Abstract – Marianna Poberezhskaya’s chapter from the Routledge Handbook on Climate Crisis Communication

The internet has allowed an unrestricted number of actors to challenge the scientific community’s ownership of climate change knowledge and become active “popularisers” and even (co-)creators of that knowledge. In some cases, this has led to positive outcomes as complex climate science has become more accessible to a range of audiences. The internet has also been beneficial for climate activism, allowing a more efficient and affordable way to mobilise people and spread information.

However, in other cases, social media have turned into a breeding ground for distortion and misrepresentation of climate change information with the consistent re-emergence of climate-related conspiracy theories. Whether it is the theory that climate change results from the purposeful manipulation of weather, to impose Western domination, or that environmental activists are part of a “devil worshipping church,” conspiracy theories may make people doubt the very basics of climate science and potentially disengage.

This chapter provides a critical review of the literature on the spread of conspiracies about climate change online using Russia as a case study. It is argued that even a relatively limited presence of climate conspiracies online could be damaging to climate change action and must be taken seriously with counter steps and strategies devised.

Poberezhskaya, M. (2025). Conspiracies as one of the dangers of online climate change communication. Routledge eBooks, pp.229–239. doi: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003044253-24