Publisher’s rating: Non, les données sur lesquelles ils se fondent ne dépeignent qu'une partie du tableau, ont expliqué plusieurs climatologues à la Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa). Si la surface de la calotte glaciaire gagne en masse, cela ne remet pas le réchauffement climatique en cause. L’effet du vêlage (détachement) des icebergs est plus important, de sorte que la calotte glaciaire perd plus de masse qu'elle n'en gagne depuis 27 ans.

The claim combines two points: Antonio Guterres’s warning that “the era of global boiling has arrived” and social-media posts arguing that Greenland’s ice cover was growing. The dpa review says those posts relied on a 5 September 2023 blog comparing Greenland’s surface mass balance in the year from 1 September 2022 to 31 August 2023 with the 1981–2010 average. The review found that this surface measure was being treated as if it described the whole ice sheet. The review consulted climatologists and distinguished surface mass balance (SMB)—snow accumulation minus surface melt—from total mass balance (TMB). SMB does not include icebergs breaking off the ice sheet or basal losses. Scientists quoted by dpa said the 2022–2023 surface values were within the reference period’s variability, while the broader TMB had been negative for 27 consecutive years. Thus, a relatively high or positive surface balance does not establish that Greenland’s ice sheet overall is gaining mass or disprove climate warming. The review also cites a 2019 study by 89 researchers: it reports that Greenland’s annual ice loss rose from 33 billion tonnes in the 1990s to 254 billion tonnes in the last decade. It says NASA satellite observations likewise showed an average loss of 270 billion tonnes a year from 2002 to 2023. The posts’ central inference leaves out the larger losses from iceberg calving and other components of total mass balance.

BR24 FaktenfuchsSep 14, 2023Climate & environment

"Man muss erst mal feststellen, also Windkraftanlagen sind bis auf die Rotorblätter komplett recycelbar. Der Turm ist zerlegbar, der Stahlturm ist zerlegbar, die Gondel ist zerlegbar, bis auf die Rotorblätter, da haben wir noch eine gewisse Herausforderung, da sind wir gerade dran."

Publisher’s rating: Die Aussage von Ludwig Hartmann ist richtig.

The claim concerns Ludwig Hartmann’s statement during the BR24 Wahlarena on 13 September 2023: that wind turbines are recyclable apart from their rotor blades, whose recycling remains a challenge. The review says he was responding to a viewer who asked why rotor blades were supposedly being buried because they could not be recycled. It focuses on whether the distinction between the comparatively recyclable turbine parts and the more difficult blades is accurate. (S1: “Dieser Text ist Teil des Faktenchecks der BR24 Wahlarena vom 13.09.2023 mit Ludwig Hartmann”; “Hartmann antwortete auf die Frage einer Zuschauerin, warum die Rotorblätter von Windrädern in der Erde

BR24 FaktenfuchsSep 14, 2023Climate & environment

"Was Ihren Ofen betrifft, ist nicht die Ursache im neuen Energiegebäudegesetz (Gebäudeenergiegesetz, Anm. d. Red.), um das mal ganz klar zu trennen. (…) Da geht es um Feinstaubwerte beim Verbrennen von Holz. Da gibt es Grenzwerte, Emissionswerte. Da greift ein altes Gesetz der alten Bundesregierung."

Publisher’s rating: Hartmanns Aussage ist richtig, sofern es bei der Umrüstung tatsächlich um die Feinstaubwerte ging. Ein Sonderfall könnte für eine Ausnahme sorgen, das ist aber nicht bekannt.

The statement arose during the BR24 Wahlarena on 13 September 2023. A viewer told Ludwig Hartmann that he would have to spend several thousand euros modifying his wood-fired tiled stove to keep using it, and linked that requirement to the amendment of the Gebäudeenergiegesetz. Hartmann said the cause was not that law, but limits on particulate emissions from burning wood. The review addresses that specific distinction, rather than whether every stove owner must make the same changes. The article identifies the legal basis for the described retrofit requirement as the Bundes-Immissionsschutzgesetz and its associated ordinance on small and medium-sized combustion installations. It says the ordinance sets limits, including a particulate-matter limit for stoves, while the Gebäudeenergiegesetz contains no such provision. For existing installations, the article describes a transitional rule requiring compliance with a limit of 0.15 g/m³ from 1 January 2025; it says affected installations had to be modified or taken out of service by the end of 2024. The review also records a qualification relevant to the viewer’s circumstances: the article says the requirement would not apply if the stove were the only source of heat, and that in that case the chimney sweep could not order a retrofit. The excerpt does not establish whether that exception applied to the viewer, so the reported general legal distinction does not settle that individual detail.

