Systematic disinformation about Global Warming

Posted on November 2, 2025 by svenaake

Sven Åke Bjørke

Propaganda from the global fossil lobby is professional, massive, and well-funded. It aims to sow doubt and paralyse action to extend the fossil age. Coal and oil are sunset industries, but a few more years could yield huge gains for a handful of oligarchs.

The disinformation is mainly presented in five phases:

Phase 1: «Global warming is pure fantasy and an invention from left-wing extremists»

Some groups and individuals calling themselves “sceptics” have claimed for many years that “there is no global warming.”
However, man-made global warming is underway and is observable in many ways.

The fact is that the global average temperature is rising faster than at any time in the planet’s history. This is not due to sudden increases in solar activity, volcanoes, or water vapour, but to rising greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere.

Phase 2: «We humans are too small to have any effect on the climate»

When people realize that global warming is taking place, the next stage is to deny that we are responsible. “If there is any warming, it is due to natural fluctuations”, just like the temperature in the human body fluctuates.

It is accurate that natural variation in body temperature occurs between 36.5 and 37.5 degrees Celsius. However, when the temperature rises to 39 degrees, it is considered a fever. The fever may be a relatively small change, yet it can still pose a problem.

Our globe’s temperature has, of course, also varied. The atmosphere, with its greenhouse gases, has, however, stabilised Earth’s average temperature at approximately 14 degrees Celsius in our age.

Without the natural greenhouse gases, the Earth’s average temperature would have been minus 19 degrees Celsius. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere raise the average temperature by 33 degrees. The largest greenhouse gas is water vapour. No climate scientist says otherwise.

When the Earth’s average temperature rises from 14 to over 15 degrees, i.e., ” fever”, it must be due to something. This “something”, which causes changes in the earth’s average temperature, can be a natural driving force, like changes in solar activity, or the fact that the earth’s orbit around the sun changes slightly. Climate scientists have a good overview of this. It can also be due to a change in the amount of sunlight reflected from the planet, or in the composition of greenhouse gases.

The atmosphere’s water vapour content has not changed enough to cause the current temperature rise. What has changed significantly in the last hundred years is the air’s content of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane. This has been measured with great accuracy at thousands of measuring stations worldwide since the 1950s.

Phase 2b: «No scientific consensus»

The propaganda suggests there are two groups of climate scientists who disagree. Do 97% of climate scientists really agree that humans cause global warming? Unlikely! Yet over 99% of peer-reviewed articles say the average global temperature is rising and is mainly caused by humans. Real climate scientists overwhelmingly agree.

Phase 3: «A slight warming and more CO2 is fine!»

After accepting that global warming is real and human-caused, the argument often goes that it is not problematic. For example: ‘A little more warmth is pleasant,’ ‘This prevents an ice age,’ or ‘CO2 is plant food’.

The rising fires, droughts, floods, melting glaciers, and extreme weather are hard to ignore. Yes of course, CO2 is plant food, but so are water and cow dung. That doesn’t mean we want unlimited amounts of it everywhere.
Insurance companies are convinced. They raise prices or refuse to insure vulnerable areas altogether.

Phase 4: «We can’t do anything about it»

The propaganda claims solutions are too expensive and will hurt the poor. Renewable energy cannot replace 80% of the energy from fossil fuels. Renewables like wind are supposedly too costly, harmful, or even impossible. Batteries can’t be recycled, need rare minerals, and rely on child labour in the Congo.

We can no longer use the atmosphere as a garbage dump

In reality, fossil fuels waste between 30 and 50% of the energy used to generate heat that is useless. By electrifying, energy needs are significantly reduced. Wind power is now cheaper than coal power, even without accounting for the additional damage costs from mining and combustion. Solar power is more affordable than diesel, even without accounting for negative externalities such as pollution and climate change. In addition, the poorest countries are the most vulnerable to climate change. The costs are enormous.

Recycling is possible if the authorities facilitate and mandate it. The EU is well underway with mandates for a circular economy and optimal recycling. If you can achieve 50% recycling today, you can reach 80% tomorrow with political will. New recyclable and compact battery technologies are on the way. Development is going very quickly. Poor countries in Africa and Asia are increasingly investing in renewables, enjoying lower energy costs, reduced dependence on Middle Eastern oil tyrannies, and far less pollution.

Phase 5: Eventually, disinformation reaches Stage 5: ”It’s too late. Apathy is the solution”.

“It’s too late to solve the problem, so we shouldn’t bother trying.”

Unfortunately, this stage can be self-fulfilling. If we wait too long, we could end up with catastrophic global heating, with a billion climate refugees, deadly and prolonged heat waves, rising but dying seas, dead coral reefs, wildfires out of control, storms, droughts, and floods on a scale never before seen by humans.

The global fossil fuel lobby, led by Putin, Trump, Bush, the Saudi Royal Family, Aramco, Murdoch media (Fox, etc.), the Koch corporations, the Heartland Institute, Gazprom, ExxonMobil, Clintel (aka the Global Climate Coalition), the Internet Research Agency, the Global Warming Policy Foundation, and the Iranian ayatollahs, clearly thinks it’s perfectly fine to sacrifice nature and multiply the number of refugees tenfold as long as they can continue to rake in billions of petrodollars from a global turnover of 100 million barrels of oil every day. The closest these lobby groups and conspiracy theorists come to science is their systematic construction of manipulative disinformation.

Maybe we can?

Positive developments indicate that completely catastrophic outcomes can still be avoided if action replaces apathy. The necessary actions are apparent: cease coal and oil exploration, implement a global carbon tax, and end subsidies supporting fossil fuels. Remaining fossil energy should serve the transition. Measures such as reforestation, regenerative agriculture, reduced material consumption, investment in infrastructure, and commitment to a circular economy are required. Time constraints and financial costs are acknowledged, but each emission-reduction and ecosystem-protection effort lessens the consequences of global warming. The most expensive thing to do by far is doing nothing.

Text and photo:
Sven Åke Bjørke
Senior University lecturer (retired)

Sources:

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University Teacher.
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