Climate Denial on YouTube Shifts to Skepticism of Solutions, Report Finds

The Center for Countering Digital Hate identifies a new trend in climate denial content, potentially helping creators circumvent YouTube's monetization ban.

YouTube has seen a shift in climate denial content from outright denial to skepticism of climate solutions, according to a report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH).
The report analyzed over 12,000 videos from 96 channels promoting climate denial and misinformation, finding that 'new denial' content now makes up 70% of all climate denial claims on YouTube.
Claims that climate change isn't happening declined from 48% in 2018 to 14% in 2023, while claims that climate solutions won't work soared from 9% to 30%.
The CCDH suggests that this shift in narrative could be helping YouTube video creators circumvent the platform's ban on monetizing climate denial.
The report also found that YouTube could be making up to $13.4 million a year from ads on videos containing climate denial, despite the platform's policy against such content.