"This is the COP of truth. We must defeat denialism in the age of disinformation" -Pres Lula, marking 2025 as first time the COP action agenda included "information integrity"; misinformation did not take the floor at COP in 29 years. WATCH Press conference of the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change Nov 12, 2025 COP30 Brasil Amazônia video TRANSCRIPT belowPart 1 of Now a Warning is here https://cityofangels25.blogspot.com/2025/11/cop30-hits-fake-news-w-declaration-on.html
TRANSCRIPT
0.53
Hello everybody. Welcome to this press conference on the global initiative for information integrity on climate change. The initiative was launched a year ago at the G20 summit in Rio by Brazil, UNESCO, and the UN. And it has come a long way. There's a lot of momentum for it here at the COP. So, we're excited to brief you on that. And with that, I will actually hand right over to the first speaker or maybe let me quickly introduce all the speakers.
Actually we have Charlotte Scatteren, senior adviser on information integrity at the UN global communications department in New York. We have Mr. Guierme Canela director of digital inclusion and policies and digital transformation at UNESCO. We have Mr. Jo Brandt, secretary of digital policies at the presidency of the Republic of Brazil. And we have Mr. Federrico Ais, special envoy for information integrity, appointed by Brazil. With that, over to you, Charlotte.
2.00
Thanks, Martina. and thanks everyone for being here. It's, it's really amazing actually to be here in BelemM and see the, momentum and energy around information integrity, which is a concept and a topic that we, you know, we really weren't talking much about a couple of years ago. From the UN perspective, we see and feel that we are at a critical juncture where two of humanity's most pressing challenges have become quite dangerously intertwined and are converging.
So first we're witnessing really an unprecedented erosion of the integrity of our information ecosystem. And that comes about through disinformation, through hate online and offline, through harassment of of expert voices and targeting of of researchers and scientists and others. But also through polarizing echo chambers, through a lack of media freedom, through the demise of independent media and journalism. through misleading advertising; and through a whole range of risks stemming from emerging technologies that we really barely have a sense of yet.
3.12
And this all contributes to a deeply concerning trend that we're seeing around the world. And that is a lack of trust in information, a lack of trust in information sources as people increasingly just don't know what's real and what to believe.
And then secondly, of course, is the climate crisis. This is why we're all here. and relatedly, coordinated efforts to stall and to sabotage climate action by powerful interests who benefit from the status quo.
The UN's first ever global risk report which was released in July of this year confirmed what many of us have been observing for some time and that is that mis- and disinformation represent a top global vulnerability; and it's one for which the international community is insufficiently prepared to address. It's been globally underestimated and it's still unfolding.
And this was closely followed in the report by environmental vulnerabilities. So purveyors of climate disinformation don't simply deny climate change. They undermine climate action by attacking researchers, scientists, and journalists personally by questioning the scientific consensus around climate change, and creating false narratives around climate solutions.
4.28
And they're also seeking to skew the perceptions of policy makers of the people here negotiating to make them think that the public opposes climate action when in reality the opposite is true. And the problem is twofold as we see it because climate change is being weaponized as a wedge issue to polarize entire societies and to undermine and disrupt democratic processes.
So what we're witnessing is a kind of sophisticated what we call information laundering. So it's false claims that are kind of deliberately cycled through multiple platforms to appear credible. It's much like money laundering but with disinformation.
And the winners in this economy, this disinformation economy because it is fossil fuel interests. They are certain political actors and they're digital influencers online who are monetizing outrage and lies. And obviously those who lose out first and foremost are the marginalized communities around the world who face disproportionate harm. Democratic institutions, media and media viability and public trust in information continues to erode and of course economic stability weakens.
