World Environment Day encourages collective action to tackle the challenges that are facing the planet - with the focus in 2025 on plastic pollution.
Another of those big challenges is climate change, which you have probably read about in stories ranging from reports of extreme weather to news about sea temperatures heating up.
But as well as hearing the facts on this issue, you may have also come across some fake news about the topic. In fact, some people even call climate change itself ‘fake news’, even when it’s been proven to be real. Why does this happen?
What is climate change?
Watch this TikTok from the BBC team, who explain why climate change is real and define what global warming is.
Is climate change real? Maybe you think climate change is a hoax. But the science couldn't be clearer. Global warming is happening and the way we live is making things worse.
Our planet is now 1.2 degrees warmer than it was in the 1800s. And that's because we've been pumping the atmosphere with greenhouse gases, gases that trap the Sun's heat, making the planet hotter.
Even if you choose to ignore all this, look around - extreme weather is becoming more and more frequent. And that is happening because the climate is changing.
What we choose to do to tackle the problem, that's politics, it's up for debate. But global warming is a fact.
As the presenter says, the science couldn’t be clearer – climate change is a fact and it can’t be denied. More extreme weather events are now more common due to the planet getting hotter.
There are occasions where there can be some debate about what we do to try and prevent more warming, for example discussions about how quickly to act and what actions might be best.
But if something has been proven to be a fact, why is there so much misleading information about it?
What are the different types of fake news about climate change?
Climate change misinformation and disinformation
There are two big types of fake news – misinformation and disinformation. Misinformation is fake news that is created and spread by a MIStake – by someone who doesn’t realise that it’s false.
Some aspects of climate change can seem complex, and because of this, people might make mistakes when trying to understand the science. For example, calling climate change “natural” is misinformation that someone might spread.
Watch this TikTok of a BBC journalist debunking climate change misinformation.
It's climate change natural? Yes, and no. The climate has changed a lot over time. But the radical change we're seeing right now isn't natural.
Since the Earth was formed more than four and a half billion years ago, there have been cycles of warming and cooling. And that's because of volcanic eruptions, our Earth's orbit around the sun - natural causes.
Now the last time the planet got a lot hotter, temperatures went up by about five degrees. That took ten thousand years. Today, in just about a hundred years, temperatures have gone up already by about one degree.
Now that's 20 times faster than before. And scientists have proven this radical change isn't natural. It's man made. We've been pumping the atmosphere with greenhouse gases which trap the heat from the sun.
So, can we really blame nature for this one? No.
A common myth is that there’s always been temperature increases and so climate change is perfectly natural and nothing to worry about.
Whilst there’s some truth in this, as we have had temperature increases throughout time, it can be misleading, because the changes we’re seeing at the moment are predominantly down to human behaviour (such as using fossil fuels for transport) and non-natural causes.
Get the facts on global warming here with The Regenerators from BBC Bitesize.
As well as people making genuine mistakes, there are some people who benefit from spreading fake news about the planet. They may do this to make money, make a political point or just to cause trouble.
This would be classed as disinformation – fake news that’s created or spread deliberately, by someone who knows full well that it’s false.
Climate change and global warming are popular topics, often the subject of disinformation and misinformation.
For example, there are some posts on social media which cite a study as proof that in 2024 there was more sea ice than in 1979, suggesting climate change isn’t real.
The facts are that while there was more sea ice in 2024 for a period in December, there was less during the rest of the year compared to 1979. This is why it's always important to fact check a claim. In this case people chose data from one day of the year to prove their opinion (that climate change is false), ignoring the rest of the study.
This could possibly be seen as an example of climate change misinformation. It could result in people questioning whether scientists are being truthful about their research and leading people to doubt the science behind climate change and the impact it could have. However, it's important to do your own research on climate change - and other subjects. Check information from different, reliable sources - where experts on the subject are presenting the facts and giving analysis without bias, before posting anything yourself.
Not sure if the news you’re seeing on social media is true or false? Can you always tell if the things you see online are real or fake? Learn how to get the other side of the story with our quizzes, videos and explainers.
