Global News Coverage of Climate Change Falls for Fourth Straight Year
Global media coverage of climate change declined for the fourth year in a row in 2025, even as emissions hit new highs, according to a new analysis.
Media coverage is down 14 percent from 2024 and 38 percent from 2021, when the volume of reporting on climate change peaked, according to an analysis by the Media and Climate Change Observatory, a project of the University of Colorado. Media coverage of climate change declined in all regions, but the decline was most pronounced in Africa, the Middle East, Europe and North America.
“Political and economic headwinds and newsroom consolidation and cutbacks have contributed to this decline in media coverage, said lead author Max Boykoff, a professor at the University of Colorado. “Additionally, information space is limited for competing stories as the Trump administration floods the public sphere with information in several areas.”
In the United States, climate journalists have found themselves in the hot seat in major media outlets. CBS News laid off most of its climate team in October and February The Washington Post followed suit. The newspaper laid off 14 climate journalists, including reporters, editors and videographers.
The decline in media coverage will impact public understanding, Boykoff said. “When the media fails to provide abundant and accurate coverage of these pressing climate issues, people risk not understanding how climate change shapes their daily lives, livelihoods and challenges. »
At the same time, as media coverage of climate has declined, fossil fuel emissions have reached new highs in each of the past four years. The last three years have been the warmest on record, around 1.5°C warmer than the pre-industrial era. Beyond 1.5 degrees of warming, scientists say the Earth is more likely to pass critical tipping points, from the breakdown of Atlantic currents to the dieback of the Amazon rainforest, which would further accelerate warming.
“Nothing major in the science has changed,” climate journalist Chris Mooney, a researcher at the University of Virginia, said in an article about the decline in media coverage. “But I think there is simply a weariness, reflecting in part the national and global inability to show significant progress on this issue. »
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