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FIMI as an environmental adversary
Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) increasingly constitute a substantive threat to the environmental domain (Upgrade Democracy, 2023). Although systematic evidence remains limited and the field is still under-researched, international institutions have already documented the presence of targeted manipulation linked to environmental issues (Climate Action, 2023). Such interference can erode trust in scientific expertise, obstruct the adoption of environmental policies, and ultimately impede collective responses to ecological challenges.
Environmental FIMI employs a wide spectrum of manipulative tactics, including the dissemination of climate-change denialism, the distortion of data on pollution and renewable energy, and the amplification of conspiracy theories regarding environmental organizations or scientific institutions (Hong & Zhao, 2014). These tactics often exploit the complexity of environmental science, using simplified or misleading claims to sow doubt and confusion (Weingart, Engels & Pansegrau, 2000). For example, disinformation narratives frequently exaggerate the environmental footprint of electric vehicles or falsely present climate change as an orchestrated geopolitical project. By reinforcing echo chambers and polarizing public opinion, FIMI undermines consensus-building around urgently needed environmental action (EEAS, 2022).
Recent analyses, including those conducted by the East StratCom Task Force have identified coordinated campaigns framing climate change as a Western construct designed to weaken fossil-fuel-dependent economies (EEAS, 2022; 2025). These narratives serve both to protect economic interests and to create divisions within international institutions such as the UNFCCC. The environmental sphere is particularly vulnerable due to the magnitude of vested interests in traditional energy sectors (Oreskes & Conway, 2010), the emotional weight of environmental concerns, and widespread public uncertainty regarding complex scientific processes.
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Environmental communication and the vulnerability of science-based debate
Environmental communication scholarship emphasizes how environmental issues rely on specialized scientific knowledge and long-term projections, making them especially prone to misinterpretation, emotionalization, and politicization. Research consistently demonstrates that environmental debates are characterised by:
- High complexity
- Delayed or uncertain impacts
- Moral and identity-based dimensions
- Conflicts between short-term costs and long-term benefits
These characteristics create favourable conditions for disinformation and manipulative framing. FIMI actors often deploy “pseudo-scientific” rhetoric, misleading statistics, or contrarian expert commentary to generate uncertainty mirroring well-documented tactics in climate denialism. In the Western Balkans, these dynamics are intensified by historically low trust in institutions, variable regulatory capacity, and strong political polarization.
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FIMI and the environment in Macedonia and the Western Balkans
The Western Balkans emerge as a high-risk environment for environmental FIMI due to:
- Structural political polarization
- Low institutional trust
- Energy dependence and economic exposure
- Pollution-sensitive urban populations
- High digital penetration combined with low media literacy
- Ongoing geopolitical competition between the EU, Russia, China, Turkey, and Gulf states
Theories of propaganda, hybrid threats, and environmental communication all highlight that manipulative actors thrive in contexts where public frustration, institutional weakness, and contested identities intersect. Environmental policy in the Western Balkans embodies all three.
In Macedonia and the broader Western Balkans, FIMI activities intersect with existing governance challenges, socio-political cleavages, and structural vulnerabilities. A critical obstacle remains the absence of systematic monitoring and empirical data on FIMI in the environmental domain, which obscures the extent and long-term implications of such interference.
In Macedonia, environmental issues, particularly air pollution have become frequent targets for disinformation. Narratives downplaying pollution severity or disputing scientific assessments circulate widely, often undermining public support for regulatory reform (Metamorphosis Foundation, 2024). Environmental NGOs and activists are similarly targeted through smear campaigns that attempt to delegitimize their work by portraying them as agents of foreign interests. These strategies draw on pre-existing political and societal divisions, which heightens their effectiveness (International Republican Institute, 2025).
Investigations by BIRN (2022) reveal that pro-Kremlin media outlets in Macedonian- and Serbian-language environments routinely promote claims that environmental NGOs manipulate data or act on behalf of Western intelligence services. Such rhetoric aims to discredit civic activism and frame environmental mobilization as destabilizing rather than democratically legitimate. Complementary narratives, identified by CRPM (2023), depict EU climate policies as economically harmful measures designed to weaken Balkan industries while benefiting Western corporations.
Region-wide, FIMI actors routinely exploit tensions around EU accession, representing environmental standards as external impositions that threaten economic stability (EUISS, 2023). This strategy fosters resistance to environmental regulation and complicates regional cooperation on shared ecological challenges such as water management and biodiversity conservation (Clingendael Institute, 2025).
The energy sector is especially susceptible. Macedonia’s dependence on lignite, coupled with widespread concerns over energy security and economic transition, facilitates anti-renewable narratives that portray clean-energy technologies as unreliable or excessively costly. These narratives are often aligned with geopolitical actors seeking to preserve markets for fossil fuels. Large-scale infrastructural projects—including hydropower and mining—also provide fertile ground for manipulation, with disinformation either shielding environmentally harmful initiatives from scrutiny or delegitimizing legitimate opposition. Lower media literacy levels, combined with heavy reliance on online platforms for news consumption, further magnify the influence of FIMI campaigns across the Western Balkans (ARTICLE 19, 2022).
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Potentially vulnerable areas for environmental FIMI in Macedonia and the Western Balkans
4.1 Air pollution and urban environmental stress
Technical complexity in air-quality measurement allows disinformation actors to cast doubt on monitoring systems, redirect blame, or suggest political manipulation of pollution data. These narratives resonate particularly strongly in contexts marked by political distrust or dissatisfaction with public institutions.
4.2 Energy sector
The strategic significance of the energy sector makes it a prime target. Anti-renewable narratives often promoted by actors with vested interests in fossil fuels frame the energy transition as a threat to national sovereignty, employment, and economic stability. By exploiting fears of deindustrialization and rising energy costs, such narratives hinder public support for environmentally sustainable reforms.
4.3 Environmental activism and civil society
Environmental CSOs and grassroots movements are routinely subjected to delegitimization efforts. These campaigns portray activists as politically motivated or foreign funded, leveraging ethnic, political, and socio-economic divisions to fragment public support. Local environmental struggles – including opposition to mining or hydropower development become particularly susceptible to FIMI when legitimate concerns are reframed as conspiracies or external interference.
