In the face of rising climate disinformation in Canadian municipalities, a new digital tool aims to streamline climate planning decisions and show their impact.

ICLEI Canada’s Climate Insight is a free online platform to guide climate-resilient city planning, with a focus on housing and infrastructure. The tool, which released new features in April, collates public data to allow users to map future climate risk, costs, and land use considerations.

Last year, a conservative group called “KICLEI” deliberately mimicked ICLEI’s messaging for an AI disinformation campaign to influence city councils across Canada away from climate action, a National Observer investigation found.

“We’re responding by staying the course and doubling down on what we do,” ICLEI Managing Director Ewa Jackson told The Energy Mix.

KICLEI used an AI chatbot to flood Canadian city councils with climate misinformation. It sent emails and drafted motions to advocate that cities withdraw from their climate action planning commitments.

In hindsight, Jackson classified KICLEI’s efforts as disruptive, but ineffective.

Only two municipalities pulled out of climate action planning projects out of dozens of councils receiving email blasts and presentations from KICLEI.

“It takes up a lot of air, but doesn’t seem to be having a lot of impact,” Jackson said. “But it’s unfortunate it takes up so much air because it distracts staff and council from addressing the issues that are actually important in the community.”

It isn’t the first time ICLEI has faced misinformation. The organization launched in 1990 through the United Nations as an international network of urban development professionals dedicated to sharing sustainability knowledge.

In 2012, the U.S. Tea Party movement rallied against the American branch of ICLEI in city councils across the United States.

At first, ICLEI took the time to refute false claims, said Jackson. Now, it tries not to engage.

AI has amplified the power of a few voices to create the illusion of larger mobilizations. Responding to their emails “is not a good use of our time and fairly limited resources,” Jackson said.

So instead, ICLEI compiled resources on combatting climate disinformation in cities.

“We advise municipalities to rest on data and evidence that is provided by peer-reviewed sources,” she said.

Data doesn’t always debunk misinformation. Still, Jackson said platforms like Climate Insight aim to make data about the benefits of climate adaptation and the costs of inaction clearer.

From there flows the work of identifying sources of disinformation and developing civic trust.

“Trust that there are far more Canadians that are in support of climate action and responding to climate impacts,” said Jackson.

Municipal staff and residents can use ICLEI’s tools to map risks like extreme temperatures or flooding, their vulnerability, and the costs to infrastructure, then scroll through to a separate solutions finder. ICLEI’s target audience for Climate Insight includes local governments and Indigenous communities, and Winnipeg has been an early tester of the digital tool’s new map features, Office of Sustainability Manager Becky Raddatz told The Mix.

Cities’ planning for climate resilience requires many layers of expertise: projecting temperature increases, flood risk, calculating greenhouse gas emissions, cost, and more—all decades in advance. Climate Insight is meant to simplify the process.

“You don’t have to know the climate data or calculate the risks, it just walks you through it,” said Raddatz.

The tool could be useful beyond municipal climate planning spaces. A new Climatesmart Home Explorer allows people to compare and cost out options for energy-efficient home projects.

“There are folks who are trying to fight the affordability crisis and fight the housing crisis,” said Jackson. “The most affordable home you can build is one that the occupant can heat and cool.”