A study by Climate Tracker revealed that 27.3% of the news published in Argentina about the energy transition contains, at least, one misleading phrase. The researchers in charge of the project point out that these facts distort the viability of the process.
This data comes from the research “Gaslighting: misinformation about the energy transition in Latin America and the Caribbean”, which lasted a year and covered Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guyana, Suriname, and Mexico. At a regional level, 1487 articles published in 32 media outlets between June 23, 2023, and May 24, 2024, were studied.
Discourses on the energy transition
It was identified that most of the misleading content does not deny climate change, but rather tries to postpone or downplay the urgent debate on the energy transition with retardant narratives.
The most used discourse for this purpose is the presentation of fossil gas (also known as natural gas) as a transition fuel. The researchers point out that this narrative misinforms because increasing gas exploitation is incompatible with the goal of containing the global temperature rise.
Although misinformation reaches 20% of the news studied at a regional level, it was found that in Argentina, the incidence is higher. The main misleading discourses in the country seek to delay the transition towards a clean matrix, less dependent on fossil fuels.
Misinformation in Argentina
In Argentina, 165 notes from four media outlets were analyzed: La Nación, Infobae, elDiarioAr, and Ámbito. Misleading content was detected in 45 of them. Although the discourse of gas as a transition bridge was the most prevalent (appearing in 71% of these contents), some singularities were found.
“A particularity in Argentina is the emergence of discourses that claim to promote renewables -such as hydrogen– but in reality, they still support the gas matrix, by including not only green hydrogen but also blue hydrogen in the package,” stated Maximiliano Manzoni, general coordinator of the research, to NoticiasAmbientales.com.
Out of every 10 misleading statements in Argentina, four were issued by representatives of the fossil industry. Another two were made by officials from the governmental sphere. For the researchers, this alignment highlights the link between economic interests and political decisions, reinforcing the “gas consensus” in national energy policy.
An economic view on a socio-environmental issue
The study period included the last semester of Alberto Fernández’s government and the first semester of Javier Milei’s administration. Despite ideological differences, no major differences were detected in the informational treatment of the energy transition between both periods.
According to Manzoni, there are two interpretations regarding this. One explanation suggests that, regardless of the political orientation, “the discussion on the energy transition in Argentina remains stuck in the vortex of the endemic economic crisis and a lack of imagination to envision beyond Vaca Muerta.”
“The more positive interpretation is that the marked denialist discourses of the current president have apparently not permeated the coverage and discussions on the transition,” stated the coordinator of this research.
The study pointed out that the energy transition is still an emerging topic in the media. “It is still confined to short-term economic conversations, especially around Vaca Muerta,” Manzoni affirmed.
The researcher mentioned that promoting specialized coverage that narrates the transition not only from climate change but also from local politics, health, and science would help counteract misinformation.
Data
Within this research, it was identified that the countries with the highest levels of misinformation were Ecuador (35%) and Guyana (30%).