5.40
So this huge challenge that I've just outlined is why we launched as Martina just mentioned the global initiative for information integrity on climate change. It was almost exactly a year ago actually along with the government of Brazil and UNESCO. but we have several countries involved and it is a growing coalition including with many civil society actors and the private sector. And really it was built on three pillars and that is to strengthen and support research around climate disinformation and to fund projects for strategic action and and strategic communications especially in the global south and to integrate information integrity into COP 30 processes which is in large part why we're here this week and you know we've already seen a huge step forward on this last objective.
because information integrity was added to the COP action agenda here for COP 30 for the first time ever-
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[Keblogger: That Rings bells for me. Why hasn't disinformation been on the COP agenda every year since at least 2013 when lies in the news started overtaking USA? I am shocked that the danger and security risks of fake news- and creating ways to combat it- hasn't been on the COP agenda every year and-]
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6.45
and we've really been extremely encouraged by the positive response to the initiative since we launched a year ago. It's generated so much momentum around the world and I think it's tapped into the energy and efforts of civil society and government partners and many other stakeholders who very keenly see and understand the risks from information risks in the information environment to the urgent climate action that we all need.
You know, effective responses to this problem do exist. and we've seen this through our call to action and through the response to our call for proposals to the global fund which I know Guillermo and others will talk about.
Timing matters immensely in this work when you're dealing with information risks that move very quickly and you're dealing with a climate crisis where we don't have any time to spare. We need to act quickly.
And we also see major vulnerability windows. We see them around cops. We see them around elections. We see them around extreme weather events. These are all moments when climate disinformation campaigns intensify. So COP 30 is really as we see it our greatest opportunity yet. information integrity has been more visible than ever before I think at any COP. and the declaration that we're launching today on information integrity on climate change which I know our colleagues will talk about is really a potential breakthrough moment for establishing this as a core climate action area.
8.07
We must recognize that information integrity is fundamental to climate action. We can't achieve climate action and a livable future without strengthening our information ecosystem. And our response has to reflect this reality. So you know for us the coming months especially but years too are going to determine whether we can preserve both the information environment necessary for democratic decision-making and societal progress and the global cooperation we need for addressing the climate crisis.
and this year this past year of the global initiative I think has shown us that while the challenge is clearly very immense so is our collective capacity for impact. So, you know, we really now need to scale up and cement some of these efforts that we've seen as we look beyond COP 30 and to COP 31. So, I'll stop there and let my colleagues come in.
*Charlotte, I'll hand the floor to Joe Brandt.
*Good afternoon. Sorry about that. It's a pleasure to be here. It's the first time that information integrity takes the floor here at the COP process and I think that's a big achievement of many organizations, international organizations, countries, civil society and academic researchers that have been that joined together in November 2024 when Brazil was was finishing its presidency of the G20 and defined to launch along with UNESCO, UN, UNFCCC and all the partners this global initiative for information integrity on climate change.
9.48
We had some milestones since then. In July, UNESCO launched a call that Guillermo will mention that had 500 proposals presenting for a fund to fund new projects. On that, we had a call to action to shed a light on initiatives that are already in place. We're talking about of course lots of different different actions that were taken for decades on these topics but were not organized under the umbrella of information integrity. So we have to acknowledge the ones that were already there and things that could be understood as best practices.
And we actually had the main goal to bring this topic to the COP 30 action agenda program and the ACE negotiation process and I think we'll have Fred Rico also talking more about that but it's good to harvest what we planted in the last months.
This wouldn't be possible without an alliance with civil society and academic networks. I would mention specifically here the forum on information and democracy, the information panel the international panel on information environment IPIE, the SCAD climate action against disinformation and of course the action of lots different Brazilian organizations in our case that are dedicated to build a Brazilian chapter more than 100 organizations mobilized for that.
[And every one of them has a director, staff, fundraisers, attorneys, and accountants; meanwhile Coastal Villages are going underwater.]
11.21
Tthis leads to a plan to accelerate solutions. That is something that the the Brazilian presidency of the COP process is proposing and there is a specific plan on the objective number information promoting information integrity and I would highlight among 10 different strategies that are there.
the charter of principles for accountable climate advertising that the initiative will be building and promoting until COP . And we are also engaging in a dialogue round table with relevant stakeholders including the private sector companies to find commitment, the common ground for commitments and to act upon the problem of the threats to information integrity.
