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Date: 11.11.2025

 

The following recommendations are issued by the Climate Information Watch (CIW) ahead of the sessions on Climate Information Integrity, taking place on 12–13 November 2025 in Belém, Brazil, as part of the COP30  to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
 

These recommendations are addressed to world leaders, diplomats, and delegates participating in these sessions. They aim to promote factual, transparent, and inclusive communication on climate change, strengthen public resilience against disinformation and uphold democratic values through education, accountability, and meaningful participation. CIW offers these recommendations to support evidence-based dialogue, responsible governance, and enhanced multilateral cooperation in tackling the global climate crisis.

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State actors must regulate those who spread, fund, and profit from climate disinformation

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States and international institutions must adopt and enforce stronger legal and regulatory frameworks to ensure accountability for individuals, corporations, and networks that finance, promote, or profit from climate disinformation, false or misleading advertising, or coordinated inauthentic behavior across both digital and traditional media. This includes Big Tech companies, zombie NGOs, fossil fuel corporations, PR agencies, influencers, and disinformation-for-hire firms.

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The scale and coordination of climate disinformation are well documented. Anonymous billionaires have provided over $120 million to approximately 100 anti-climate organizations (The Guardian, 2013). The Koch network donated $127 million to 92 climate denial groups between 1997 and 2017. Fossil fuel companies spent $4 million on Meta advertisements identified as false or misleading (CAAD, 2022).

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Social media platforms likely amplify this disinformation through algorithms that prioritize engagement over factual accuracy, creating vulnerabilities that malicious actors exploit through bots, paid influencers and troll networks. Research by Brown University (The Guardian, 2020) found that during the period when the United States announced its withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, 1 in 4 tweets about the climate crisis originated from automated bot accounts supporting anti-climate narratives. Similar disinformation networks were documented during COP28 and COP29 (Global Witness, 2024; CBC, 2023).

 

Given that between July 2018 and April 2022, Meta removed fake accounts engaged in coordinated inauthentic behavior, yet retained more than $30 million in advertising revenue from these same networks, and that studies indicate that false information spreads faster and attracts more engagement than factual content (Vosoughi et al., 2018), thereby increasing advertising profits for social media companies, it is highly likely that this represents a clear conflict of interest and demonstrates that self-regulation of social media platforms is inadequate to address the issue.

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The Climate Information Watch (CIW) urges States to implement comprehensive transparency and accountability standards for digital platforms and advertisers. Regulations should specifically target misleading advertising, disinformation, and coordinated inauthentic behavior, require independent audits of algorithmic systems that may amplify disinformation, and impose financial penalties on those who fund, distribute, or profit from climate disinformation. These measures must be applied in a manner consistent with the protection of freedom of speech and the public’s right to access truthful information, and should therefore not be misused to limit freedom of speech. 

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Addressing climate disinformation is not only a matter of truth but also a moral and social necessity. The climate crisis itself is deeply unjust. Just 57 companies are responsible for 80% of carbon dioxide emissions since the Paris Agreement, while the richest 1% of individuals emit as much as the poorest 66% combined. The same actors who pollute the planet also pollute the information space to evade accountability and obstruct progress, further endangering the most vulnerable populations already suffering the consequences of the crisis.

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World leaders must therefore exercise their authority to strengthen regulation and ensure that honesty, science, and justice underpin all public communication. The discussions taking place in Brazil should mark the beginning of a new global standard for truth in climate governance. Let COP30 be truly the Conference of Truth, where leaders stood together to defend information integrity, justice, and the universal right to a livable planet. 

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Lastly, let us remember that defending the truth is imperative, for the truth can save lives. Standing up for truth and protecting the environment often comes at a profound cost, with three out of four attacks on human rights defenders targeting environmental advocates. When we protect the truth, we protect real lives.

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Mandatory Climate, Media, and Digital Literacy Education

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States are strongly encouraged to introduce mandatory education on climate, media, and digital literacy within both primary and secondary school systems. Such education should be designed to equip students with critical thinking skills, analytical tools, and verifiable factual knowledge, enabling them to navigate the complex information landscape of the digital era.

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Educational content must remain impartial and free from ideological influence. It shall not frame issues in a manner that serves specific national or regional interests. The principles of freedom of expression, open inquiry, and academic freedom must be fully respected and upheld.

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In an age marked by an escalating climate crisis and rapid digital transformation, where the World Economic Forum (2025) identifies disinformation as the greatest short-term global risk and extreme weather events as the most severe long-term threat, it is the responsibility of States to ensure that citizens possess the knowledge and skills to critically assess and respond to these global challenges. Providing young people with environmental understanding, critical reasoning, and digital literacy is essential for safeguarding democratic governance and enabling truly informed, ethical participation in decision-making processes that directly affect their lives and well-being. 

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Ethical and Diplomatic Conduct

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Diplomatic representatives, delegates, and policymakers are reminded of their duty to uphold the highest ethical standards and to adhere to established principles of international diplomacy. Diplomatic engagement must be factual, respectful, and constructive, avoiding exaggeration, sensationalism, or rhetoric that undermines credibility and cooperation.

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The global community stands at a defining moment that demands moral leadership, integrity, and cooperation grounded in verified scientific evidence. The absence of certain world leaders from COP30, particularly those of major powers such as the United States, China, India, and Russia, sends a troubling signal that the urgency of climate action and the well-being of citizens are not being prioritized.

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Leadership must be guided by moral responsibility and by the public service mandate entrusted to all elected and appointed officials through the trust and contributions of their fellow citizens, and not by the corporate interests. 

 

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