Reinforcing the Media Ecosystem as the Climate Crisis and Information Crisis Collide

Published: 10 Sept 2025

By Richard Reeves, Managing Director, AOP

At the Association of Online Publishers (AOP), we believe the path to a more sustainable future is not just a matter of clean energy and green innovations, it’s also about communication. In that spirit, we brought together leaders from across the digital media landscape for our recent event, ‘The Business of Climate: Creating a Thriving Media Ecosystem’.

From regulators and researchers to publishers, advertisers, and energy innovators, the event confronted the urgent priorities of media at this time of crisis: to communicate climate science accurately and engagingly, and to uphold the quality of our information ecosystems.

Climate pollution, information pollution, and the uneven balance of power

“We don’t just have a problem with pollution from emissions. We face information pollution too,” said Charlotte Scaddan, Senior Advisor on Information Integrity at the UN, in her address that opened the event.

Scaddan shared the UN’s concern over the role that the digital advertising ecosystem plays in funding and amplifying content that undermines the clean energy transition, from climate change denial to conspiracy-peddling disinformation. The UN’s Global Principles for Information Integrity, in partnership with UNESCO and the Brazilian Government, calls for reforms across the information ecosystem, engaging with governments, media platforms, publishers, and advertisers.

A core recommendation of the initiatives is for the ad tech industry to be open about its inner workings so advertisers have clarity over what messages their spend is funding; “Transparency… means having a better understanding of how potentially harmful content is algorithmically rewarded and monetised.” Scaddan argued such reforms could both improve campaign effectiveness and help sustain professional journalism, particularly in areas like climate reporting where resources are scarce and misinformation — at times funded by fossil fuel interests — is rampant.

To meet the challenge, the UN, Brazil and UNESCO, launched the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change. This initiative is designed to strengthen research into climate disinformation, and ensure the impacts of climate change are investigated and effectively communicated, particularly for those in the Global South who are most affected.

“We need an informed and engaged public to build momentum for climate solutions,” said Scaddan. With COP30 on the horizon and a spike in false claims expected around the conference, Scaddan ended her address with an urgent rallying cry: “You can make your voices heard and your choices count. Through responsible advertising that supports quality news coverage, you can play a pivotal role in pushing forward climate action. We hope you'll join us in fighting for a liveable future for us all.”

Following Scaddan’s address, Dr. James Painter from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism examined recent research into media coverage of climate-related topics such as net-zero targets and electric vehicles. He pointed to a persistent pattern of partisan framing and selective data use across outlets, which he argued skews public understanding of key technologies and policies. Painter stressed the need for balanced and evidence-based journalism, without which the public are deprived of the perspective needed to engage meaningfully with climate policy.

Regulation, responsibility, and rethinking metrics

The conversation then turned toward regulation and accountability in journalism, led by Charlotte Dewar, CEO of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) and Jake Dubbins, Managing Director of Media Bounty.

Dewar reinforced the importance of regulatory frameworks in upholding editorial standards and restoring public trust in the media. Even as audiences increasingly turn to influencers and user-generated content, much of the basis for that content originates from organisations that have the resources to conduct professional journalism. This foundational layer of accurate and accountable information is the rich bed from which healthy democratic discourse can grow.

“It’s far easier to destroy trust than it is to build it,” said Dewar.

Dubbins stressed that, while it’s not solely the responsibility of advertisers to fund climate journalism, they must be aware of the impact their media spend has on the integrity of public discourse. He called for transparency to ensure any conflicts of interest in opinion pieces are clearly understood by the public and challenged IPSO to bring climate expertise into its governance structures and complaints committee.

Adam Foley, CEO of Bountiful Cow, addressed the potential harm brand safety tools can have on climate-focused content: rather than shield advertisers from harmful or inappropriate media, it often blocks quality journalism around urgent issues like climate change, which may be flagged as “risky”. Instead, editors at publications should be trusted to determine when it is and is not appropriate to run advertisements against articles.

“Brand Safety technologies made to protect from the worst of the internet often end up penalising the best of the internet,” said Foley.

Several speakers pointed to the inefficiencies baked into the current advertising system. Traditional performance metrics, which rely on massive volumes of impressions to deliver results, are both wasteful and poorly aligned with sustainability goals. Agencies and publishers alike called for a shift in how value is measured, away from brute force reach and toward impact, engagement, and efficiency.

Sustainability can also be viewed through a commercial lens: more thoughtful, outcome-based approaches to campaign planning reduce wasted spend and carbon emissions while improving targeting and audience receptivity. A triple-win for advertisers, publishers, and the planet.

The real-world consequences of climate narratives

As the day’s discussions drew to a close, talk turned on the practical reality of how media narratives impact the public and politics.

Nathan Bennett, Head of Strategic Communications at RenewableUK, examined how unbalanced media coverage impacts public perception of renewable technologies. Despite high levels of public support for onshore wind — polling at 70–80%, the same favourability as Beyoncé — media coverage has led many to believe that the technology is unpopular, sitting at just 40%. This misrepresentation influenced political decisions that curtailed wind energy development, ultimately raising energy costs for consumers during the 2022 energy crisis.

Rebecca Dibb-Simkin from Octopus Energy echoed Bennett’s findings, demonstrating that, despite being contentious in the media sphere, green technologies are enthusiastically embraced by consumers. She noted that the company’s rapid growth has ridden a wave of public support for sustainable solutions that save them money and make their lives easier. Yet these positive stories are often underrepresented in the media. Dibb-Simkin argued for more nuanced climate narratives that balance healthy scrutiny for new technology with celebration of its benefits; “Consumers are already there.”

Finally, Tony Mattson, Global Strategy Partner and Head of Impact at Havas, and Anuschka Clarke, Managing Partner at the7stars discussed how the industry could take practical steps to integrate sustainability into everyday operations.

The consensus was that the advertising supply chain has become unnecessarily complex, with inefficiencies that are both financially and environmentally draining. Simplifying processes and reducing waste without sacrificing campaign quality allows sustainability benefits to get their foot in the door, which would be shut if bottom lines were under threat. Agencies and publishers can also truncate these complexities by collaborating closely in the initial, strategic phases of the campaign planning process.

Progress hinges on developing a shared understanding of sustainability metrics. Less is often more, but proving the effectiveness of sustainable approaches with concrete data is key to driving broader adoption, particularly among companies for whom climate action is not yet a core issue. Embedding sustainability into KPIs and media planning frameworks puts its correlation with efficiency front and centre; a value-add rather than a tedious tick-box.

The climate crisis demands integrity in how we communicate, how we inform, and how we engage with the public. It also demands integrity in the backend systems and backroom conversations that determine the flow of money — and thus power — through the media ecosystem. The AOP invites all stakeholders, from brands and agencies to publishers and platforms, to join us in fostering a media ecosystem that’s not just commercially effective, but climate-conscious, trustworthy, and future-facing. Our lives, families and livelihoods depend on it.