As energy bills head for their biggest rise in four years, climate change featured for seven seconds in Andy Burnham’s conference speech and in none of the 22 standalone online articles analysed.
We partner with the University of Exeter to publish original research that consistently tracks UK broadcast reporting on climate change, for the first time.
Using newly-developed AI technology, we track BBC, ITN, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky News TV and radio news bulletins and online news services.
Register below to be the first to receive insights from Climate News Tracker.
What we track
1
The quantity of daily climate news reports.
2
The effectiveness of climate reporting against a consistent set of criteria.
3
Opportunities for a potential climate angle in neighbouring subjects such as economics or health.
4
Accuracy in climate information reporting.
Insights
Nepal floods: Climate change featured early, but faded as coverage turned to the human toll
TV, radio, and online coverage were more likely to link climate change to the Nepal floods than social media, with the strongest connections in the first two days before attention shifted to casualties, rescue efforts and immediate impacts.
Climate concern rises to highest level since 2024 after summer of extreme weather
Almost two-thirds of adults in Great Britain now see climate change and the environment as an important issue the UK faces, as record-high summer heat, drought and wildfires brought the impacts of a changing climate closer to home.
Heatwaves, wildfires, emergency alerts and Rosebank: Where did public service media join the dots?
TV and radio were much more likely than online and social media to connect a week of heatwaves, wildfires, emergency alerts and North Sea drilling. Drilling received the least coverage, but was the topic most consistently linked to climate change.
From lidos to lost relatives: How the voices featured in climate coverage shifted this summer
Drawing on five Climate News Tracker studies, this analysis finds that who audiences heard from depended heavily on the story being told. Public voices were prominent during heatwaves, farmers during drought and impacted people during the Nepal floods, while the mix also varied across platforms.
Extreme weather brought the fossil fuel transition into UK news, but rarely as the main story
Heatwaves provided the main opportunity to connect extreme weather with the move away from fossil fuels, but the transition was more often a secondary part of the story and was rarely discussed on TikTok.
Newsrooms needn’t fear climate is ‘boring’. Audiences don’t think so
Former Head of the BBC Newsroom and Controller of BBC World Service Mary Hockaday argues that extreme weather is giving journalists clear opportunities to explain the climate story, while new audience research suggests the public wants that context. by Mary Hockaday (Former Head of the BBC Newsroom and World Service controller) News crews have been […]
Half the UK public want news reports to explain climate link to extreme weather
As heatwaves, wildfires and drought dominate summer headlines, new Climate News Tracker research finds half the UK public want news organisations to explain the climate link when scientific evidence supports it, while a further 20% want climate change central to every extreme-weather story.
The UK’s drought became a bigger news story once it was declared, but not a better-explained one
Coverage surged after drought was officially declared, but online and social video audiences received far less explanation of its causes and long-term solutions.
Climate coverage hit a 2026 high, but only because of two heatwaves
Climate coverage reached its highest level of 2026 during two June heatwaves, but the rise was short-lived. Climate News Tracker’s latest quarterly analysis finds extreme weather remained the only story that consistently broke through, while other climate stories with clear news pegs received little attention.
