Breaking Through the Wall of Climate Change Denial

Written by Punkhuri Kumar

The Earth is warming. It is rapidly warming. Our actions are culminating towards a potentially catastrophic future. If you are here today reading this article, chances are you are quite aware of this already. Why? Because both scientists and activists have been telling us this for decades at this point. Next year, we approach the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement after all. It is also the truth that we can “unequivocally” say that global warming is the impact of human activities, as the latest IPCC report puts it.[1] Yet, instead of focusing our efforts on mitigation and adaptation, we have a strange problem at hand as well. There are still people, some of whom are in quite powerful positions, who refuse to believe that something like human caused climate change exists. This article is dedicated to examining the causes that surround the spread of misinformation and potential actions that could be taken to counter the impacts. The backlash against established knowledge on climate change is happening for several reasons, both social and political. ?

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Social Media and the Spread of Misinformation?

Social media and online access have grown rapidly in the last decade. Although this has led to the easy availability of information, it has also caused a proliferation of unverified information. While it has brought greater freedom of expression, it has also given everyone the liberty to put out information that has no valid evidence or scientific backing. Researchers recently identified nearly 96 YouTube channels that are actively disseminating information denying climate change and discrediting climate science and the climate movement.[2] Misinformation like this is presented in a very convincing manner that often catches the unaware off-guard. Further, social media algorithms also do their magic. The algorithms recommend similar content to what users are watching or listening to, creating echo chambers.[3] Essentially what happens is that people enter a sort of bubble where they only hear agreement with their views leading to a reinforcement and validation of their belief systems. This only amplifies exposure to misinformation and convinces people that climate change is a hoax. They end up hearing what they want to hear, which, in the case of the climate movement, ends up being highly problematic.??

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The Rise and Re-rise of Global Populism?

While many believed that populism had started to decline after the global pandemic, recent events are proving otherwise. Populist parties have been on the rise globally [4] and with it also comes the push towards protectionism. This is counterintuitive to climate change mitigation efforts which require concentrated global cooperation. With American elections around the corner, there is fear that with a re-election of Donald Trump, the United States may pull out of the Paris Agreement once more. Since climate change will hardly be a top policy and conversation priority in such a scenario and that the relevance of this topic itself might be questioned, it could once again lead to a rise in propaganda convincing people that climate change is not as pressing of an issue as it is being made out to be. Further, with supply chains for environmentally friendly products being largely global, it is in the interests of protectionists to promote a rhetoric against them.[5]?

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Inaction of Policymakers?

Climate change denial is not merely limited to denying scientific evidence. It also includes downplaying the urgency of the actions needed – suggesting that we have more time than we actually do. Actions by governments across the world pushing back commitment timelines has led to ambiguous messaging. Recently, the United Kingdom weakened its net zero targets by pushing back the timeline to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars by five years from 2030 to 2035.[5] The European Parliament agreed to delay the implementation of several important parts of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive by a further 2 years to 2026 instead of the initial plan of 2024. [6] There are even more dire policies in some American states. For example, Florida outrightly bans firms from taking ESG factors into account while making investments.[7] Such a rhetoric – some mild, some extreme – is creating either a negative image of ESG investing or promotes inaction on an individual level.??

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The Economic Aspects?

Simply put, responsible consumption and investment is not always in the interest of economic players. There is often a concentrated effort by lobbies to promote campaigns that claim minimal impact of several economic activities on climate change and human health. Several associated think tanks have been accused of tying up with corporations as well as receiving corporate funding to promote incomplete knowledge about increasing emissions.[8] Recently, the Wall Street Journal claimed that there had been considerable strategising by Exxon Mobil executives to allay fears over climate change and that their scientists had supported research that cast doubt on the severity of climate change impacts.[9] Such examples highlight how corporate economic interests have often led to a promotion of either disbelief regarding climate change or created a perception that it is not as bad as it seems. Ultimately, this corporate climate denial significantly contributes to the spread of climate change misinformation globally.??

