Climate Change Reporting 101

The document serves as an introductory resource for journalists to understand the causes and impacts of climate change and how to report on them accurately. It defines key terms, explains the role of greenhouse gases and fossil fuels, and details the effects of warming on weather patterns. The guide offers specific phrasing to help reporters connect extreme weather events to human-caused climate change and distinguishes between mitigation and adaptation strategies. It also outlines international and national policy frameworks, such as the Paris Agreement and the US Inflation Reduction Act, while advising journalists on how to avoid pitfalls like greenwashing and the platforming of climate deniers.

• Climate change is primarily driven by the burning of fossil fuels for energy, industry, transportation, and buildings, while agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU) account for approximately one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions.
• Human activity has already increased Earth's temperature by 1.28 degrees Celsius, and the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that surpassing a 1.5 degrees C increase will lead to irreversible and exponentially more severe consequences.
• Climate change intensifies various weather phenomena: heatwaves become longer and hotter, warmer air increases heavy rainfall and flooding, melting ice and thermal expansion raise sea levels, and warmer oceans make hurricanes more destructive and less predictable.
• Journalists are encouraged to use attribution science to link specific events to climate change, noting that while climate change is not the sole cause of extreme weather, it acts as a catalyst that 'supercharges' normal patterns.
• Climate solutions are categorized into mitigation, which reduces heat-trapping emissions (e.g., wind and solar energy, electric cars), and adaptation, which increases resilience to unavoidable impacts (e.g., flood barriers, cooling centers).
• Major policy frameworks include the 2015 Paris Agreement, which aims to limit warming to below 2 degrees C (striving for 1.5 degrees C), the US Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 providing at least $370 billion in climate investment, the European Green Deal targeting a 55% emissions reduction by 2030, and China's 1+N policy aiming for peak emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.
• Ethical reporting practices include centering climate justice by highlighting the voices of marginalized groups and Indigenous peoples, avoiding the platforming of climate deniers to maintain accuracy, and remaining skeptical of corporate 'greenwashing'.

APA

CCNow (2024). Climate Change Reporting 101. Covering Climate Now. https://coveringclimatenow.org/resource/climate-change-reporting-101/

Chicago

CCNow. Climate Change Reporting 101. Covering Climate Now, 2024. https://coveringclimatenow.org/resource/climate-change-reporting-101/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=CCNow |title=Climate Change Reporting 101 |publisher=Covering Climate Now |date=10 June 2024 |url=https://coveringclimatenow.org/resource/climate-change-reporting-101/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ccnow2024climate, author = {CCNow}, title = {{Climate Change Reporting 101}}, institution = {Covering Climate Now}, year = {2024}, month = jun, url = {https://coveringclimatenow.org/resource/climate-change-reporting-101/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }