Climate & environment fact checks

気候変動は疑似科学で危機は存在しない

Publisher’s rating: 誤り

The review reports that research overwhelmingly finds the climate is warming and that human activity is the main cause. It cites a study of 88,125 climate-related papers, reporting that more than 99.9% of peer-reviewed papers agreed with that conclusion.

Greta Thunberg said that the only way to save the planet is to save the banks.

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

Related reporting quotes Greta Thunberg saying she had lost hope that institutions, including banks, would “come to our rescue,” because they had helped create the situation. In the same passage, she says, “The only way out is to reclaim power.” Those statements do not amount to saying that the only way to save the planet is to save the banks: the quoted remarks express distrust of banks and other institutions, not a call to rescue them. The excerpt connects her remarks to environmental destruction and unequal power structures. Thunberg describes a system that exploits nature and oppresses people, and says she was supporting striking workers in Italy as an example of people taking power back. This context supports a reading about challenging existing institutions and power, rather than preserving banks as a means of protecting the planet. The supplied material does not include the original review or enough interview details to establish further provenance or checking methods.

Greta Thunberg hat Chinesen aufgefordert, nicht mehr mit Stäbchen zu essen, um Bäume zu stützen.

Publisher’s rating: Für eine solche Äußerung finden sich keinerlei Hinweise.

Social media users claimed that a weather report was using digital flames to exaggerate a heat wave.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE: This is a manipulated video. The digital flames were added into the original clip. Furthermore, the underlying claim -- that meteorologists are fear-mongering and filing false reports about climate change -- is untrue.

Globalistas lançam ataque terrorista climático contra cidadãos em Maui, destruindo vidas e propriedades

Publisher’s rating: Falso

İstanbul’da çöp yığınını gösteren fotoğrafın güncel olduğu iddiası

Publisher’s rating: Yanlış

Kuwait tire fires cause climate change and global warming

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

There is no scientific proof that carbon dioxide (CO2) is causing the Earth to warm.

Publisher’s rating: False

La hija de Klaus Schwab, presidente del Foro Económico Mundial, dijo que “pronto tendremos cuarentenas para combatir el cambio climático, te guste o no”.

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim attributes a warning about upcoming climate-change quarantines to Nicole Schwab, Klaus Schwab’s daughter and a co-director of nature-based solutions at the World Economic Forum (FEM). The review traces the circulating post to a July 2023 article by La Derecha Diario, which said the remark came from Schwab’s appearance at the InTent Round Table 2020. The review reports that the post’s attribution was false: “al revisar la supuesta fuente de la cita (la intervención de Schwab en el InTent Round Table 2020) verificamos que no hay nada que sustente la afirmación.” To assess the cited material, the reviewer examined a 50-second clip included in an article by The People’s Voice and located a longer, 2:11-minute version published by Intent For Change. The short clip did not contain the alleged statement, and the reviewer says the full recording also did not. The article describes Schwab’s remarks as concerning the green transition, the “great reset,” and putting nature at the center of the economy. Its account of the full-video check says: “pudimos comprobar que la hija del presidente del FEM en ningún momento habló de la implementación de cuarentenas para combatir el cambio climático.” The review also reports contacting Trevor Chueu, FEM’s media and public affairs manager. According to the article, he said Schwab had not proposed climate-change quarantines and confirmed by email that the story was false. The review concludes that neither the cited video nor the organization’s response supports the post’s attribution: “Además, Trevor Chueu, gerente de Relaciones con los Medios y Asuntos Públicos del FEM, confirmó en correo electrónico a elDetector ‘que se trata de una noticia falsa’.”

Die angebliche große Dürre ist nichts weiter als eine Lüge, um Zwangsmaßnahmen zu rechtfertigen, nach Luft (CO2) auch Wasser zu besteuern. Tatsächlich haben seit 1881 die Niederschläge um 7% zugenommen.

Publisher’s rating: Der dargestellte Wert der jährlichen mittleren Niederschlagshöhe allein eignet sich nicht, um etwas über Dürre in Deutschland auszusagen. In der jüngeren Vergangenheit lag der Niederschlag in den meisten Jahren deutlich unter den langjährigen Mittelwerten.

Der Klimawandel wird durch die Sonne verursacht und die Bevölkerung hat nur einen kleinen Einfluss auf das Klima.

