By Were Kelly
A wave of artificially generated disinformation is threatening to undermine the COP30 climate summit in Belém, with researchers identifying a sophisticated campaign using AI to create fake videos of the host city under water.
According to a new report from the Climate Action Against Disinformation (CAAD) coalition, released as the summit opened this week, climate sceptics and bad-faith actors are leveraging advanced technology to sow confusion and erode public trust in climate science at a critical juncture for global negotiations.
The report documents a significant surge in AI-amplified misinformation, with particularly convincing fabricated videos that depict severe flooding in Belém, a city located at the mouth of the Amazon River. These digitally manufactured scenes are designed to create a false narrative around the summit and its themes.
“We are witnessing a new front in the climate battle,” a CAAD spokesperson said. “Bad actors are using sophisticated AI tools to create convincing falsehoods that seek to paralyse public debate and erode support for climate action just as leaders gather.”
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the body overseeing the COP process, has acknowledged the threat.
Its communications team confirmed it is actively monitoring the situation and working to counter the false narratives.
“Our digital integrity team is on high alert,” stated the UNFCCC Communications Director. “We are working with platforms to debunk these fakes rapidly, but the scale and sophistication are unprecedented.”
The choice of fake flood videos is seen as a strategic and malicious move by disinformation experts. A digital forensics analyst consulted for this report explained, “The flood videos are a calculated choice. They directly attack the host city and the summit’s ‘nature’ theme, creating a powerful, albeit completely false, narrative of hypocrisy or inevitable doom.”
