The ‘Global Initiative for the Integrity of Climate Change Information’ has been presented within the framework of the G20 Leaders Summit. The Government of Brazil, the United Nations Secretariat and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) participate in the international project; The objective is to combat the spread of fake news around the environmental disaster that afflicts the planet.
The new collaborative instrument “brings together countries, organizations and stakeholders from around the world. Its objective is to promote and defend the dissemination of scientific evidence on climate change, address the spread of false data and optimize awareness and action on this now priority issue,” according to UNESCO. The organization adds that the proposal includes a global fund that will finance studies on the spread of fake news and various strategies that guarantee that reliable data regarding the situation reaches the masses.
“Without access to reliable information about climate imbalances, we will never be able to overcome them. Through this proposal we will support journalists and researchers who work on related issues, sometimes at great risk to themselves,” says Audrey Azoulay, Director General of UNESCO.
The initial goal of the program is to raise between $10 and $15 million over the next three years to fulfill its purpose. The resources will be allocated to non-profit organizations, as grants, to finance exploration efforts and public awareness actions on misinformation.
The promoters of the program assure that this phenomenon undermines the authority of the scientific consensus, obstructs the ability of authorities to respond effectively to eventualities and threatens the safety of communicators and environmental defenders.
António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), emphasizes that “it is necessary to fight against coordinated false information strategies that impede global progress on climate change. These range from absolute denial to eco-imposture and harassment of scientists. [Con] “With this initiative we want to reverse the situation.”
Chile, Denmark, France, Morocco, the United Kingdom and Sweden are the only countries that have so far joined the new global commitment. Other states are expected to address the pact in the coming days. The collation has not provided details about the governance mechanisms or the civil entities that will participate in the project. It has limited itself to issuing a series of “calls to collaborate” that call on all corporations with intentions and capabilities to contribute.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, president of Brazil, recalls that “actions to combat climate change are greatly affected by denialism. Nations cannot address this problem individually.”
Misinformation around climate change
Scientists have expressed concern about the role that social networks have in weakening the scientific consensus on climate and influencing the perception of the problem, mainly among younger audiences. A study by the Center to Counter Digital Hate analyzed more than 12,000 videos about the climate crisis posted on 96 YouTube channels. It found that claims contradicting environmental risks have changed dramatically in recent years.
In 2018, most emergency-denying materials argued that the problem was a hoax and that humans had no responsibility for it. Three years later, the discrediting campaigns focused on weakening scientific agreements and casting doubt on measures in favor of the environment. They have claimed that global warming is harmless.
The report finds that the new speech represents 70% of all climate denials posted on Google’s video platform, which is a notable growth compared to the 35% recorded in 2018. Claims that planetary warming is a farce decreased from 48 to 14% during the study period, while content that discredits environmental solutions grew from 9 to 30%.
Charlie Cray, senior strategist at Greenpeace, has noted that “climate deniers now have access to vast global audiences through digital platforms. “Allowing them to steadily undermine public support for climate action could have devastating consequences for the future of our planet.”
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