Publisher’s rating: Die Studie wurde aufgrund von inhaltlichen Fehlern heftig kritisiert und von den Herausgebern des Journals zurückgezogen. Die Hauptautorin steht in Zusammenhang mit klimaskeptischen Plattformen. Dem aktuellen Forschungsstand zufolge sind menschliche Aktivitäten hauptverantwortlich für die globale Erderwärmung. Natürliche Faktoren wie die Sonne haben praktisch keinen Einfluss.

The APA review examines social-media posts claiming that the Sun causes climate change and that people have little influence, and the study those posts cite. The paper, co-authored by Valentina Zharkova of Northumbria University, appeared in Scientific Reports in June 2019 and was retracted in March 2020. It attributed the temperature rise over the previous two centuries to increased solar radiation and suggested a further natural rise of more than 2.5°C by 2600. The review reports that the journal’s retraction note cited concerns that some assumptions underlying the paper’s conclusions were incorrect. The review describes a central problem with the study’s explanation: it proposed that the Sun’s changing path while Earth’s path remained the same altered the distance between them, but, according to the review’s account of Phys.org’s reporting, earlier research found that Earth moves along with the Sun and therefore the distance would not change. The paper was also criticized for not providing evidence for its claims and relying instead on assumptions about the motions of the Sun and Earth. The review sets that proposal against evidence about human influence. It says atmospheric CO₂ rose from about 280 ppm at the start of the Industrial Revolution and accelerated after around 1950. It cites an IPCC estimate that human activity caused about 1°C of warming above pre-industrial levels, and describes IPCC simulations in which the observed recent warming is reproduced only when human as well as natural factors are included. It also notes that solar activity has shown a slightly cooling trend since 1960, unlike global temperatures, and that the IPCC’s 2019 attribution graphic places CO₂ and other human-related gases as the main contributors to warming.

Klaus Schwab’s daughter say permanent climate lockdowns are coming

Publisher’s rating: False

Green Energy causes environmental degradation

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

Klaus Schwabs Tochter sagte: Permanente Klima-Lockdowns kommen.

Publisher’s rating: Es gibt keine Beweise dafür, dass Nicole Schwab so etwas gesagt hat. Die Seite, die das Gerücht verbreitet, ist eine Seite voller Falschbehauptungen.

The claim under review was that Nicole Schwab, Klaus Schwab’s daughter, had announced that “permanent climate lockdowns” were coming. The investigation identifies a short video excerpt circulated on Facebook as the supposed evidence and traces it to a video recorded in Yvorne, Switzerland, in June 2020. The review reports that the term “climate lockdown” is not mentioned in that video. (S1: “Vermeintlicher Beleg für die Behauptung ist ein kurzer Ausschnitt, in dem Nicole Schwab spricht - er stammt aus einem Video vom Juni 2020, das in Yvorne in der Schweiz gedreht wurde. Der Begriff «Klima-Lockdown» wird darin zu keinem Zeitpunkt erwähnt.”) The review describes Schwab’s remarks as saying that the pandemic had shown how quickly change can happen when people genuinely want it, and that this could offer an opportunity to transform society toward greater sustainability. That is a discussion of using the pandemic experience to accelerate a greener transition—not an announcement of permanent lockdowns. The longer video was available on the YouTube channel of InTent, the Swiss-based organization behind the panel. (S1: “Nicole Schwab erklärt, dass die Pandemie gezeigt hat, wie schnell Veränderungen umgesetzt werden können, wenn Leute sie wirklich wollen. Sie sieht darin eine Möglichkeit der Transformation hin zu einer nachhaltigeren Gesellschaft.”; “Die längere Version des Videos ist auf dem Youtube-Kanal von InTent verfügbar, einer in der Schweiz ansässigen Organisation hinter dem Panel, die sich für Nachhaltigkeit einsetzt.”) The panel’s stated subject was the urgency of moving to a greener society and whether the COVID-19 pandemic could help speed up that transition. This context explains the sustainability discussion in the video, but does not support the claim that Schwab said permanent climate lockdowns were coming. (S1: “Das Thema dabei ist «die Dringlichkeit» des Übergangs zu einer grüneren Gesellschaft und wirft die Frage auf, ob die Covid-19-Pandemie eine Chance darstellen könnte, diesen Übergang zu beschleunigen.”)

