Science Feedback invited to speak at climate disinformation symposium at the French National Assembly
Founder and executive director of Science Feedback, Emmanuel Vincent, was invited to speak at a roundtable discussion titled “Faced with climate misinformation, what public action should be taken ?” on 22 October 2025 at the Hôtel de Lassay at the French National Assembly.
He presented Science Feedback’s latest findings from an investigation into climate disinformation in French media, undertaken in collaboration with the non-profit organizations Data for Good and QuotaClimat (full report in English).
The investigation found more than 529 instances of climate disinformation diffused on French media outlets between January and August 2025. Among these instances, 19 narratives, or common themes, could be identified. The most frequent narratives targeted the transition to renewable energy. The top three narratives were:
- “Renewable energy would cause electricity bills to skyrocket”
- “Renewable energy is useless and inefficient because it’s unreliable”
- “Switching to renewable energy threatens energy independence because it’s prone to blackouts”
The outlet that accounted for the most instances of climate disinformation was Sud Radio (one instance every 40 minutes of climate coverage); the runner-up was CNews (one instance every hour of climate coverage), which has already been sanctioned by French media regulator ARCOM for failing to comply with journalistic ethics.
Notably, public broadcasters were less prone, though not immune, to disseminating climate disinformation; such instances were six times less frequent compared to privately-owned media outlets.
Joining the discussion were Lou Welgryn, secretary-general of Data for Good, and Jean Sauvignon, head of data at QuotaClimat.
The roundtable was part of the symposium “Confronting the rise of climate disinformation”, convened by Stéphane Delautrette, deputy of the Haute-Vienne department.
The following roundtable on the role of journalists in the context of rising climate disinformation provided an opportunity for Jean-François Soussana, President of the High Council for the Climate (Haut conseil pour le climat), to speak. He emphasized that the High Council for the Climate recommends establishing a national plan to combat climate disinformation, in alignment with European initiatives.
