Fighting disinformation and effectively communicating on climate change

This Destination contributes directly to the Strategic Plan’s Key Strategic Orientations ‘Green transition’, ‘Digital transition’ and ‘A more resilient, competitive, inclusive and democratic Europe’.

In line with the Strategic Plan, the overall expected impact of this Destination is to contribute to the “Advancing science for a transition to a climate-neutral and resilient society”.

Expected impacts:

Research should contribute to closing major knowledge gaps on the changing climate together with their associated impacts and risks, on both society and nature. It should also help develop tools to support decision-makers in designing and implementing effective mitigation and adaptation actions at various time and spatial scales while properly accounting for synergies and trade-offs with other policy objectives, such as just transition, territorial cohesion and leaving no one behind.

The main impacts to be generated by topics under this Destination are:

1. Supporting climate action (both mitigation and adaptation) in Europe and globally, through advancing climate science and the knowledge base underpinning actionable solutions, to accelerate the transition to a climate-neutral, climate-resilient and prosperous society.
2. Closing key knowledge gaps related to climate change, thereby contributing substantially to key European and international assessments such as IPCC, IPBES, EUCRA, and other initiatives such as the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) and the Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) under the World Climate Research Programme.
3. Strengthening the European Research Area on climate change by boosting scientific excellence and capacity in an inclusive manner across the participating countries.
4. Maximising synergies between mitigation and adaptation and with other policy priorities such as biodiversity and ecosystem preservation and restoration, disaster-preparedness, digitalisation, circular economy, prosperity and competitiveness, strategic autonomy, security and resilience, just transition, and the Sustainable Development Goals by exploring co-benefits, trade-offs and potential unintended consequences of climate strategies and policy interventions.

Important components of climate science research are also addressed in other Clusters -particularly Cluster 6 – which addresses the climate-ocean-cryosphere-polar nexus and the climate-energy-land-food-water-biodiversity nexus. Efforts to foster synergies and complementarities across these research activities are strongly encouraged.

Expected Outcome:

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Advanced knowledge and understanding on the dynamics of disinformation affecting climate policy and climate policy backlash from a communication perspective;
• Tools and products are developed for public authorities, media and civil society to detect and combat the influence and spread of climate change-related disinformation at scale;
• Tailored, innovative and effective communication techniques, tools and materials are developed, tested and disseminated, to better communicate with and engage citizens on climate change, climate action and climate policies;
• Acceptance of climate action is increased, democratic processes and societal resilience are strengthened and sustained behavioural change is progressed, through higher trust in climate science and improved climate literacy, supporting the objectives of the Preparedness Union Strategy.

Scope:

Climate change science is well-established and increasingly relevant to daily life and societal welfare. However, effectively communicating both the science and the necessary climate actions remains a significant challenge. Particularly challenging is understanding and addressing the spread of misinformation, disinformation, and misinterpretation. There is also a crucial need for a strengthened public trust in science and in democracy, and for evidence-based climate communication strategies that foster a sense of agency through empowering and positive narratives. Complex messages should be made accessible, relevant, and reliable to non-specialist audiences.

Actions are expected to advance the understanding of the sources, channels, types, and influence of misinformation and disinformation on the public perception and assimilation of climate change-related information. The role of AI should also be investigated. Actions should identify, develop, and test strategies for the public and private sectors to detect, monitor and counteract mis/disinformation about climate and climate policy. Such tools and products should be made available for policymakers, companies and the general public to incentivise and equip society to critically assess climate change-related information online and offline.

Research is expected to explore how to bridge the gap from climate knowledge and awareness to behavioural change, taking into consideration various factors that shape perceptions across different segments of the society. Actions should generate knowledge and develop innovative, engaging, tailored and multilingual tools, learning techniques, and narratives for impactful climate change communication frameworks at scale. Best-practice examples on European and international level should be retrieved. Climate scientists should be trained to effectively communicate with non-specialist audiences, including policymakers and other stakeholders. Research should investigate how to design and implement targeted communication campaigns that boost climate awareness and preparedness while preventing climate anxiety and counteract disinformation. These campaigns should promote fact-checking, clear and transparent knowledge on climate science and climate policymaking and foster the ability to interpret uncertainties. Citizen engagement, of youth and other vulnerable audiences in particular, is encouraged.

Actions should develop communication strategies, tools and products tailored to real-world context and societal needs, to counter disinformation and enhance climate communication, leveraging visual and digital tools including AI, as appropriate. They should demonstrate clear pathways for uptake and scaling such as piloting with end-users and integration into existing platforms or frameworks.

The primary focus of actions should be on Europe, with local and national foci as appropriate, while other regions may be used for framing information. International cooperation is encouraged, especially with the United States^[1] and low- to middle-income countries automatically eligible for Horizon Europe funding ^[2].

This research requires a multi-faceted, interdisciplinary approach drawing on insights from the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities (SSH) including behavioural sciences and gender, media studies, and communication theory. Participation of the private sector, in particular SME, is also strongly encouraged.

All projects funded under this topic are strongly encouraged to collaborate and envisage clustering activities together and with other relevant projects in and outside of Horizon Europe. Collaboration with the EU Missions on Adaptation to Climate Change and on Climate neutral and Smart Cities is recommended when performing empirical work. Proposals should earmark the necessary resources for these purposes.

[1] Standard Horizon Europe funding rules apply – legal entities from the USA are not automatically eligible for funding.

[2] Please refer to Horizon Europe List of Participating Countries on EU Funding and Tenders Portal for up-to-date information.