COP30 Highlights Journalism’s Key Role Protecting Information Integrity for Climate Action

A new front in the climate battle: defending truth at COP30

Belem’s humid air this week carried more than the tang of the Amazon. At the UN Pavilion during COP30, delegates and activists gathered to talk emissions, finance and loss and damage — but one of the loudest pleas came from an unexpected corner: the newsroom. Omar Faruk Osman, secretary general of the National Union of Somali Journalists, used a high-level UNESCO panel to argue that the integrity of information is now a frontline issue for climate action.

The session underscored a simple yet urgent point: policies, pledges and scientific assessments only matter if people can trust the information that explains them. In a world where denial, deception and delay have become disciplined tactics, unreliable narratives can blunt public will, stall policy and create fertile ground for vested interests. Osman and other panelists pushed for seeing journalism not as an afterthought but as a core pillar of climate governance.

Why journalism matters to climate policy

There is a practical logic to this argument. Climate policy is dense with technical terms, model outputs and probabilistic language. Translating that material into stories that citizens, farmers, business leaders and policymakers can act on requires craft as much as credibility. Independent, well-resourced journalism serves three roles: interpreter (translating science into decisions), watchdog (exposing malfeasance or greenwashing) and convenor (holding public debate where trade-offs are made visible).

But those roles are fragile. Reporters from fragile states face threats, and newsrooms everywhere are under economic pressure. Newer reporters covering climate beats are often younger and less experienced with complex datasets, as Osman noted at the panel. Meanwhile, digital platforms amplify simple, emotive falsehoods faster than careful reporting. The combination is dangerous: when the public encounters a convincing falsehood before a verified account, perceptions harden and policy windows shrink.

Disinformation as a strategy — and how it spreads

The panel highlighted the organized character of much climate misinformation. This is not merely the occasional misinformed social post but coordinated campaigns that exploit algorithmic biases, seed doubt in scientific consensus, and recast accountability as uncertainty. Those tactics mimic earlier campaigns against public-health measures and vaccines: sow confusion, amplify fringe voices and delay regulation until momentum dissipates.

Digital governance debates at COP30 reflected this reality. UNESCO’s push on the UN Global Principles for Information Integrity and broader digital policy frameworks aims to set norms for platforms and states. But norms need teeth: from newsroom verification policies to cross-sector crisis-response mechanisms that can counter viral falsifications in real time.

Practical steps and gaps: what change looks like

Osman laid out a pragmatic menu: stronger verification protocols in newsrooms; editorial safeguards against political and corporate interference; media self-regulation that is meaningful rather than cosmetic; and strategic partnerships between newsrooms, universities and data hubs to improve access to verified climate information. He also urged governments to fold media development into national climate strategies, and to involve journalists in consultations on digital governance.

These measures are doable, but they are not yet common. Training in scientific communication remains patchy even in wealthier news organizations. Public investment in local journalism — especially in climate-vulnerable regions — is inconsistent. And while many tech platforms now fund fact-checking units, the scale of the problem often outpaces the response.

• Invest in journalism: targeted training for reporters covering climate science and finance, and resources for investigative teams.
• Strengthen verification: standardize newsroom protocols for data and source verification; share best practices internationally.
• Build partnerships: universities and data hubs can supply verified, accessible datasets to journalists.
• Regulate smartly: encourage platform transparency about algorithms and the amplification of climate content.

The human dimension

Beyond policy instruments, there is a human story. Journalists in Somalia and other conflict-affected or fragile states often report on climate impacts while facing threats to their safety and livelihoods. Their work shapes how communities understand local droughts, floods and migration pressures. When those voices are silenced or pushed to the margins, entire populations lose the ability to participate in decisions that will shape their futures.

There are also audience-side solutions. Digital literacy programs that teach people how to assess sources, and community-news models that reconnect journalism with local trust networks, can blunt disinformation’s reach. Such efforts require patience and funding — the opposite of the viral incentives that reward speed over rigor.

From principle to practice: closing the credibility gap

COP30 has become a testing ground for whether high-level commitments to climate action can be matched by commitments to truth. The technical sessions and pledges will not defend themselves from falsehoods. If journalists are to be the guardians of verified information, they must be supported institutionally, legally and financially. That includes protection from intimidation, enhanced training in data literacy, and inclusion as stakeholders in digital governance talks.

The questions are not merely procedural. They are political and moral: who gets to define the facts that drive policy? How can societies ensure that those facts are produced and conveyed without fear or favor? And in an era when crises arrive fast, do we have the institutions to keep up with both climate change and the information disorder that accompanies it?

As delegates at COP30 consider carbon targets and finance mechanisms, they might also ask whether their strategies include a plan for truth. If the global response to the climate emergency depends on public will — and public will depends on trustworthy information — then safeguarding journalism is not secondary. It is indispensable.

By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.