“We at the UN have been sounding alarm bells and offering solutions for years. But we’re not only battling pollution from emissions. We’re also battling information pollution that is flooding our feeds with conspiracies designed to undermine the transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy”.

UN G20 executives Brazil bound.

This is nothing new. For decades, special interests have invested billions in aggressive lobbying and deceptive advertising to obstruct the energy transition. Harassing climate activists, journalists, and scientists, denying irrefutable evidence, and eroding trust in solutions.

This was not helped by The Bell Laboratories Science Series who made some wild assertions undermining the science by exaggerating the effects of warming. Between 1956 and 1964, Bell Laboratories produced a number of television specials titled “The Bell Laboratories Science Series.” [. . .] Even 30 years later, schools all across the US were still showing these Bell Labs films to students. In 1958, a chapter in this series titled “The Unchained Goddess” was broadcast. The topic was the weather, and it starred Richard Carlson and a USC professor named Dr. Frank C. Baxter. At one point in the program, Carlson asked Dr. Baxter, “What would happen if we could change the course of the Gulf Stream, or the other great ocean currents, or warm up Hudson Bay with atomic furnaces?” The “atomic furnaces” bit is a quaint throwback to the atom-crazy 1950s, but the response given by Dr. Baxter is what makes this particular film notable.

“Extremely dangerous questions,” replied Dr. Baxter, “because with our present knowledge we have no idea what would happen. Even now, Man may be unwittingly changing the world’s climate through the waste products of his civilization. Due to our release, through factories and automobiles every year, of more than 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide – which helps air absorb heat from the Sun – our atmosphere seems to be getting warmer. It’s been calculated that a few degrees rise in the Earth’s temperature would melt the polar ice caps, and if this happens, an inland sea would fill a good portion of the Mississippi Valley. Tourists in glass-bottomed boats would be viewing the drowned towers of Miami through 150 feet of tropical water.” Read more.

Whatever the message, the aim is to lead the public to disengage. In 2022, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that “deliberate undermining of science” was contributing to “misperceptions of the scientific consensus, uncertainty, disregarded risk and urgency, and dissent.”

Today, growing numbers of people are waking up to the harms caused by climate disinformation — and our toxic information ecosystems in general. As awareness grows of the harm this is causing to people and the planet, a global movement for information integrity is gaining momentum.This month, at the G20 in Rio de Janeiro, we launched an ambitious new initiative, together with the government of Brazil and UNESCO. I was honored to represent the UN at the launch.

The Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change is a chance to turn the tide against the forces of inaction and offer possibilities instead.

We will do so on three fronts: First, we will convene a global network of partners — all moving in the same direction — to promote facts and solutions to strengthen information integrity around climate.

Second, through investing in research. We need to know more about the origins and targets of climate disinformation and how it is impacting the public. Also to study behavior and communications science to understand public sentiment.

Third, through designing compelling communication responses. We must be more strategic in our advocacy for climate action — not just in what we communicate, but where and how.

Joining us in this work is a wide network of civil society partners and a growing number of governments, including Chile, Denmark, France, Morocco, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Also central to the project is the participation of UN Climate Change (the UNFCCC), the World Meteorological Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

We need an informed and engaged public to build momentum for climate solutions. We don’t have a moment to lose ahead of the crucial COP30 in Brazil next year.