Facts, Fakes, and Climate Science: Recommendations for Improving Information Integrity about Climate Issues
Facts, Fakes, and Climate Science – ENG
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Produced by International Panel on the Information Environment
SYNOPSIS
Misleading information about the causes and consequences of climate change obstructs effective policy responses. This Summary for Policymakers summarizes findings from the larger Synthesis Report “Information Integrity about Climate Science: A Systematic Review” (SR2025.1).
The central conclusion of the Synthesis Report is that powerful actors—including corporations, governments, and political parties—intentionally spread inaccurate or misleading narratives about anthropogenic climate change. These narratives circulate across digital, broadcast, and interpersonal communication channels. The result is a decline in public trust, diminished policy coordination, and a feedback loop between scientific denialism and political inaction.
There is a severe gap in research on climate information integrity in the Global South, where impacts are likely to be significant but poorly documented.
Key takeaways from the synthesis include:
- coordinated misinformation campaigns actively shape climate narratives;
- scientific consensus is frequently misrepresented in media;
- regulatory enforcement and access to data remain uneven globally;
- information integrity research is heavily concentrated in the Global North.
The report concludes with an assessment of policy recommendations that have been made over time, identifying for policymakers the four areas where impact has been consistently positive:
• legislation to ensure standardized carbon reporting and labelling,
• litigation to ensure enforcement of the standards,
• coalition building across stakeholder groups,
• education of policymakers and the public.
This study delivers the first global, systematic assessment of information integrity about climate science. It draws on research by hundreds of scholars and thousands of peer-reviewed studies published over the past decade, with a methodologically rigorous review of 300 papers on policy solutions.
This consolidated evidence base affirms a scientific consensus and specifies the urgent measures policymakers must enact to shield humankind—and the planet we depend on—from an accelerating climate threat.
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