That’s a wrap for day three of the 30th UN climate negotiations, here’s what happened:
A climate justice flotilla of more than 100 boats with 5,000 indigenous activists, forest defenders and other civil society campaigners arrived in the host city, for the start of the “People’s Summit” that will run alongside the main climate talks.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) launched its 2025 World Energy outlook which shows that more renewables will be built between now and 2030 than in the last 40 years combined. The world is still on course to reach Peak Oil (and coal) by 2030 despite Donald Trump.
A damning new report by Amnesty International found that a quarter of the world’s population lives within three miles (5km) of operational fossil fuel projects, potentially threatening the health of more than 2 billion people.
Twelve countries signed the Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change marking the first time any states have formally committed to rooting out climate disinformation.
The Cop30 Presidency’s open plenary “stocktake” lasted only 3 minutes after it was announced that more consultations were needed. Further talks are planned for Thursday and Friday with the “stocktake” postponed until Saturday.
My colleague Damien Gayle will be back for day four bright and early tomorrow. Tenham uma boa noite, camaradas.
It’s time to stop denying the denial
Brazil’s president has called Cop30 the “Cop of Truth,” and today, information integrity was in the limelight, reports Dharna Noor, a Guardian US environment reporter.
The Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change was launched on Wednesday, marking the first time any states have formally committed to fighting against climate disinformation. It follows the inclusion of information integrity on the Cop agenda for the first time, and is a “breakthrough moment,” said Charlotte Scadden, senior advisor on information integrity to the UN Global Communications, at a press conference in Belém.
The declaration, which was signed by 12 countries, calls on governments, business, and academia to promote accurate information and fight off climate denialism and attacks on environmental science and journalism. To do so, each country agreed to support a robust media ecosystem, promote equal access to accurate information about climate issues, boost capacity to promote information integrity, and push private sector interests such as big tech to fend off disinformation and irresponsible advertising.
The signatories so far include Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Uruguay, Netherlands and Belgium
The long overdue commitment comes as climate disinformation is on the rise. A recent report by Coalition Against Climate Disinformation, an international media content watchdog, and Observatory for Information Integrity, an environment and democracy-focused research organization, found a 267% increase in Cop-related disinformation circulating in media and online from July to September 2025.
Climate disasters can also trigger increases in the spread of false climate information, studies have shown.
Hours before the declaration was announced, almost 400 organizations, academics, and global leaders including two key architects of the 2015 Paris agreement - Christiana Figueres, former UN climate executive secretary, and Laurence Tubiana, France’s chief climate negotiator - published an open letter urging national governments to uphold information integrity and fight climate disinformation.
Timmons Roberts, a climate disinformation expert at Brown University and veteran Cop participant, told the Guardian that there has for too long been a “denial of the denial” at the climate talks.
Declarations can seem esoteric and squishy. But this one could make a difference. We’re not going to solve climate change unless we understand the forces that are arraying to stop climate action. This declaration is an important step to getting there.
The spread of climate disinformation can benefit polluters and their political allies, while taking a massive toll on frontline communities. Melissa Lem, a family physician and president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, said:
As physicians, we’re left picking up the pieces when climate disinformation costs health and lives. During wildfires, floods and heatwaves, false information spreads faster than facts, leaving people unable to protect themselves. Like toxic air and water pollution, information pollution threatens our health and safety.
Earlier on Wednesday, ClientEarth, a legal and policy environmental nonprofit, released new research showing how major social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and X) amplify and incentivize the spread of climate disinformation. Kayle Crosson, a senior officer at ClientEarth, said:
Having information integrity on the agenda for the first time in Cop history must serve as a wake-up call. It’s a clear recognition of disinformation as one of the major obstacles stalling climate progress – and a warning to us all.
