From debunking claims that cold winters do not act as proof that global warming is fake to allegations that the climate changes naturally and so mankind is not to blame, scientists have spent decades proving the very existence of the climate crisis.
Yet experts say these disinformation narratives are increasingly evolving and that they are now moving towards discrediting environmental policies and climate action, rather than an outright denial of global warming.
"The era of climate denial is pretty much over," Ned Mendez, head of research and insights at digital campaigning agency 411, told Euronews' verification team, The Cube. "The disinformation industry has moved one rung downstream. So it's not really about whether the fight about global warming is real, it's about whether or not the response is feasible, whether it's fair and whether it is worth the price."
"When we think of disinformation, we tend to think of it as denying the existence of climate change or its human origins. What we're seeing, however, is that this isn’t necessarily the most common form the phenomenon takes today", Eva Morel, secretary of the French climate disinformation watchdog Quota Climat told us.
This fits into a wider political context of "greenlash", a portmanteau of "green" and "backlash" which describes the growing political resistance to climate change.