“Chile está dentro de los 30 países del mundo con mayor estrés hídrico”

Publisher’s rating: Real

Human activities have little effect on climate change

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

Auf einem Flugblatt werden zehn Forderungen als «10 Gebote» aufgezählt, die die Letzte Generation ab 2024 vertreten will. Dazu gehören: «Verbot von Sport-Veranstaltungen mit hohem Zuschauerreiseverkehr wie Fußball oder vergleichbar», außerdem «Einstellung aller Baumaßnahmen zum Ausbau des Straßennetzes. Stattdessen Ausbau der Fahrradwege» oder «Einschränkung aller energieintensiven Industrien wie Stahl und Glas und Chemie Industrien».

Publisher’s rating: Es handelt sich um ein Fake-Flugblatt. Die Letzte Generation dementiert, dass es aus ihrer Feder stammt. Auch der im Impressum des Dokuments angegebene Blogger spricht von einer Falschmeldung und sieht seinen Namen missbräuchlich verwendet.

The claim concerns a purported draft flyer listing ten demands that the Letzte Generation allegedly planned to advocate from 2024. The flyer included restrictions on sporting events with substantial spectator travel, halting road-network construction in favor of bicycle paths, and limiting energy-intensive industries. The review identifies this as the specific document under examination, rather than a general account of the group’s policies. [S1]

Climate change is caused by an upcoming pole shift

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

සුළං ටර්බයින නිෂ්පාදනය කිරීමේදී පරිභෝජනය වන ශක්තිය ප්‍රතිස්ථාපනය කිරීම සඳහා සුළං ටර්බයිනයක් වසර හතරක් මුළුල්ලේ ශක්තිය ජනනය කල යුතු ද?

Publisher’s rating: False

The review investigates the claim that a wind turbine has to generate power for four years to make up for the energy consumed in its manufacture. It says it examined research on the energy used in producing turbines and how long it takes to recover that energy. Its account of the production process includes obtaining raw materials, turning them into tower and rotor components, and shipping the components. The review reports that research and experts indicate modern turbines can repay this energy cost within months, rather than years: “නවීන සුළං ටර්බයින නිෂ්පාදන ක්‍රියාවලියේදී වැය වන ශක්තිය මාස කිහිපයක් තුළ නැවත නිපදවාගැනීමට පුළුවන්.” To support that assessment, the review cites several studies: a Brazilian research team’s 2022 finding of a six-month energy-payback period; a European study from 2019 reporting four to six months; and a 2017 Taiwanese study giving a maximum of 13 to 14 months. It also quotes senior scientist Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution of Science, who told PolitiFact that turbines have a net positive energy return within about a year. These findings address the claimed four-year threshold directly, although the excerpt does not provide the studies’ titles, methods, or underlying calculations. The review also discusses other claims in the social-media posts, including lubricating oil use and turbine lifespan. It reports that NREL researcher Jeroen van Dam said the oil is not burned and is generally recycled about every five years, and that leaked oil is collected before reaching the ground. It says turbine blades typically last 20–25 years, rather than the claimed three to seven. Those points provide context for the broader posts, but the energy-payback studies are the evidence relevant to the four-year claim.

Bjorn Lomborg says forest fires have come down globally

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The review examines a post by Bjørn Lomborg that presented a graph of annual burned area and the share of global land burned, based on NASA satellite data from 2001 to 2022. The post linked a study by University of Maryland researchers Louis Giglio and Mike Humber describing how burned-area data are assembled. The review’s central objection is not that the graph necessarily shows no decline in total burned area, but that treating that global total as a complete picture of forest-fire trends omits important regional differences and causes. To check the claim, the review says it searched for NASA material and found a NASA article reporting a decline in global fires in data from 1998–2015. That article also said the global trend was driven by savannas and grasslands, whose extensive burned areas outweighed increases in some other regions. The review then cites NASA material describing wildfires as increasing in intensity, severity, size and duration, and reports comments from Giglio, the study’s lead author, about Lomborg’s graph. Giglio said the global series, viewed in isolation, is dominated by Africa, where routine burning is widespread; he attributed much of the recent decline to natural weather variability and cropland expansion. The review also quotes fire expert Grant Williamson, who said the global decline is concentrated in tropical savanna systems and reflects land-use changes such as agricultural expansion and urbanization. He distinguished that trend from temperate and boreal forests, including in Europe, Australia and North America, where he said burned area, fire frequency and intensity, and extreme fire weather are increasing. Thus, the review treats the graph’s global aggregate as real but insufficient to support a broad conclusion that fires are declining everywhere or that climate change is not increasing fire risk. Its account also notes that climate change is one factor among others affecting fires.