Can you trust climate information? How and why powerful players are misleading the public

Ten years ago, the world committed itself to keeping global warming well below 2°C (and preferably below 1.5°C) above the pre-industrial era. This would be done by reducing greenhouse gas emissions significantly by 2030 and ending all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This was the time of promises, with 195 countries signing up to the legally binding, global treaty on climate change, the Paris Agreement.

Ten years on, however, the climate crisis is more urgent than ever. According to the United Nations:

There’s a disconnect between stated policies and actual practices, and we wanted to find out why.

We are media and communication researchers focusing on environmental communication. Recently, we joined a team of 14 researchers who investigated misinformation about climate change for the International Panel on the Information Environment.

Our team carried out the most comprehensive review to date of scientific research on climate misinformation and disinformation. Climate misinformation is when people make mistaken claims about climate change and spread incorrect information. Climate disinformation is where false information is spread deliberately – for example, corporations that “greenwash” their products so that they can sell more. (Greenwashing is where false claims are made that products or services are environmentally friendly when they aren’t).

We reviewed 300 studies published between 2015 and 2025, all of which centred on climate misinformation. Our study found that the human response to the climate crisis is being obstructed and delayed by the production and circulation of misleading information.

We found that this is being done by powerful economic and political interests, such as fossil fuel companies, populist political parties, and some nation states.

The public needs access to accurate information about climate change, because this enables them to take action to stop global warming. Without accurate information, none of us will be able to do the right thing for coming generations and the wider natural world.

How we tracked down who is fooling the public

Climate science has been documenting the growing climate crisis and solutions for decades. The United Nations says access to information about climate change is a human right. They’ve even outlined a set of global principles for maintaining the integrity of publicly available information about climate change.

However, our study shows that misleading information is adding to the climate crisis.

Cover photo:  Lightspring/Shutterstock