BR24 FaktenfuchsSep 14, 2023Climate & environment

"Nach den Aussagen des Bundesklimaministers Herrn Habeck auf offizielle Anfrage liegt Bayern bei Installierter Leistung der Erneuerbaren Energien - aller - klar auf Platz 1. Photovoltaik sind wir Superchampion, Wasserkraft einsamer Spitzenreiter, Biomasse aus Landwirtschaft beispielsweise erzeugen wir mehr Strom als ganz Hessen erneuerbaren Strom hat, (...) und Wind sind wir stärker als Baden-Württemberg."

Publisher’s rating: Die Aussagen sind teilweise verkürzt bis irreführend, teilweise aber auch richtig.

The BR24 Faktenfuchs examined Markus Söder’s remarks in the setting of the BR24 election debate. It reports that Söder based his statement on a written inquiry by CSU Bundestag member Stefan Müller, but says the response came not from Federal Climate Minister Robert Habeck, as Söder implied, but from a state secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. The article assesses the different parts of the statement separately rather than treating “stronger” as one consistent measure. (S1: “Er bezieht sich in seiner Aussage auf eine schriftliche Anfrage des CSU-Bundestagsabgeordneten Stefan Müller, beantwortet nicht von Bundesminister Robert Habeck (Bündnis90/ Die Grünen), sondern von einem Staatssekretär aus dem Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz (BMWK).”) On installed renewable capacity in absolute figures, Bavaria was first among the states, and it also led in absolute installed photovoltaic capacity. But the article cautions that these totals do not alone show how advanced expansion is: compared by area or electricity consumption, Bavaria was closer to the middle of the rankings. For photovoltaic additions in the first half of 2023, it was mid-ranking per unit of area and second per capita. The article also notes that equal installed capacity does not mean equal annual generation: photovoltaic systems have about half as many full-load hours as wind turbines. (S1: “Bayern liegt zwar nach aktuellem Stand beim Zubau der Installierten Leistung bei Erneuerbaren Energien in absoluten Zahlen tatsächlich auf Platz 1 aller Bundesländer”; “Dann rangiert der Freistaat im Bundesvergleich eher im Mittelfeld.”; “Auf die Fläche gerechnet belegt Bayern beim Netto-Zubau von Photovoltaik im ersten Halbjahr 2023 jedoch einen Mittelfeldplatz”; “Nach Einwohnern gerechnet, liegt Bayern auf Platz zwei.”; “Deshalb ist bei gleicher installierter Leistung die jährliche Stromerzeugung aus Photovoltaikanlagen nur halb so hoch wie aus Windenergieanlagen.”) The article supports the hydropower and biomass comparisons, but gives a different picture for wind. Using the latest available hydropower figures, for 2021, it reports 11.4 TWh for Bavaria and 4.5 TWh for Baden-Württemberg. It reports that Bavaria generated 9.2 TWh from biomass in 2021, against 8.2 TWh of total renewable electricity generation in Hesse. For wind, it says Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg were jointly at the bottom for onshore wind expansion; Bavaria had four permits and eleven newly operating turbines in 2023 up to the article’s reporting. (S1: “Strom aus Wasserkraft erzeugte Bayern im Jahr 2021 (aus diesem Jahr stammen die aktuellsten verfügbaren Zahlen) rund 11,4 TWh”; “In Baden-Württemberg waren es 4,5 TWh.”; “Hessen 8,2 Tera-Wattstunden Strom aus erneuerbaren Energien. Bayern erzeugte aus Biomasse allein jedoch mehr als 9 Tera-Wattstunden.”; “2023 wurden bislang vier Anlagen genehmigt, neu in Betrieb genommen wurden elf”)

APA - Austria Presse AgenturSep 13, 2023Climate & environment

Ein alter Zeitungsbericht über Hitzeperioden im 20. Jahrhundert beweist, dass es früher auch schon heiß gewesen ist. Die Klimakrise ist eine Lüge.