Finally, I would like to mention the countries that are signing the declaration together that is being launched today. we have 10 countries the the initiative we we just invited the countries involved with the initiative to to sign so far; and now it's been open for non-members to get their signatures; but so we have it been launched signed by Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and Uruguay.
12.46
So all these 10 countries are together today calling and launching a call to action. It's only- we are talking about six commitments but calls to the private sector, calls to governments, calls to civil society and academia, and call for funders. So that's I think the the beginning of a strong journey that we're planting together. Thank you very much.*
[Keblogger: So, what are they going to do? meet and talk? They can ask me for ideas I won't even charge them. They have not mentioned one specific action that they are going to carry out to stop the dang lies. But they're going to meet with each other and others, and have catered meals, and hotel per diems; this is making me sick, and hungry.]
*Good afternoon everyone. A pleasure to be here. In 4 days time, 16th of November, UNESCO will celebrate its80 th anniversary. So when the organization was created eight decades ago was created with this unique mandate in the UN system to protect and promote education, culture, science and freedom of expression. 13.46
And in these recent years, we are listening from these very same stakeholders, teachers, scholars, artists, scientists, journalists. Then when they are trying to tackle, as Charlotte was saying, these two crucial issues for humanity in this very moment, information integrity and climate change, they are being attacked. They are being persecuted. and sometimes prosecuted for doing these kind of things. they are facing several difficulties not only vis a vis government vis a vis other powerful actors, they are being silenced.
and because of the difficulties they are they are self censoring themselves in dealing with these issues. So for many years we have been trying to raise awareness or sound the alarms that this interaction between information integrity and climate change is absolutely vital for both fields- for the field of information integrity but also for the field of climate change. And those two crucial issues they depend on each other. They need to interact more.
And it's very surprising to see that just one year after we jointly launched this initiative in the leader summit of the G20. When I say we, the three of us here, the UN, the UNESCO, and Brazil, we have advanced so much as you just heard from from Charlotte and Gerome. But when we launched these kind of things, we are not always sure what will be the response of the real people, the ones that we needed to be engaged with these kind of discussions.
[You could ask me.]
15.33
And the call for proposals that Jean just underlined. It's a very concrete signalization of the importance of this but also of the gap that this initiative is trying to fulfill. In just one month, more than 500 organizations coming from 100 countries took the lengthy path and journey to submit a proposal to UNESCO, a full proposal with brilliant ideas on how to tackle this issue, on how to better evidence to then later produce better policies and strategies to tackle this challenge, this intersection between information integrity and climate change.
These organizations were are asking us $40 million which again is a nice sign that there is a strong need there and if we have resources not only financial but also this political will that is being demonstrated here. We have the response of the other side. We have concrete concrete people, organizations, journalists, investigative journalists, researchers, scientists, NOS's ready to do the job, ready to embark with us in this concrete journey to not this to be the first only the first cop and the last cop to have information integrity as a key point, but to continue the journey because it's an issue that I'm afraid will remain in our agendas for a long time.
17.02
So from our perspective these these very these exactly months they are offering us important hope in the mi in the in in a in a moment that this issue is in the very heart of the global agenda not only the the distrust in the climate science but the overall problems visav information integrity you will be able to meet during these days here including the higher level event that will happen in in a few moments. Some of the first grantees of the initiative and this is also very interesting because it's not about us it's about them. It's about protecting these beneficiaries stimulating them to create this wave that we hope will be a longlasting wave. Thank you.*
Thank you very much [overlapping] Martina. Just one breaking news. It's we now have an 11th signature which from the Netherlands. [applause] So now we can start a soccer team at least to for the information integrity soccer team is complete now. Good. Amazing news. Congrats. Now Federico Asis, I know you'd like to make some remarks in Portuguese. I'm not sure if there's interpretation, but go ahead. Is there an interpreter? Is there is there a No. Nope.
