actions for responding to misinformation crises.
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Document type: Guide