The summer of 2022 was a trigger. Fires of unprecedented scale are ravaging the Gironde and, on social networks, a campaign of disinformation and hatred is attacking climate specialists and elected environmentalists. It was from this moment that journalist and director Elsa Guiol wanted to understand what motivated climate denial. In a new episode of the collection “The Factory of Lies”, broadcast Sunday November 5 at 9:05 p.m., the documentary At the heart of climate denial analyzes the key moments of climate skepticism. It will be followed by a stage with researchers and journalists.
By observing the convergences with the anti-vax and pro-Putin networks that summer, the team of investigators from “La Fabrique du lie” saw “the urgency of telling this climate disinformation”, underlines Elsa Guiol, while in 2023, 1 in 4 French people are classified as climate skeptics, according to a study by the Jean-Jaurès Foundation.
Eight preconceived ideas debunked
In this 80-minute documentary, “we try to understand why, where it comes from, what makes us still here, when climatologists have more of the say, than we have never heard so much about IPCC reports [le Groupe d’experts intergouvernemental sur l’évolution du climat] “, she continues.
Divided into eight preconceived ideas, the episode deciphers the mechanics of disinformation and its false assertions such as “it has always been hot”, “climate policies are ruining the economy”, “ecological activists are excited alarmists”… Around twenty speakers – climatologists, researchers, journalists specializing in climate issues, elected officials – explain how these narratives are implemented and their consequences.
The consequences of “Climate Gate” in 2009
The documentary focuses in particular on the “Climate Gate” episode in 2009, when emails from IPCC scientists were hacked and diverted from their meaning into viral blog articles. A moment which shook climatologists, says Elsa Guiol and which took place a little before Cop15 in Copenhagen. “For them, it’s the most significant event,” explains the director. It is a disinformation campaign, a total lie factory. These passages taken out of context served as arguments for certain countries not to sign the agreement in Copenhagen. »
A “failure” which resulted in an awareness of political power, as Laurence Tubiana recounts. In 2015, she was ambassador responsible for the COP21 negotiations in Paris, which resulted in an agreement committing all countries to limit the increase in average temperature to 1.5°C. “The failure of Copenhagen weighed heavily,” she recalls in the documentary. This question of disinformation was for me an extraordinarily important element in the conduct of the work. » Cameras were thus installed outside the negotiation rooms. “Everyone was aware of what was happening, it was the best way to fight against this misinformation,” she believes.
The testimony of a “repentant” communicator
Who is behind these disinformation campaigns? Conspiracy followers, scientists, lobbyists, answers the documentary. The testimony of a “repentant”, Jerry Taylor, former communicator at the Cato Institute, a conservative think tank in the United States, sheds light on the interests behind it. “He agreed quite easily to tell us how he had worked for years even though he knew absolutely nothing about the climate,” explains Elsa Guiol. The only thing he knew how to do was speak on TV sets and be ultra-convincing in five minutes, whereas scientific discourse requires more time. »
A salutary documentary as COP28 will take place in Dubai from November 30 to December 12, under the presidency of the controversial Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry of the United Arab Emirates and boss of the Emirati oil company Adnoc. At stake: the establishment of the first official assessment of humanity’s efforts to respect the 2015 agreement, the creation of a fund to compensate for climate damage and the bitter debate on the end of fossil fuels, the engine of global warming climatic.