🌅 News Coverage of Climate Change Is Down

SOURCE

Media and Climate Change Observatory

WHAT TO KNOW

• Researchers at the Media and Climate Change Observatory at the University of Colorado found global news coverage of climate change decreased for the fourth consecutive year in 2025, falling by 14% compared to 2024. The new report found coverage of news stories related to climate change declined in every region last year, with the largest decreases found in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and North America. Coverage in 2025 was down 38% from the peak in 2021.

WHY IT MATTERS

• The decline in coverage happened as emissions from fossil fuels reached new highs and global temperatures shot up to the hottest on record. New research also shows global warming has accelerated in recent years, with the past three years measuring 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than preindustrial levels, putting the world at least temporarily in breach of the key target in the 2015 Paris Agreement. The authors argued stopping the trend is possible, while acknowledging the current political environment could ultimately produce the opposite effect.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• Experts believe the lack of climate change coverage is driven by several factors, including politics, the firing of climate journalists at prominent news outlets, and finite news space at a time the current U.S. administration is flooding the public sphere across domains. Beyond technical factors, experts think news fatigue may also play a factor, partly reflecting the domestic and global failures to communicate significant progress on climate issues.