Investigating the origin and development of climate conspiracy

Disinformation about the climate crisis, its causes, and consequences, is being widely spread on social media. This undermines and creates obstacles for the necessary climate discussions. At the same time, it affects the safety and productivity of activists, environmental defenders, and researchers, both online, and offline.

With this project, Global Witness Trust aims to develop new methods and approaches to expose how climate disinformation is created and disseminated digitally. They also intend to highlight the consequences this leads to, to counteract climate disinformation.

The project is supported with 2 810 000 SEK.

What’s happening in the project?

– A new branch of operations is being developed, focusing on mapping and investigating how climate disinformation is spread on social media, and the consequences it has for activists, environmental defenders, and researchers.
– New methods and technical solutions are being developed and tested to examine and analyze the spread of climate disinformation.

Why was the project supported?

The climate crisis requires decisive actions. Hindering these efforts are actors who attempt to disrupt the work by spreading disinformation and conspiracy theories about the climate crisis on social media. This project contributes to exposing how climate disinformation is created and disseminated digitally, thereby creating better opportunities to counteract it.