Case Study: energy transition and climate-related disinformation

Unedited from NATO report below published in full:

The environmental challenges that NATO has faced
are compounded by climate-related disinformation.
Malign actors seek to erode the public pressure
and political will for ambitious climate action, as
well as to divert focus and resources away from
climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts.
Kremlin-backed actors have been found to be
pushing climate change denialism across the
Alliance, all while actively attempting to derail
climate change mitigation policies and renewable
energy investments.90

Russian state media routinely
amplify uncertainty around climate change and
downplay the phenomenon as exaggerated or
even positive.

They frame global warming as a
“hoax” and emission-reduction plans as a form of
“Western imperialism” engineered to undermine
the development of emerging economies.91

Denial
of anthropogenic climate change persists in Russia
largely due to the entangled ties between the fossil
fuel industry and political power, and the country’s
ongoing dependence on fossil fuels as a dominant
source of government revenue.

Individuals who
challenge scientific consensus on climate change
continue to hold political power.92
A notable increase in Russian disinformation
related to the European green energy transition
has been observed since the beginning of Russia’s
full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

According to NATO’s
Information Environment Assessment for the
period May 2022 to May 2024, Russia was found
to be the main driver of hostile communications
in online conversations about the green energy
transition on social media and web news media.93

In 2023, efforts to spread mis- and disinformation
were evident in the run-up to the COP28 UN Climate
Change Conference in Dubai. According to a 2023
report by the Climate Action Against Disinformation
(CAAD) – a coalition of over 50 leading climate and
anti-disinformation organisations – Russia and the
PRC were listed among the countries found to be
spreading climate-related disinformation. Russian
state-backed accounts weaponised climate
debates, with influence campaigns targeting
Western countries and emerging and developing
economies respectively.94 Russian accounts have
been found to regularly vilify climate activists
– including personal online attacks, gendered
disinformation and explicitly negative descriptions
of women activists – and demonstrations across
Europe.95 96
NATO’s potential adversaries and strategic
competitors have been found to exploit natural
disasters for malign influence campaigns, with
the aim to exploit emotions, sow distrust in
official response and otherwise impair Allies’
ability to respond effectively to crises, especially
when communities are most vulnerable and
local institutions are strained.97 Disaster-related
disinformation can also impede rescue and relief
efforts, contributing to unnecessary casualties and
human suffering that could have otherwise been
avoided.
The series of wildfires that hit the island of Maui,
Hawaii, in August 2023, were accompanied by
numerous falsehoods and conspiracy theories.
A covert online campaign that originated in the
PRC suggested the disaster was not natural but
a deliberate result of a secret “weather weapon”
testing by American intelligence agencies and the
military.98 Russia also exploited the Maui fires for
political purposes: a day after the fires started, a
social media campaign began spreading the phrase
“Hawaii, not Ukraine,” suggesting that the aid the
US has provided for Ukraine would better be spent
at home for disaster relief.99
Actors who disseminate climate-related
disinformation are often involved in other forms
of disinformation. Anti-climate, anti-vaccine, pro-
Russia and New World Order conspiracies have
been found to go hand-in-hand.100

war lovers