18.28
*So I'll speak in English. good afternoon everyone. It's a real pleasure to be with you. I'll comment a bit on the state of art of information integrity on climate within the COP process. President Lula sent a very clear message during the opening of the conference that this is the cop of truth. We must defeat again deniialism. We live in the age of disinformation and well as you know disinformation and deniialism undermine trust in science in institutions, feeds and fuels hate speech extremism.
So it's a real risk, and we are up to respond to this; and as we know worst of all the most vulnerable people suffer the climate crisis effect in the most dramatic way.
So it's the first time the issue has been included in the action agenda as Jon my good friend Jon said and from now my role was engaging different stakeholders political leaders religious leaders social movements civil society media outlets and I'm trying to engage the big tech at least in in a harm reduction perspective.
[Great, call on all the people who've been running things for the last 30 years and ignore everybody else. I think this is what's called meta.]
20.08
But from now on it's time for implementation and we are here for that. And well that's the first time that special envoy for this team was appointed and it's a very good sign of our commitments on that matter. So I think we are- Brazil actually is one of the protagonist both on the climate agenda and the information integrity one. So we are here to build together with you the international community civil society and I we are at your disposal here.
*The floor is now open for any questions from the media. Yes, please. And if you could identify yourself, please once you get the mic,
*thank you very much Al from Norwegian newspaper. I have a question about state actors role in this. There's been several reports and examples of Russia spreading disinformation about climate science, about European climate policy, and even during the extreme weather events in Spain. So my question to Jo Brandt is what is the message from Brazil to Russia on this matter. Thank you.
21.44
*We're not talking and directing any questions directly to any country or any leader. We are calling society to engage in a fight for information integrity on climate change. We're fighting, we're sending a message of course to all the countries to engage in the fight for climate change. So I think if we pick up specific issues or pick up specific fights, we lose the battle the this how you see the forest and the capacity of ourselves to move from bottom up; and with the engagement of civil society, academia and other players to actually have a wave of information integrity, a wave of truth for this topic.
*****
Part one is here
COP30 attacks fake news with Declaration on Information Integrity- "tackling the silent saboteur, climate disinformation"- Now a Warning part 1 of 3 at Heating Planet blog Launched during COP30 in Belém Nov 12,The Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate
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*Other questions? yes, the lady in front.
*Hi, thank you for this. Darna Noah at the Guardian. Wondering if you could talk a little bit about the role that fossil fuel lobbyists have played at COP and how their role might relate to efforts to promote information integrity. We've seen recent reports that more fossil fuel lobbyists have been present at these negotiations than in recent years than they had previously. So just curious how you how these two things relate in your mind.
23.03
*I can I will start and then maybe Federico can can continue with that. We know that part of the disinformation come from private sector part of that come from governments part of that come from players that are have different interests financial interests or political interests in the field and it wouldn't be different if I mean the fight for climate action and for the urgency of climate action is has to be taken everywhere in including inside COP of course if COP is a relevant process for climate action, players that want to derail and delay climate action will be acting upon that. So for me it's natural that the players that see the urgency and see the need for action have to be battling in the field and at this moment COP 30 is the field.
*I just want to add that I think of what is also embedded in your question is one of the key pillars of this global initiative precisely to fund investigative journalism and research etc that can help us to unpack that because we all acknowledge here there is a lot of disinformation about climate change but the details of this information precisely who is behind this the lobbies the conflict of interests, how this is spread, how this is done, if it is different from one cop to the other, from one continent to the other, all these kind of things require more investment, require more investigative journalism, more research about that.
24.48
So I think council your question is precisely what we are trying to support by creating this initiative and supporting colleagues like yours investigative journalists and researchers to unpack that because there are a lot of things that we simply don't know; and there hence we need this initiative to stimulate that.
*And I'll just add very quickly that you know we're looking at a whole range of behaviors and tactics here to undermine climate action. Disinformation is one, but you know this is a lot of these behaviors are not new. They go back for many decades. You know, and lobbying is a big part of that. But I think just to build on what Guillermo said, that's why we call for transparency as really a core element of all of our efforts to strengthen the information ecosystem.
