As France and the broader European continent face increasingly frequent and severe heatwaves, a dangerous secondary threat has emerged alongside rising temperatures: the deliberate weaponization of climate change through foreign-led information warfare. Recent incidents, such as viral conspiracy theories falsely linking the HAARP scientific programme in Alaska to European weather manipulation, underscore how climate events are being exploited to sow confusion. Experts warn that these narratives, often propagated by specialized online accounts and networks, are not mere coincidences but calculated efforts to destabilize European society by latching onto polarizing environmental issues.
A comprehensive 2026 report by the French think tank IRIS, titled “Climate Disinformation and Information Warfare: State Interference and Security Implications,” highlights that Russia and the United States are the primary state actors targeting Europe. According to Mathilde Jourde, head of the Climate, Environment and Security programme at IRIS, while both nations are major fossil fuel exporters with a direct economic interest in undermining the EU’s decarbonization goals, the disinformation serves a broader strategic purpose. For Russia, in particular, these campaigns function as a geopolitical lever to weaken European cohesion, particularly regarding the ongoing tensions surrounding the war in Ukraine.
The effectiveness of these influence operations relies on “participating in the chaos” sparked by extreme weather. During the 2024 floods in Valencia, Spain, Russian-aligned sources successfully amplified false emergency numbers and manipulated death toll reports. By systematically spreading misinformation, these actors aim to erode public trust in government authorities and institutional stability. Jourde notes that such disasters represent a “precious blessing” for those waging information wars, as they allow perpetrators to exploit human fear with minimal effort, ensuring that inflammatory content spreads rapidly across social media platforms before it can be verified.
Russian disinformation campaigns are disseminated through a multi-layered infrastructure, ranging from state-controlled media outlets to clandestine networks like “Portal Kombat,” which was identified by the French digital interference agency Viginum. While these networks often attempt to conceal their origins, the goal remains clear: to disrupt European energy policy and foster domestic dissent. The report emphasizes that by deepening societal divisions, these foreign actors diminish the capacity for European nations to maintain a unified front on both climate action and foreign policy commitments.
In contrast to the shrouded tactics of the Kremlin, climate disinformation originating from the United States has become increasingly overt. Following the commencement of Donald Trump’s second presidential term, official government channels and state-linked conservative think tanks—such as the Heartland Institute—have actively pushed skepticism regarding human-induced climate change. These campaigns include the formal censorship of environmental terminology on government websites and the publication of disputed climate data, which organizations then use as a foundation to lobby against European green policies from offices in cities like London.
While Russia and the U.S. pursue aggressive agendas, other nations like China are also engaging in climate-related influence operations, albeit with a focus on reputation management. Rather than denying climate science, Beijing utilizes its propaganda apparatus to shift historical responsibility for warming onto Western powers while highlighting the CCP’s own environmental response. Ultimately, the IRIS report concludes that climate disinformation has evolved into a sophisticated tool of modern warfare, forcing European policymakers to confront not only a changing climate but a coordinated, state-sponsored effort to manipulate public reality.
