Social media giant Facebook has launched a new content labelling system to tackle climate misinformation.

The informational labels, which will be rolled out initially to posts on climate in the UK and will soon expand to more countries, will redirect users to figures and data from official organisations.

A few months ago, the company introduced a new online hub, named Climate Science Information Centre that features facts, figures and data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and their global network of climate science partners, including the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the World Meteorological Organization, the Met Office and others.

Dr Anthony Leiserowitz, Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, said: “Misinformation about climate change long predates the internet, but has been greatly amplified in our new digital world.

“This new myth-busting section of the Facebook Climate Science Information Centre can help raise public climate change awareness and understanding worldwide.”

Nancy Groves, Digital Strategy Chief for the UNEP, said: “A healthy planet depends on everyone, everywhere and that starts with people having access to accurate and timely information.”