Publisher’s rating: Die Hitzeperioden im 20. Jahrhundert sprechen nicht gegen die Existenz der Klimakrise. Durch die globale Erderwärmung werden die heißen Phasen mehr. Die Sommer der letzten Jahre gehören etwa zu den heißesten jemals gemessenen.

The claim refers to a real historical newspaper article, but its existence does not establish that present-day heat records are normal or that the climate crisis is a lie. The review identifies the article as a contribution by local historian Adolf Hirth in the German newspaper Acher- und Bühler Bote, published on 2 August 1995. It discussed hot periods and “summers of the century” in Germany during the 20th century, listing 19 years from 1911 to 1976. To check the article’s historical examples, the review compared the listed years with the German Weather Service’s chart of summer temperature anomalies, using 1961–1990 as the reference period. That comparison found that not all the cited summers were unusually hot: 1911, 1947, 1950, 1959 and 1976 had anomalies above one degree, while 1915, 1942, 1949 and 1961 had little elevation or negative anomalies. The review also notes a limitation in the historical list: 1917 had an anomaly above one degree but was not included. The review therefore does not treat the old article’s selection as a complete or consistently supported measure of past heat. The decisive context is the longer-term pattern. The review reports that almost all German summers since the 2000s had high positive anomalies. At the time of the review, Germany’s four hottest summers on record and Austria’s seven hottest had all occurred in the 21st century; it identifies 2018, 2019 and 2022 among Germany’s recent hottest summers, and 2019, 2015, 2022, 2017, 2018 and 2023 among Austria’s. It also cites the IPCC assessment that the observed global warming cannot be reproduced by natural factors alone, and attributes the warming principally to human-caused greenhouse-gas increases, especially fossil-fuel combustion. Earlier hot periods are compatible with a warming climate; by themselves, they do not refute it.

Logically FactsSep 12, 2023Climate & environment

WEF Advisor Yuval Noah Harari called for flight bans and lockdowns to combat climate change.

Publisher’s rating: False

Factcrescendo Sri LankaSep 12, 2023Climate & environment

An Image Of A Road Built To Avoid Cutting Down One Tree In A Desert!

Publisher’s rating: Altered

The claim concerns a viral image presented as a real desert road deliberately curved around a single tree. Factcrescendo Sri Lanka examined that specific image, noting that social-media captions praised engineers for saving the tree. The review reports that visual inspection raised doubts: shadows in the picture did not appear to point consistently, and a marked area showed a repeating pattern of bushes or stones. The investigation also used reverse-image search on the part of the picture showing a line of vehicles. It found a similar image in Getty Images, which the review says depicts US Route 160 following a conventional, direct route. The review adds that Google Maps corroborated the road’s actual route. Together, the visual anomalies and the comparison with the genuine road image support the conclusion that the viral scene was not an authentic photograph of a road bending around a tree. The review traces the image to an environmental-protection campaign, rather than to a road-building project. It says the image was created for “Save Every Tree as If It’s the Last,” a campaign led by Korean advertising designer Jesok Yee, and concludes that the viral image combined elements from different images. Thus, the environmental message was associated with a fabricated campaign image, not documentation of engineers rerouting a road in a desert.

Vera FilesSep 8, 2023Climate & environment

Natural gas is the cleanest-burning of all fossil fuels because it emits 60% less carbon dioxide than coal.

Publisher’s rating: Needs context

Related research discusses the claim’s general comparison but does not establish its stated emissions figure. An investment article describes natural gas as “by far the cleanest-burning fossil fuel,” but the supplied passage gives no carbon-dioxide comparison with coal and no percentage. It therefore does not verify the claim that natural gas emits 60% less carbon dioxide than coal. The other supplied excerpts do not supply that missing comparison. They discuss electric-vehicle emissions, renewable energy, data-center power, or historical energy issues, rather than quantifying carbon dioxide emissions from natural gas versus coal. On this evidence, the 60% figure remains unsupported.

