Climate denial remains a fixture on the internet’s landscape of misinformation, but new narratives now target green technologies with claims as varied as electric cars catching fire, offshore wind farms harming whales, or solar panels producing more waste than nuclear power.
COP29, scheduled to take place in Baku, Azerbaijan, in the near future, will seek financing channels to help less-resourced nations move toward zero-emission economies. Misinformation continues to challenge policy proposals as debates unfold.
According to data from a climate fact-checking coalition, in the first seven months of the year, about 20 percent of climate-related misinformation debunked by the coalition targeted green technologies.
Electric cars catch fire easily, a recurring hoax seen in online posts.
Of the 234 debunked false claims about climate and environment, 47 focused on misinformation about the effectiveness of policies and technologies aimed at mitigating the climate crisis.
Example 1: Roads blocked by battery-less electric cars
A claim circulated last winter suggested Germany’s roads were blocked because electric cars remained unpaid due to the cold. It was shared as disinformation with an image showing dozens of cars stalled on a snow-covered road. The photo did not depict a current German road but a snowstorm in another region years earlier.
Studies show that electric cars can operate for hours and travel hundreds of kilometers in extreme temperatures; however, extreme cold can shave some range off the battery.
Example 2: Electric cars catch fire
Another recurring narrative claims such vehicles are highly flammable and prone to spontaneous fires. When a public bus caught fire in a city last May, many posts claimed it was an electric bus; vehicle records showed it was diesel-powered.
Example 3: Green energies pollute more than nuclear energies
Some posts allege solar panels cannot be recycled and accuse them of using excessive water and chemicals to clean them, claiming they release heavy metals into the soil. A widely cited claim asserted that solar panels produce 300 times more toxic waste than nuclear plants.
In reality, no credible publication supports that figure. It is recognized that solar recycling needs improvement as the use of solar technology grows. A physicist noted that nuclear waste remains radioactive for decades, while solar energy continues to become greener.
In October, posts claimed a hailstorm in Texas destroyed thousands of solar panels and released toxic materials such as cadmium. Verifications show the damaged panels were made of solid silicon, the common material, and pose no significant environmental or health risk.
Example 4: Artificial grass will be banned
Disinformation narratives also mock climate measures by attributing incorrect political decisions to institutions. One viral claim suggested the European Union would ban artificial turf in sports facilities; in reality the union regulates the use of granular rubber filler used in turf installations.
Caption: No plans to ban artificial turf.
Along these lines, some posts link anti-green policy moves to political figures who push green policies, suggesting extreme ideas such as eliminating cash or other drastic shifts. The pattern shows how political actors are invoked to frame green policy in sensational terms.