Report by The Forum on Information and Democracy highlights urgent need to support environmental journalism

The report "Ten Priorities to Tackle Climate Disinformation" is the culmination of a year of work by the Workstream on Information Integrity on Climate Change and the Environment, which is co-chaired by the governments of Brazil and Armenia. The document sets out a clear roadmap to help states address the manipulation of climate-related information.

RSF - which created the Forum on Information and Democracyin 2019to establish democratic safeguards online - contributed to the report by documenting cases of abuse against environmental journalists worldwide.

The report highlights that today, the global information space is characterised by a toxic combination of disinformation about climate change, economic pressure and increasing crackdowns on journalists, particularly those investigating environmental damage, extractive industries and greenwashing.

This conclusion reflects a reality that RSF has been documenting for several years: journalists investigating environmental issues are disproportionately exposedto threats, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) and violence and harassment, both in person and online. In many parts of the world, investigating issues related to the climate and natural resources means running the risk of being targeted by powerful political and economic interests.

The report notably calls for:

• integrating reliable information into climate and environmental governance frameworks;
• reforming the digital advertising market to put an end to the monetisation of environmental disinformation;
• strengthening the accountability of digital platforms;
• providing long-lasting support for high-quality environmental journalism.

Conducted with nearly 100 experts from 30 different countries, the Forum on Information and Democracy's work forms part of a wider international dynamic, particularly following the Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change, which was presented by RSF at the COP30 in Braziland signed by around twenty countries.

2026: key dates for the protection of environmental journalism

With the COP17 on biodiversity scheduled to take place in Armenia in October 2026, and the COP31 on climate due to take place in Türkiye in November 2026, RSF is calling on all states to turn these commitments into concrete public policies without further delay, including mechanisms to protect journalists, increased support for independent media outlets and ambitious regulation of digital platforms.

In recent years, RSF has denounced numerous cases of abuse targeting environmental journalists, stressing that journalists investigating environmental issues are regularly threatened, assaulted, prevented from carrying out their workand in some cases, killed in countries such as Ghana, Burundi, India, Cambodiaand Brazil(particularly in the Amazon). These cases reveal the scale of the violence and intimidation weighing on the industry worldwide.