Vera FilesSep 8, 2023Climate & environment

Ang natural gas ay ang pinakamalinis na nasusunog sa lahat ng fossil fuel dahil nag-eemit ito ng 60% na mas kaunting carbon dioxide kaysa sa coal.

Publisher’s rating: Kailangan ng konteksto

Factcrescendo Sri LankaSep 8, 2023Climate & environment

Bill Gates is trying to destroy 75 million acres of trees by the name of “climate change,”

Publisher’s rating: Missing Context

The review examines social-media posts alleging that Bill Gates plans to destroy 75 million acres of trees in the name of climate change. It identifies a real project behind the claim, but describes it differently: reports said Gates’s organization Breakthrough Energy was investing $6.6 million in a Kodama Systems project involving the cutting and burial of trees. The review gives the project’s stated purpose as storing carbon, not simply destroying forests. It also reports a different area—70 million acres, primarily in the Western United States—than the 75 million in the posts.

BR24 FaktenfuchsSep 7, 2023Climate & environment

"Es gab schon immer Wandel und Änderung im Klima. Und der Glaube, dass wir als Bayern oder als Deutschland durch Reduzierung von CO₂-Ausstoß irgendwas am Weltklima ändern können, ja, dieser abstruse Gedanke (...)"

Publisher’s rating: Diese Aussage ist irreführend. Zu behaupten, dass die derzeit beobachtete Erwärmung wie frühere Phasen sei, impliziert, der Mensch sei nicht dafür verantwortlich. Das ist falsch.

Logically FactsSep 7, 2023Climate & environment

A carbon shortage is killing forests and making plants sick

Publisher’s rating: False

BR24 FaktenfuchsSep 7, 2023Climate & environment

Heizen mit Holz ist auch nach Verabschiedung des Heizungsgesetzes erlaubt

Publisher’s rating: Heizen mit Holz ist nach wie vor erlaubt

BR24 FaktenfuchsSep 7, 2023Climate & environment

“Der CO2-Ausstoß pro Kopf in Bayern ist wesentlich niedriger als im Bundesdurchschnitt.”

Publisher’s rating: Richtig

The BR24 Faktenfuchs review examines a statement by CSU politician Joachim Herrmann in connection with the BR24 election talk on 6 September 2023: that per-person CO₂ emissions in Bavaria are substantially below the German average. The article states that its comparison is based on figures for 2019, and reports 5.9 tonnes per resident in Bavaria versus 8.5 tonnes per resident for Germany as a whole. These figures directly compare the same measure—emissions per person—across the state and national population. The review says the Bavarian figures came from the State Office for Statistics, which supplied them to Faktenfuchs by email. It gives the national figure alongside them, but the excerpt does not specify its underlying data source or describe how either figure was calculated. The reported Bavarian value is 2.6 tonnes lower per person than the national value, supporting the comparison in Herrmann’s statement. The evidence provided is specifically for 2019; the excerpt does not establish that the same difference applies in other years or explain the underlying emissions categories. The publisher’s assessment in the article is printed as “Richtig.”

BR24 FaktenfuchsSep 7, 2023Climate & environment

"Die bayerische Staatsregierung sagt, wir sind Spitzenreiter, und meint damit, Bayern hat mehr Ausbau an Photovoltaik und Windkraft als zum Beispiel Bremen und das Saarland (...) Wenn wir uns Bayern anhand der Fläche und anhand der Einwohner anschauen, dann sehen wir, dass wir insgesamt im unteren Mittelfeld sind. Was die Windkraft angeht, sind wir bei den Schlusslichtern."

Publisher’s rating: Die Aussage von Martin Hagen ist größtenteils richtig. Ein #Faktenfuchs aus dem Jahr 2022 hat das bereits dargelegt: Wissenschaftler halten es für verkürzt, wenn die bayerische Staatsregierung Bayern als Spitzenreiter beim Ausbau der Erneuerbaren bezeichnet. Denn die oft verwendeten absoluten Zahlen müssten ins Verhältnis etwa zur Fläche oder zum Stromverbrauch gesetzt werden. Dann rangiert der Freistaat im Bundesvergleich eher im Mittelfeld.