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AI & Climate Disinformation, PCDN AI for Impact Newsletter, June 23, 2025

AI & Climate Disinformation, PCDN AI for Impact Newsletter, June 23, 2025

June 23, 2025

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Climate Misinformation Is Turning Crisis Into Catastrophe

Climate misinformation has evolved into a sophisticated weapon that's actively sabotaging humanity's response to the climate crisis. The International Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE) has released a comprehensive report revealing how deliberately spread falsehoods are transforming a manageable challenge into an unstoppable catastrophe. For those working in impact-driven careers, understanding this information warfare is crucial to effective climate action. The Guardian's detailed coverage provides essential context for this landmark assessment.

The scale of coordinated misinformation is breathtaking. After analyzing 300 studies, IPIE researchers uncovered systematic disinformation campaigns orchestrated by fossil fuel companies, political actors, and nation-states. These efforts have evolved beyond simple climate denial to attacking renewable energy solutions directly – spreading false narratives like blaming wind turbines for power grid failures or solar panels for environmental damage.

The misinformation ecosystem extends far beyond Big Oil's traditional playbook. Industries including animal agriculture, aviation, tourism, and fast food are actively muddying climate discourse. Political figures across the globe amplify denialist rhetoric while sophisticated bot networks create distorted online environments where falsehoods spread faster than facts. This coordinated approach creates an information landscape designed to confuse rather than inform.

Most concerning is how these campaigns specifically target decision-makers, policy leaders, civil servants, and regulatory agencies. IPIE describes these as "conspiratorial" efforts designed to derail climate policy from within institutions. This represents a direct assault on democratic processes and the institutional trust necessary for implementing effective climate solutions.

The timing makes this particularly urgent. With critical deadlines approaching for emissions reductions, misinformation is polarizing society, undermining institutional credibility, and fostering dangerous apathy toward climate action. The report frames this as a "dual crisis" where environmental degradation accelerates alongside an information integrity breakdown.

IPIE's research portfolio extends beyond climate misinformation to examine how information environments affect various global challenges. Their upcoming report on AI and peacebuilding, expected this summer, will explore how artificial intelligence can both threaten and strengthen peace processes – another critical area where information integrity intersects with global stability. Dr. Craig Zelizer serves as the consulting scientist for this AI and peacebuilding panel and IPIE has many other reports on the inforomation economy.

The Guardian's coverage of this IPIE report provides essential insights for anyone building careers of impact. Understanding how misinformation operates isn't just about protecting truth – it's about protecting the ability to create meaningful change in an increasingly complex information landscape. For social entrepreneurs, policymakers, and changemakers, this research offers crucial intelligence for navigating the intersection of information warfare and climate action.

Essential Resources for Tracking Climate Misinformation and AI-Driven Disinformation

For those seeking to stay informed about climate misinformation and AI-driven disinformation campaigns, several organizations provide critical data and analysis:

DeSmog's Climate Disinformation Database offers extensive research on individuals and organizations delaying climate action through misinformation campaigns. Their comprehensive tracking system documents the networks behind climate denial efforts.

Clemson University's Media Forensics Hub provides cutting-edge research on AI-driven disinformation tactics, including how fabricated news sites and AI-generated content spread misinformation at scale. Their work reveals the sophisticated structure of modern disinformation campaigns.

FactCRICIS, a European Union-funded initiative led by AFP and the European Fact-Checking Standards network, is developing AI tools to combat climate misinformation and creating a comprehensive database of climate-related false claims.

UN Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change coordinates international efforts to counter climate disinformation, including the "Verified for Climate" initiative that provides accurate climate information.

ICLEI Canada's Climate Misinformation Response offers practical resources for local governments facing climate misinformation campaigns, particularly relevant as populist movements increasingly target municipal climate policies.

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AI for Impact Opportunities

Sr. Technical Infrastructure Contractor (Events Ops) | FAR.AI Careers, Remote

FAR.AI is seeking a senior technical contractor to streamline and upgrade our event operations infrastructure.

