Skip to main content

PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Climate & environment fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about climate & environment. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

1,358 published reviews in this topic

BR24 FaktenfuchsClimate & environment

Das Antarktiseis wächst und der Meerespiegel steigt nicht weiter an.

Publisher’s rating: Das Eis in der Antarktis verliert seit Jahrzehnten erheblich und zunehmend schneller an Masse. Schwankungen und kurzzeitige Zunahmen der Eismasse wie zwischen 2021 und 2023 sind nicht ungewöhnlich, sondern lassen sich auf kurzzeitige, außergewöhnliche Schneefälle zurückführen. Eine Trendwende ist das nicht. Auch der Meeresspiegel steigt seit Jahrzehnten und zunehmend schneller an – auch weil in Grönland noch mehr Eis verloren geht als in der Antarktis.

BR24 FaktenfuchsClimate & environment

Das Antarktiseis nimmt zu und der Meerespiegel steigt nicht weiter an.

Publisher’s rating: Das Eis in der Antarktis verliert seit Jahrzehnten erheblich und zunehmend schneller an Masse. Schwankungen und kurzzeitige Zunahmen der Eismasse wie zwischen 2021 und 2023 sind nicht ungewöhnlich, sondern lassen sich auf kurzzeitige, außergewöhnliche Schneefälle zurückführen. Eine Trendwende ist das nicht. Auch der Meeresspiegel steigt seit Jahrzehnten und zunehmend schneller an – auch weil in Grönland noch mehr Eis verloren geht als in der Antarktis.

Deutsche WelleClimate & environment

Claim: Trump has repeatedly alleged that "windmills are driving the whales crazy, obviously." This post sharing a video of Trump has been viewed over 6 million times on X. "You see what's happening up in the Massachusetts' area with the whales." He has referred to different whale strandings, time and again, pushing the narrative that windmills are dangerous to the mammals.

Publisher’s rating: DW Fact check: False While there have been incidents where whales have been washed ashore, the National Marine Fisheries Service, a federal agency within the US Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA Fisheries), has said "there is no scientific evidence that noise resulting from offshore wind site characterization surveys could potentially cause whale deaths." At the moment, there are no known links between large whale deaths and ongoing offshore wind activities, the agency said, adding the largest threats to whales were boat strikes, entanglement in fishnets and human-caused climate change pushing their prey and thus the whales closer to shore.

Deutsche WelleClimate & environment

Claim: Trump has repeatedly said windmills are killing droves of birds. "You want to see a bird cemetery, walk under a windmill sometime," he said in a video that was shared on Xand has been viewed close to a million times.

Publisher’s rating: DW Fact check: Misleading Yes, birds have been killed by windmills— what Trump fails to mention, though, is that wind turbines are a relatively small factor when it comes to bird mortality. According to an overview of median estimates of annual bird deaths by the US Fish & Wildlife Service, the main culprits in the US are cats (2.4 billion), collisions with glass buildings (about 600 million) and collisions with vehicles (about 215 million). Collisions with land-based wind turbines are toward the bottom of the list with about 234,000 deaths a year, well after collisions with electrical lines, communication towers or poison. Even though wind turbines account only for a fraction of the total, there are several pilot projects underway to cut that number down. Researchers from Oregon State University observed a massive decline in bird collisions when one blade was painted black, installing shapes that resemble eyesor using AI-based anti-collision systems.

Deutsche WelleClimate & environment

Claim: "Just look at the wind turbines. None of them are working," said a social media user, posting a video showing wind turbines that aren't turning. "A blot on the landscape and completely inconsistent energy efficiency."

Publisher’s rating: DW Fact check: False Just because wind turbines aren't turning all the time, that doesn't make them inefficient. Modern turbines are highly efficient, with a capacity to convert 30 – 48% (onshore) and 50% (offshore)of the wind's kinetic energy into electricity. According to aerodynamics, Betz's law or the "Betz limit" stipulates that the maximum power that a device can theoretically extract is 59% of the available power.

Deutsche WelleClimate & environment

Claim: Wind energy is "a con" and not truly green, as wind turbines aren't properly recycled, this social media user said in a post on X, sharing a photo of a bulldozer burying what looks to be parts of windmills.

Publisher’s rating: DW Fact check: Misleading The photo is real and was published 2020 in a Bloomberg report showing wind turbines in the ground at the Casper Regional Landfill in Wyoming. It's also available on the stock photo service Getty Images. There are other sites of such wind turbine graveyards in the US, for instance in Iowa and South Dakota, where wind turbine blades are chopped up and buried. At the moment, about 90% of the mass of a decommissioned wind turbine can be recycled, according to the US Department of Energy.Some renewable energy companies say they recycle up to 95% and have committed to stop sending turbine blades to landfill. Germany, Austria, Finland and the Netherlands already have a landfill ban in place. And the European wind industry, represented by WindEurope, is calling for a Europe-wide landfill ban on decommissioned wind turbine blades by 2025. Steel towers, concrete foundations and copper cables are relatively easy to recycle, according to the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (IWES) — but since rotor blades are made of different materials, recycling these parts was much more complex. Even though some of the blades are being repurposed and used as playground equipment, bicycle shelters or material for skis, "the usual disposal method is currently thermal recycling of the shredded rotor blades in the cement industry," Fraunhofer said. Next-generation rotor blades are recyclable with a new type of resin that allows for the separation of composite materials so they can be reused.

日本ファクトチェックセンター(JFC)Climate & environment

中国のクルーズ船が大量の汚水を海洋投棄している動画?

Publisher’s rating: 誤り

A video shared on May 19, 2025, was presented as showing a Chinese cruise ship dumping wastewater, but the review found it was AI-generated rather than real footage of the alleged event. The review noted visual irregularities and cited assessments by multiple fact-checking organizations. [S1: 「2025年5月19日、「中国のクルーズ船が大量の汚水を海洋投棄しているという動画」」「実際の映像ではなく「中国のクルーズ船が大量の汚水を海洋投棄している動画」という情報は誤りと判定する。」]