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What are the Next Steps??

So, does the future look bleak with limited realisation about the threat with which we are living? Not really. There is some good news on this front. As per the World Economic Forum,[10] the percentage of climate change deniers has been going down globally including in the United States. However, that does not mean that denialism is still not a problem as the report highlights further. There is still considerable cause for concern, and?action is required to address the issue.??

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Firstly, we urgently need to deal with the widespread misinformation campaign. YouTube already has policies in place which involve cutting advertisements to videos by climate change deniers, yet these policies are not being fully implemented [2]. There needs to be concentrated effort by all intermediate platforms involved towards flagging any kind of misinformation and promoting scientific knowledge.??

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Secondly, investments – both public and private – towards education and research and development are needed as well as greater content creation to make people aware of the urgency of action and to promote sustainable consumption. Big firms need to better market their sustainable products as well as price them appropriately. Greater sustainable investment can also potentially lead to the creation of a positive attitude towards climate science and sustainability.??

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Thirdly, we need to continue with our awareness creation efforts not just online but also offline through education movements and community engagement. Corporations need to have active sustainability programs in place that also involve local community development which would make people more receptive to mitigation efforts.?

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Most importantly, we need action now. Policymakers need to stop downplaying the impacts of climate change if we want people to take it seriously.??

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In conclusion, while climate change denial is a major problem of our time, efforts are being made to counter it. Although, as mentioned above, some have already shown results, greater efforts are still needed. Ultimately, awareness generation and more positive investments towards sustainable projects must be scaled up until our climate challenges are met.?

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?Sources:?

[1] IPCC, 2023:?Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report.?Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, H. Lee and J. Romero (eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, pp. 35-115, doi: 10.59327/IPCC/AR6-9789291691647?

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[2] Hirji, Z. (16th January, 2024) Attacks on Renewable Energy Are Proliferating on YouTube. Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-16/youtube-s-climate-denial-problem-is-growing-and-evolving [Accessed 8th February, 2024].?

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[3] Hidalgo, S. (3rd March 2021) THE ALGORITHM: A DRIVER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE POLARISATION. The Climate Change Review. https://www.theclimatechangereview.com/post/the-algorithm-a-driver-for-climate-change-polarization [Accessed 8th February, 2024]?

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[4] The Economist (14th September, 2023) A fresh wave of hard-right populism is stalking Europe. https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/09/14/a-fresh-wave-of-hard-right-populism-is-stalking-europe [Accessed 8th February, 2024]?

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[5] The Economist (11th October, 2023) The global backlash against climate policies has begun. https://www.economist.com/international/2023/10/11/the-global-backlash-against-climate-policies-has-begun [Accessed 8th February, 2024]?

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[6] Segal, M (24th January, 2024) EU Lawmakers Approve 2 Year Delay of Sustainability Reporting Standards for Specific Sectors and non-EU companies. ESG Today. https://www.esgtoday.com/eu-lawmakers-approve-2-year-delay-of-sector-specific-non-eu-company-sustainability-reporting-standards/ [Accessed 9th February, 2024]?

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[7] McGowan, J (31st January, 2024) DeSantis Says Florida Will Enforce Anti-ESG Laws, More Legislation Pending. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmcgowan/2024/01/31/desantis-says-florida-will-enforce-anti-esg-laws-more-legislation-pending/ [Accessed 9th February, 2024]?

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[8] Bohr, J (nd) The Structure and Culture of Climate Change Denial. Footnotes, American Sociological Association. https://www.asanet.org/footnotes-article/structure-and-culture-climate-change-denial/ [Accessed 8th February, 2024]?

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[9] Matthews, C (14th September, 2023) Inside Exxon’s Strategy to Downplay Climate Change. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/exxon-climate-change-documents-e2e9e6af [Accessed 16th February, 2024]?

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[10] World Economic Forum (15th August, 2022) Is climate denialism dead? https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/08/is-climate-denialism-dead/ [Accessed 9th February, 2024]?