Climate

Did the United States introduce a plan in November 2023 to ban meat consumption nationwide? No, that's not true: The claim implying that New York City's Mayor Eric Adams was somehow involved in a purported federal incentive is not supported by any evidence confirming the existence of such a plan. This is a variation of a previously debunked claim. The…

Did U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggest that Elon Musk go to the sun to study climate change? No, that's not true: The audio and the visual backdrop of this video clip have been digitally altered. In the real interview that this footage was taken from, on the CBS program "Face the Nation," Ocasio-Cortez did not speak about sending Musk to…

Did climate activist Greta Thunberg advocate for "biodegradable missiles" in an interview with the BBC? No, that's not true: A clip that circulated on social media in October 2023 featured altered audio from an BBC interview in 2022 in which Thunberg discussed climate change. Nowhere in the original interview did Thunberg mention "biodegradable missiles" or other claims that were included…

Did U.S. Special Climate Envoy John Kerry say, "We must sacrifice billions of humans to save planet Earth"? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department told Lead Stories that this claim is false. The article making this claim has twisted quotes by Kerry to fit its narrative. And while this quote is in the article's headline,…

Did London Mayor Sadiq Khan impose restrictions on meat consumption on all city residents as of October 20, 2023? No, that's not true: While the mayor publicly promotes increased vegetable consumption, he neither introduced rationing of meat nor enacted a total ban on this category of food. Posts on social media mislead about his policies. In addition, Khan first announced…

Did Pope Francis declare World Economic Forum chairman Klaus Schwab a "more important" figure than Jesus Christ? No, that's not true: The People's Voice, the website originally making the claim, provided no sources proving the pope said this. The site has a long history of publishing fake or made up quotes and has a liability disclaimer that seeks to absolve…

Did the head of the CIA acknowledge in a speech that "chemtrails" are real? No, that's not true: In a 2016 speech then-CIA Director John Brennan was discussing a controversial and untested solar geoengineering method called Stratospheric Aerosol Injection technology. "Chemtrails" are not the same thing as Stratospheric Aerosol Injection, which aims to potentially reverse global warming by reflecting a…

Does this video show images of flooding in Berlin "right now"? No, that's not true: Lead Stories was able to identify most of these scenes and none show flooding in Berlin. While several clips showing flooding from the summer of 2023, much of the footage is from the 2021 European flash floods in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany as…

Did Phoenix become the "first U.S. city" to prohibit "meat, dairy, private cars" in September 2023 at the directive of the World Economic Forum? No, that's not true: Had it been a real ban, it would have been officially announced on the government website of Phoenix, which has no traces of it. The claim stems from a misleading interpretation of…

Did Bill Clinton and Pope Francis call for "urgent depopulation" to save the planet? No, that's not true: The pope and former President Clinton had a public conversation in September 2023 during the Clinton Global Initiative 2023 meeting where they spoke about climate change but never discussed "urgent depopulation," according to the official transcripts of the event. The website that…