Rio de Janeiro: Europe and the Arabs
The United Nations and Brazil launched - on the sidelines of the G20 summit - the "International Initiative for Climate Change Information Integrity" to promote research and efforts to combat misinformation aimed at delaying and undermining climate action.
This joint initiative is an important measure to promote urgent climate action at a time when scientists warn that time is running out for the world in this area. According to the UN daily news bulletin, a copy of which we received this morning, Wednesday,
Brazilian President Lula da Silva said that efforts to combat climate change are greatly affected by "denial and misinformation." He stressed that countries cannot confront this problem alone, and added at the G20 summit held in his country: "This initiative will bring together countries, international organizations, networks and researchers to support joint efforts to combat misinformation and enhance work in preparation for the 30th United Nations Climate Conference (COP-30) scheduled to be held in Brazil."
While the initiative was initially discussed within the framework of the G20, it is a multilateral collaborative effort between countries and international organizations to finance research and work to enhance the integrity of information on climate issues.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres stressed the need to combat coordinated disinformation campaigns that are hampering international progress on climate. He explained that these campaigns range from climate change denial and greenwashing (i.e. deceptive methods behind environmental claims) to the harassment of climate scientists. He said: “Through this initiative, we will work with researchers and partners to strengthen action against climate misinformation.”
Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications Melissa Fleming said at the launch event in Brazil that the initiative is an opportunity to confront the forces of inaction.
Countries that commit to the initiative will contribute to a fund managed by UNESCO with the aim of raising an initial funding of between $10 million and $15 million over the next 36 months. The funding will be distributed in the form of grants to non-governmental organizations to support their work on climate information integrity, develop communication strategies and implement public awareness campaigns.
So far, Chile, Denmark, France, Morocco, the United Kingdom and Sweden have confirmed their participation in the initiative.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has recognized the risks of misinformation and its impact on achieving climate goals. The committee said in 2022 that the deliberate undermining of science contributes to misrepresenting scientific consensus, uncertainty and the urgency of the issue.

Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, stressed the importance of access to reliable information on climate change. “Through this initiative, we will support journalists and researchers who investigate climate issues, sometimes at great risk, and combat climate-related misinformation spreading on social media,” she said.

The initiative responds to commitments made in the Global Digital Compact, adopted by UN Member States in September, which encourages UN agencies to work with governments and stakeholders to assess the impact of misinformation and disinformation on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.