By The Diplomat | Created at 2024-10-30 18:51:42 | Updated at 2024-10-31 05:32:37
12 hours ago
Taiwan is renowned for its resilience in combating misinformation, disinformation, and foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI). During the 2024 presidential election, Taiwanese civil society played a pivotal role in defending democracy, earning international praise for its efforts to counter these threats. While the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is widely recognized as a major source of FIMI against Taiwan, the rise of climate disinformation presents new challenges. These emerging threats not only hinder Taiwan’s response to the climate crisis but, in the long run, pose risks to its national security and regional stability in the Indo-Pacific.
Climate issues along with misinformation and disinformation have already been identified as the major global risks in the next 10 years by the World Economic Forum. While previously treated as two separate issues, climate disinformation is now recognized as a major roadblock to achieving global climate goals.
Climate misinformation comes from misunderstanding information, or unintentionally sharing false or incomplete information. In general, people who share misinformation do not have malicious intentions. On the contrary, climate disinformation actors have sometimes used the existing misinformation to deliberately attack climate actions to meet their needs, leading to delay in climate action.
Climate denialism, delayism, and climate change skepticism are recognized as common climate disinformation. Classic narratives such as “climate change is a hoax, ” “climate change is not caused by human activities,” or “climate change is not that serious” are commonly seen on social media platforms, amplified by actors across the globe. In recent years, however, climate disinformation has become more issue-specific.
While the awareness of climate change has gradually increased among the majority of the population, and most countries have acknowledged that taking action to combat it is essential and urgent, climate disinformation on renewable energy has become one of the most significant obstacles in the energy transition. Prominent actors such as fossil fuel companies and tech giants like Meta have both been identified as major generators and disseminators of climate disinformation.
Alongside the fossil fuel industry’s role and clear self-interest in slowing down the transition, climate disinformation on renewable energy is becoming a means for both domestic and foreign actors to target countries where energy issues are intertwined with national and regional security. Malign actors seek to weaponize public concerns on security issues and existing climate misinformation, or even fabricate new disinformation to sow distrust in governments and further polarize and divide the general public. Taiwan is one example.
Taiwan stands at a crucial position in relation to regional stability as well as the global power shift. As Dr. Ely Ratner, the U.S. assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs pointed out, “Taiwan is located at a critical node…that is critical to the region’s security… [it is] situated alongside major trade lanes that provide sea lines of communication for much of the world’s commerce and energy shipping.” Besides the geographical factor, Taiwan is also home to TSMC, the major advanced semiconductor manufacturer as well as others that are responsible for two-thirds of contract chipmaking in the global market.
However, while Taiwan serves a significant role in the global electronics supply chain, some argue that the country is facing a potential energy crisis. Taiwan is trying to balance its 2050 net-zero carbon emissions commitment while also safeguarding national and regional security.
Taiwan’s current energy transition commitment pledges to “promote green energy, increase natural gas, reduce coal-fired [power], achieve nuclear-free.” That means Taiwan is not yet ready to shift its reliance on imported energy resources. Even if the country adopted a mixed energy policy to eventually phase out coal and gas, the increasing threats from China to disrupt the peace in the Taiwan Strait have raised a wide range of concerns on Taiwan’s energy policy. For example, a potential maritime blockade would severely impact Taiwan’s ability to import liquefied natural gas (LNG), leading to further risk of electricity shortages.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s renewable energy development has been slow and limited. According to the Energy Administration under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, as of 2023, renewable energy sources such as hydro, wind, waste-to-energy, and solar only accounted for 9.5 percent of national energy production, while fossil fuels (coal and gas) still made up around 83 percent. Several factors contribute to the slow progress in Taiwan’s renewables sector, including supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and rising raw material costs, particularly due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, which has affected the installation and manufacturing of solar panels.
These issues feed into Taiwan’s existing political divide, with different sides promoting different narratives. Taiwanese politics has long been dominated by two major parties: the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which leans toward upholding Taiwanese sovereignty, and the Kuomintang (KMT), which leans more pro-China. Their differing political ideologies often hinder both parties from reaching a consensus on policy formation, and, even worse, at times leads to the spread of disinformation to serve particular political interests. During the 2024 presidential election campaign, for instance, more than 40 environmental groups petitioned both parties and candidates to refrain from amplifying renewable energy disinformation for campaign purposes.
While concerns about the government’s renewable energy policies have some legitimacy, and the impacts of those policies on the cost of living and specific industries are real, some narratives – stemming from genuine worries or ineffective government communication – have been woven into climate disinformation and exploited by the CCP for FIMI purposes.
According to the Taiwan Information Environment Research Center (IORG), during the 2024 elections, there were at least eight instances of information manipulation related to electricity prices, with claims that the ruling government’s energy policies were inefficient. Notably, IORG highlighted that Chinese state media had manipulated narratives to suggest that Taiwan’s semiconductor industry was suffering due to rising electricity costs, further exacerbating public discontent.
The impact of climate disinformation goes beyond merely delaying Taiwan’s energy transition. It also undermines efforts to safeguard its democracy. Failure to address climate disinformation not only hampers the government’s ability to implement effective policies but also creates vulnerabilities for foreign interference to disrupt democratic processes. However, the responsibility to counter climate disinformation does not rest solely with the government, climate and industry experts, or any single civic organization. It requires a collective effort from all sectors – civil society, community-based organizations, scientists, policy experts, and the general public.
