“Climate change and disinformation” How disinformation threatens effective climate change policy and what to do about it.

Disinformation is recognized as a vital challenge to the resilience of European democracies as it latches on to important societal debates, creating doubt and mistrust by spreading false and misleading information. According to the EU-funded EDMO fact-checking network, disinformation related to climate change ranked as the third most detected theme of disinformation in the EU in 2022 behind disinformation about Covid and the war in Ukraine. The narratives of disinformation range from outright denial of man-made climate change to more subtle ways of creating doubts in the scientific consensus, effectively delaying meaningful political action against climate change.

The debate sheds light on different aspects of climate change disinformation. We will elaborate how disinformation affects policy debates and public opinions on climate change in Germany and the EU. Who are the actors behind the production of disinformation? How does digital communication and social media platforms facilitate their spread? Finally, we will discuss, what instruments, policies and resources are necessary to recognize and tackle disinformation on climate change.

Programme

Words of Welcome

• Birgit Schmeitzner, Press Spokesperson of the Representation of the European Commission in Germany
• Katrin Böttger, Director, Institut für Europäische Politik

Panel debate

• Lisa Badum, MP, Member of the Committee on Climate Protection and Energy, Chairwoman Subcommittee on International Climate and Energy Policy
• Uschi Jonas, Journalist and Teamleader, CORRECTIV.Faktencheck
• Paula Matlach, Analyst, Institute for Strategic Dialogue
• Alexander Sängerlaub, Founder and Director, futur eins.

Moderation: Simone Klee, Project Manager RADAR, Institut für Europäische Politik