It really runs through all of the frameworks that the UN's done and it's certainly key u in the UN global principles for information integrity that the secretary general Antonio Guterres launched about 18 months ago.
We need transparency. We need to shed light on these behaviors to understand them and then to know how we can respond. So, I think that, you know, if I had to pick one word for what is the one of the first steps we need to address this, transparency would be it for that very reason.
*Can I ask the sound people to to give us the return also from these mics to put it back at this speaker because otherwise we cannot speak properly what our colleagues are saying. We'll take another question. *Yes, please.
26.26
Joan Basu from Tedgraph India. [technical] two quick questions. First is that you mentioned about spreading awareness against this disinformation. Does this initiative include the global leaders who are part of this disinformation campaign so to say? And second is I saw the list of countries. I didn't find India, China into that list. Is there is any any discussion going on to have India and China on board about this spreading awareness against the so-called climate disinformation campaign?
27.18
*so we did a first round of invitations at the end of the G20. for G that was one year ago. We're now restart inviting countries to the initiative. So of course we want we're interested in all the countries that are committed to the principles that are related to the initiative to freedom of expression and access to information and information integrity as part of that, to actually the climate action to the commitment with the climate action. So of course we're open to discuss with all the governments that are committed to these principles.
Regarding specific leaders, I think I already responded when I talked to responded to first question. We're not talking to specific about specific political characters. We're talking about the need for engagement in an action regarding information integrity to have a wave of truth regarding the climate change.
*I mean I I can just add something which is to say that you know as the UN we're engaging with all our member states on issues around information integrity and climate action and just to flag that just over a year ago at the summit of the future member states agreed in the general assembly to the path for the future which included the global digital compact which has in it an entire section on commitments to information integrity and to digital trust and safety. So you know this is something about which we are of course engaging with all member states in all regions and and and they have commitments. We are here to help them meet those commitments and offer resources.
I mentioned the global principles is is one. so you know yes of course these discussions are happening globally and you mentioned state actors. I mean I think the secretary general has been very clear in his position that we must fight disinformation. We must fight online harassment. We must fight greenwashing. We must fight all attempts in the information ecosystem to undermine climate action regardless of the actor. So, you know, our position is clear and I think the responses that we've laid out and that we're pursuing as part of the global initiative really look towards constructive solutions in that regard.
*I think we have time for one more question. yes, we don't have time.
[They all need to take off their suits and go where the floods droughts and fires are devastating the planet; and start building new cities that don't rely on fossil fuels and stop spending so much time on airplanes and in hotel hospitality suites. Blogger’s 2 cents]
29.52
*It'll be a quick one. Timmans Roberts, Climate Social Science Network. I hear a bit about a cover text about this initiative. Is there any news on that?
*You mean the cover decision for the COP whether this issue will be in it? I'm not sure anybody knows at this point.
*I think I mean I I think we need to ask the those negotiating to be honest to maybe but but but you know one of our goals is of course to try and cement this issue as I've said and we've all said in the COP processes beyond COP 30 which is the reason one of the main reasons why we we've we've doing this declaration right to to kind of capture that momentum and make sure that this issue is one that is not just you know an issue that's at the forefront with a Brazil cop presidency But it remains in the COP process. I mean I think we're very positive in that regard. But we absolutely need to ensure that happens.
31.02
*I'm happy to inform that we have now a 12th country that has joined. Belgium has just confirmed to sign the declaration. In this space we're going to have until the end of COP we cover the whole world. But anyway it's I'm not too optimistic about that.
*I I think this this press conference has really mobilized a lot of additional support which is great. Any final words? If not, I think we'll close it here. We have a high level event on this topic starting in 35 minutes at the Brazil Pavilion. You're all welcome to attend. See you there. Thank you.
END OF TRANSCRIPT
[KE: Everything climate scientists predicted about global warming/ climate change since the 1970s is coming true, only faster]
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