Vol. 6 No. 2 (2026): Studia Humanitatis Journal
Articles: monographic section

Climate disinformation and polarization: challenges for democratic governance in the digital sphere

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  • Juan Carlos Solano Lucas ,
  • Juan Antonio Clemente Soler ,
  • Renato Sebastián Larrea Pazmiño
Juan Carlos Solano Lucas
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2145-4613 (unauthenticated) Universidad de Murcia, España

Bio
Juan Antonio Clemente Soler
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2272-6219 (unauthenticated)

Bio
Renato Sebastián Larrea Pazmiño
https://orcid.org/0009-0004-8726-1576 (unauthenticated)

Bio
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33732/shj.v6i2.183

Published 2026-08-13

Keywords

  • Disinformation,
  • Polarisation,
  • Digital democracy,
  • Climate change

Copyright (c) 2026 Studia Humanitatis Journal

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Digitalisation has broadened access to environmental information, but has also intensified disinformation and polarisation, putting strain on democratic quality and the capacity to sustain redistributive climate policies. This article presents the results of a mixed-methods study combining secondary analysis of survey series from the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS) and the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) on belief in climate change and associated attitudes, with cross-tabulations by ideology, sex, and educational level, and thematic analysis of six focus groups conducted in different Spanish regions. The quantitative evidence reveals socially structured patterns of acceptance, doubt and scepticism, with consistent differences by educational level and political ideology. The qualitative discourses surface “information fatigue”, the circulation of contradictory narratives and the ambivalent role of social media: they facilitate mobilisation around climate change, but also foster disengagement and distrust, hindering consensus-building. Climate disinformation is interpreted as a digital governance problem that erodes institutional trust and weakens public deliberation, undermining the legitimacy of the ecological transition and, with it, the sustainability of the welfare state.
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