COP 30: the Declaration on Information Integrity is a major step forward for the protection of environmental journalism
RSF at COP 30
The integrity of climate change information will be the subject of several discussions during COP30 in Brazil, two of which are organized by RSF and local partners, such as the Digital Journalism Association (Ajor), the Ford Foundation, and the The Interstate Consortium For Sustainable Development Of The Legal Amazon Region, which brings together the governments of Brazilian states covered by the Amazon rainforest.
The round table discussions will bring together experts and journalists from around the world to present concrete measures to strengthen the information ecosystem and protect environmental journalism in the face of the climate emergency. RSF will also participate in the launch of a statement from the advertising industry with commitments to tackle climate disinformation in advertising content, drafted with support from RSF.
These efforts are complemented by those of the Forum on Information and Democracy, founded and chaired by RSF and represented at the COP by its executive director, Camille Grenier. The Forum notably presented the first recommendations from its working group on the integrity of information on climate change and environmental issues, co-chaired by representatives from Armenia and Brazil.
The urgency of protecting environmental journalists
Around the world, journalists who investigate and report on issues related to the environment, natural resources and their management are regularly obstructed from doing their jobs, threatened and attacked for exposing operations such as illegal land exploitation, gold mining, deforestation and pollution. Over the past decade, nearly 30 journalists working on these topics have been killed, according to RSF data — from India, because they were reporting on the “sand mafia,” to the Amazon, while covering deforestation. Others are prevented from entering certain territories because they take an interest in these issues, while some are assaulted when covering climate change protests. Arbitrary imprisonment also remains one of the major threats to these information professionals. RSF, actively engaged on this issue, has notably highlighted 30 emblematic cases of journalists obstructed in their coverage of environmental matters in 2025, and has called on states to ensure their urgent protection.
Related Knowledge Center: Air emissions
More than 30 years after the last major update of the Clean Air Act, the U.S. Supreme Court has upended the ability of Congress to give the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies broad scope to combat air pollution, including the emission of greenhouse gases. Meanwhile, further Biden administration efforts to limit emissions face opposition in the courts.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate diplomacy
Talks are well underway in preparation for the next major international meeting on climate change, 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28), scheduled to begin Nov. 30 in the United Arab Emirates.
Much like last year’s COP27, finances — specifically, aid to developing nations — will be at the center of conference deliberations.
The conference faces an even greater sense of urgency brought on by the Sept. 8, 2023, release of the first global stocktake, which calls for accelerated action to meet the goals set in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement (COP21).
Climate diplomacy: COP 27 | Climate diplomacy: COP 28 | Climate diplomacy: COP 29