No surprise that Russian disinformation is in the news, certainly related to the upcoming election. What is less well known is Russia’s role in disinforming about clean energy.
It makes total sense when you understand that Russia’s national budget is more than 35 percent dependent on oil/gas revenues.
Jess Ralston in Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit:
“Kremlin-backed actors have been found to be pushing climate change denialism across the Alliance, all while actively attempting to derail climate change mitigation policies and renewable energy investments”
“It’s clearly in Putin’s interest to keep Europe hooked on gas which means that efforts to transition away, using renewables and electric heat pumps that replace gas boilers, are a threat to him.
“That NATO has found evidence of propaganda campaigns against the green energy transition in Europe highlights the worrying influence of foreign actors on debates of national importance in democratic countries. There is an unfortunate alignment with what an energy minister in the last government said were UK-based ‘campaigns of misinformation’ around clean technology in the UK.
“Plans to accelerate renewables deployment diminish Putin’s sway over us via the gas market. More drilling in the North Sea would not insulate us from volatile market prices and would make at best marginal gains for domestic energy production compared to the much more significant role wind and solar can play in reducing foreign energy dependence. A debate on the UK’s energy security that centres on North Sea oil and gas is almost entirely missing the point.
“With North Sea oil and gas output set to decline irrespective of more drilling, unless renewables are rapidly deployed the UK becomes more dependent on foreign energy. Unless we transition from gas boilers to electric heat pumps, we become ever more reliant on foreign powers to heat our homes. That is the simple truth.”
“Efforts by some to point to the cost of ‘green levies’ instead of the volatile gas price that has actually been driving up energy bills since the Russian invasion of Ukraine would likely have been helpful to the Kremlin-backed narrative, refocusing attention away from the actual problem and so the real solutions. Insulating homes, building out British renewables and switching to electric heat pumps together mean as a country we are less dependent on gas and so less vulnerable to foreign regimes.”
Previous ECIU analysis has found that delays to offshore wind mean the UK could miss out on twenty-two times more homegrown electricity than could be generated by gas from new North Sea licences .
ECIU has calculated that the UK has spent at least an extra £75bn on gas since the start of the crisis [4]. The International Monetary Fund has said that Britain was the worst hit country in Western Europe because of an over-reliance on gas .
The NATO report states: “Denial of anthropogenic climate change persists in Russia largely due to the entangled ties between the fossil fuel industry and political power, and the country’s ongoing dependence on fossil fuels as a dominant source of government revenue.”
The report also states: “According to NATO’s Information Environment Assessment for the period May 2022 to May 2024, Russia was found to be the main driver of hostile communications in online conversations about the green energy transition on social media and web news media.”
NATO Climate Change and Security Impact Assessment 2024:
Kremlin-backed actors have been found to be pushing climate change denialism across the Alliance, all while actively attempting to derail climate change mitigation policies and renewable energy investments. Russian state media routinely amplify uncertainty around climate change and downplay the phenomenon as exaggerated or even positive. They frame global warming as a “hoax” and emission-reduction plans as a form of “Western imperialism” engineered to undermine the development of emerging economies. Denial of anthropogenic climate change persists in Russia largely due to the entangled ties between the fossil fuel industry and political power, and the country’s ongoing dependence on fossil fuels as a dominant source of government revenue. Individuals whochallenge scientific consensus on climate change continue to hold political power.A notable increase in Russian disinformation related to the European green energy transition has been observed since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. According to NATO’s Information Environment Assessment for the period May 2022 to May 2024, Russia was found to be the main driver of hostile communications in online conversations about the green energy transition on social media and web news media. In 2023, efforts to spread mis- and disinformation were evident in the run-up to the COP28 UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai. According to a 2023 report by the Climate Action Against Disinformation (CAAD) – a coalition of over 50 leading climate and anti-disinformation organisations – Russia and the PRC were listed among the countries found to be spreading climate-related disinformation. Russian state-backed accounts weaponised climate debates, with influence campaigns targeting Western countries and emerging and developing economies respectively.
Russian accounts have been found to regularly vilify climate activists – including personal online attacks, gendered disinformation and explicitly negative descriptions of women activists – and demonstrations across Europe.
NATO’s potential adversaries and strategic competitors have been found to exploit natural disasters for malign influence campaigns, with the aim to exploit emotions, sow distrust in official response and otherwise impair Allies’ ability to respond effectively to crises, especially when communities are most vulnerable and local institutions are strained. Disaster-related disinformation can also impede rescue and relief efforts, contributing to unnecessary casualties and human suffering that could have otherwise been avoided.
No more COPs hosted in petrostates, please.
COOPTeds …