Climate Declaration Recirculates Debunked Claims Fact Check

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Dec 6, 2025, 8:15 PM

climate declaration recirculates debunked claims fact check

"A global network of over 1200 scientists and professionals has prepared this urgent message. Climate science should be less political, while climate policies should be more scientific," says the text of the declaration under the title: "There is no climate emergency." The declaration was shared on platforms including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in August 2022. It was an updated version of a text published in 2020 by the Netherlands-based group Climate Intelligence (CLINTEL), founded by Guus Berkhout, a retired geophysicist who has worked for oil giant Shell, and journalist... CLINTEL describes itself as an "independent foundation" and touts the text's signatories as "a large variety of competent scientists." Its founders have denied two reports in Dutch media that money from fossil fuel companies was channeled to fund Berkhout's climate-skeptic work.

"Clintel never received a penny from the oil industry," Crok told AFP in an email on September 2, 2022. "There is no climate emergency," posts proclaimed on X, formerly Twitter, sharing a message allegedly supported by more than a thousand scientists. Some X users circulated a "world climate declaration" that they claimed proves the climate crisis is a "hoax" and is "based on politics, not on science." "1,609 scientists, including two Nobel laureates, gathered together to sign a declaration, proclaiming that ‘there is no climate emergency,’" a Sept. 15 X post said. The claim misleads by overlooking a few details.

First, there is wide consensus among climate scientists, scientific associations and institutions that climate change is real and is caused primarily by humans burning fossil fuels. Nearly 200 scientific organizations around the world assert that climate change is caused by human action. Second, the statement about this document being signed by 1,609 scientists glosses over key information about both the document and its signatories. The document was published by Climate Intelligence or Clintel, a group founded by science journalist Marcel Crok and geophysics professor Guus Berkhout, who began his career with oil giant Shell in 1964. A Sept. 14 article (direct link, archive link) circulating on Facebook claims a large group of scientists downplayed the dangers of climate change in a signed declaration.

"Thousands of Scientists Unite to Expose ‘Climate Crisis’ Hoax," reads the headline of the article, which was published on the website News Addicts. The article was shared more than 400 times in six weeks on Facebook, according to Crowdtangle, a social media analytics tool. Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks Thousands of scientists did not sign the document referenced in the article. The document lists only around 1,600 purported signatories, the vast majority of whom have no listed expertise in climate science.

Hundreds of the purported signatories are not listed as being scientists of any kind, according to a USA TODAY count. © AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE | 2024 | Všetky práva vyhradené. Akékoľvek použitie obsahu agentúry AFP na tejto webovej stránke podlieha podmienkam používania, ktoré sú k dispozícii na CGU . Prístupom k akémukoľvek obsahu agentúry AFP dostupnému na tejto webovej stránke a/alebo jeho používaním vyjadrujete svoj súhlas s uvedenými podmienkami používania. Za akékoľvek použitie obsahu AFP nesiete výhradnú a plnú zodpovednosť. Author(s): Roland LLOYD PARRY, AFP France

A “World Climate Declaration” signed by more than 1,200 people and widely shared on social media challenges the scientific consensus on human-driven climate change. But only a small number of the signatories are climate scientists, some have links to the oil industry or climate-skeptic organizations, and the claims have been widely debunked. “A global network of over 1200 scientists and professionals has prepared this urgent message. Climate science should be less political, while climate policies should be more scientific,” says the text of the declaration under the title: “There is no climate emergency.” The declaration was shared on platforms including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in August 2022. *WLRN has partnered with PolitiFact to fact-check Florida politicians.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning team seeks to present the true facts, unaffected by agenda or biases. "There is no climate emergency," posts proclaimed on X, formerly Twitter, sharing a message allegedly supported by more than a thousand scientists. Some X users circulated a "world climate declaration" that they claimed proves the climate crisis is a "hoax" and is "based on politics, not on science." "1,609 scientists, including two Nobel laureates, gathered together to sign a declaration, proclaiming that ‘there is no climate emergency,’" a Sept. 15 X post said. The claim misleads by overlooking a few details.

Global temperatures keep breaking records, and sea levels are rising. Reports from a United Nations climate panel say the science is settled, but it doesn't always seem that way online, where climate denial is thriving. Japan's Environment Ministry says that's undermining efforts to act, so it's fighting back with a new website that tackles myths and misinformation with cold, hard facts. British news website Tortoise analyzed social media content from climate-related influencers. It says there was an 82 percent jump in the number of climate skeptic posts on the X platform from 2021 to 2024. It also says there was a 43 percent jump in the number of YouTube videos with that stance.

The United Nations Development Programme, which is working on measures to mitigate climate change, says there are two main motives behind the spread of disinformation on the topic. One is to attract attention for profit. The UNDP says controversial views create followings that bring advertising revenue and political support. The other reason, it says, is to protect vested interests. Delaying measures against climate change can protect the vested interests of the fossil fuel industry. Recent global warming is comparable with natural rates of climate change over the past 10,000 years.

False. Experts say the rate of warming is without comparison and is set to increase. A Facebook post featuring a greatest hits collection of climate change misinformation is spreading on social media. The post (archived here), which is attributed to the late Professor Bob Carter from 2009, was shared in the Australian Climate Sceptics Group on January 4 and has been posted numerous times since at... It purportedly lists "the facts" about climate change, but instead makes several false and misleading claims. Full Professor in the Department of Communication, University of Copenhagen

Postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Communication, University of Copenhagen Klaus Bruhn Jensen receives funding from the European Research Council and is an Affiliate of the International Panel on the Information Environment. Semahat Ece Elbeyi receives funding from the European Research Council and is a Consultant Scientist of the International Panel on the Information Environment. Ten years ago, the world committed itself to keeping global warming well below 2°C (and preferably below 1.5°C) above the pre-industrial era. This would be done by reducing greenhouse gas emissions significantly by 2030 and ending all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This was the time of promises, with 195 countries signing up to the legally binding, global treaty on climate change, the Paris Agreement.

Climate Declaration Recirculates Debunked Claims Fact Check

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