Open Call for Proposals for Pulitzer Center’s AI Accountability Fellowships (2025-2026)

The Pulitzer Center is now accepting applications for its fourth cohort (2025-2026) of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Accountability Fellowships. AI and other predictive technologies have been used to make policy decisions, understand disease, teach our children, and monitor our work for years. The hype around generative AI is now supercharging the spread of these systems while citizens have little insight into how they work, who profits from them, and who gets hurt. Through the AI Accountability Fellowships, the Pulitzer Center aims to support in-depth, high-impact reporting projects that document and explain the opportunities, harms, and regulatory and labor issues surrounding AI systems. The Fellowship program provides selected journalists with financial support, a community of peers, mentorship, and training to pursue in-depth reporting projects that interrogate how AI systems are funded, built, and deployed by corporations, governments, and other powerful actors

United Nations University - Postdoctoral Fellow - Agent-Based Modeling & Reinforcement Learning, Macau, China

United Nations University (Macau) seeks passionate and innovative research professionals to join our dynamic and diverse team in Macao China.

Upcoming Calls and Programme Plan – Women TechEU

Exciting Opportunity for Women-Led Deep Tech Startups in Europe! 🌟

Apply now for Women TechEU and stand a chance to receive non-dilutive €75,000 grants to boost your startup! Applications are closing on August 4, 2025.

Expression of interest: Head of Recruiting, UK or Remote

We're looking for someone to build and lead 80,000 Hours' recruiting function from scratch. We'd like to make 15–25 strong hires each year through a recruiting team. Currently, we make around 10 hires — each of which represents a very large investment in capacity from team leads — which is a major bottleneck on our growth. Our ideal candidate can solve the problems, hire the team, and build the systems needed to pull this off.

Programme - HP Cambridge Partnership for Education EdTech Fellowship

Accelerating equitable digital transformation in education systems About the Fellowship The Fellowship includes a five‑month intensive study programme and a lasting network. Fellows start in regional groups, connecting with local leaders, before graduating into the global alumni community.

Senior Machine Learning Engineer, india

WHO WE ARE Noora Health’s mission is to improve outcomes and strengthen health systems by equipping family caregivers with the skills they need to care for their loved ones.

Call for Applications: Investigative Research Fellowship

Are you up for the challenge of investigating how our media watchdogs get subverted by foreign nation states and their agents? Code for Africa (CfA) is recruiting an investigative researcher to dig into how foreign governments and their agents influence media policy and reportage.

Senior Program Officer/Director, Global Nuclear Policy Program (GNPP), DC

Roster - Emerging Technology Consultant, ITU, Remote

The Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) is responsible for the organization and coordination of the work of the Telecommunication Development Sector of the Union. BDT deals mainly with development policies, strategies, programming, projects, as well as technical cooperation activities to enable and foster universal access to affordable, high-quality and secure telecommunications/ICTs and Foster equitable and inclusive use of telecommunications/ICTs to empower people and societies for sustainable development.

International Policy Special Projects Lead

San Francisco, CA

Assistant Director of National Security & Foreign Affairs, Baker School - UTK

The Howard H. Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs (Baker School) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, seeks applications for a full-time Assistant Director at the Center for National Security & Foreign Affairs (NSFA) at the Baker School. We seek candidates with national security and/or foreign affairs expertise who can help lead the Center’s efforts to deliver high quality student experience through undergraduate, graduate, and executive education, both in person and online.

Apply for the Entrepreneurship World Cup

The Entrepreneurship World Cup is one of the largest and most diverse pitch competitions and support programs of its kind. Every year, tens of thousands of entrepreneurs from 200 countries compete for a share of US$1.5 million dollars in cash prizes and millions more worth of investment, support and publicity and a global finals event attended by leading investors.

Apply for the Schwarzman Scholarship

Apply for a fully-funded, one-year Master’s program in China and gain the global leadership skills and cultural understanding needed to serve as a bridge between China and tomorrow.

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News & Resources

😄 Joke of the Day
Why don’t AI doctors use stethoscopes?
They prefer to listen to the data.

🌍 News

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AI chatbot overstates climate data accuracy – A chatbot designed to help users understand climate emissions has exaggerated its reliability, raising red flags about ethics in environmental AI.

💼 Career Resource
Looking to align your skills with impact? Jobs.pcdn.global features over 400 roles at the intersection of AI, sustainability, and social innovation. Dive in and find your next purpose-driven position.

💼 Organization to Watch
IPIE – International Platform for Inclusive Education
The Global Source of Scientific Knowledge About The World's Information Environment

🔗 LinkedIn Connection to Folow
Ian Richards – Focused on “Using Digital and AI in Government for Administrative Efficiency and Economic Growth,” Ian shares insights on building responsible public-sector AI systems that enhance services while maintaining ethical integrity.