Covering Climate Now

After a lawsuit, USDA agrees to share climate risk data with farmers Now, even if the webpages come down again, the data can remain public.

The USDA has settled a lawsuit with a group of agricultural and environmental nonprofits, agreeing to make its climate data and tools available to farmers. By Friday Garza for @grist.org:

Sea levels around the world are much higher than we thought Most coastal risk assessments have underestimated current sea levels, meaning tens of millions of people face losing their homes to rising waters earlier than expected

99% of research on sea level rise impacts got current sea level wrong (!).
That doesn't mean projections of <1m of sea level rise by 2100 are incorrect.
But it does mean the consequences of this rise will happen sooner, since we're starting from a higher baseline www.newscientist.com/article/2517...

Pitch Clinic at the Perugia Journalism Festival Covering Climate Now and Clean Energy Wire are hosting a practical session at the 2026 International Journalism Festival in Perugia: “Covering a heating world with fewer resources”. The session is designed to help freelance climate journalists navigate shifting editorial priorities and tighter budgets, and it includes a live pitch clinic.

At this year’s @journalismfestival.com in Perugia, CCNow and @cleanenergywire.bsky.social are hosting an event about freelancing climate stories.

We’ll workshop pitches live, the strongest of which will be considered for publication by @theguardian.com. Apply now:

What to Watch at China's Two Sessions in 2026 Neil Thomas and Lobsang Tsering preview watchpoints for the Government Work Report and the 15th Five-Year Plan.

The @asiapolicy.asiasociety.org breaks down what to watch for amid China’s Two Sessions meetings:

A Climate Policy Preview of China’s Five-Year Plan Also: how the war in Iran is impacting solar stocks and ESG investors

China’s biggest annual political gathering, the Two Sessions, wraps next week, with voting on the country’s 15th five-year plan, which articulates economic and policy strategy, including a review of green goals.

@bloomberg.com gives a status report on China’s climate policy:

🚨 Catch a recording of today's discussion about the US-Israel war on Iran and how climate change fuels conflict — and vice versa:

💫❤️

Press Briefing: The Iran War and the Climate Emergency — Covering Climate Now War makes climate change worse in many ways, and vice versa. The US-Israel attacks on Iran that began over the weekend have killed hundreds of civilians and sent oil prices soaring, but this war also ...

Thank you for sharing, Emily. If you haven't seen it, you might be interested in the webinar we're wrapping up right now about the Iran war and the climate emergency. We'll post the recording here in a couple of hours: coveringclimatenow.org/event/press-...

Check out @climatecentral.org's training on turning climate data into stories to strengthen your local climate reporting. It's going to be a great session!

At 12pm ET today, CCNow's webinar on the US-Israel attacks on Iran and their climate implications.

RSVP to listen to the discussion: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

“This contraction occurred despite geographically widespread and disruptive climate impacts throughout the year, widening the gap between real-world climate risk and the information available to broadcast audiences,” writes @evlondocooper.bsky.social.

How broadcast TV networks covered climate change in 2025 Corporate broadcast networks again reduced climate coverage in 2025, marking the third year coverage has declined since the networks' high-water mark of 23 hours of reporting in 2022. A Media Matters…

New analysis from @mmfa.bsky.social finds that US TV news coverage of climate change dropped 35% from 2024 to 2025.

Expert panelists will be:

⭐️ @rdamen.bsky.social, Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism
⭐️ @ninalakhani.bsky.social, @DrilledMedia.bsky.com
⭐️ Giles Trendle, formerly of @aljazeera.com

CCNow’s Executive Director, Mark Hertsgaard, will moderate.

The Iran War and the Climate Emergency CCNow will be joined by Rawan Damen of ARIJ, Nina Lakhani of Drilled, and AJE's former managing director, Giles Trendle.

🚨 Iran webinar alert

War makes climate change worse — and vice versa. Join CCNow on March 5, for a rapid response discussion about the US-Israel attacks on Iran and the way climate change threads through conflict.

RSVP: buff.ly/RtEu67q

Interested in covering the intersection of #AI and #climateChange?

WATCH a recording of the latest session in our ongoing series, “AI’s Unquenchable Thirst for Water”: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu9i...

Trump's EPA wants us to cover our eyes. On climate policy, the Trump administration is willfully burying its head in the sand. It’s crucial newsrooms don’t follow.

“The Trump administration may be burying its head. But journalists can’t afford to look away now,” writes Jem Bartholomew for @columjournreview.bsky.social:

Governo federal revoga decreto que privatizava rios da Amazônia após um mês de ocupação indígena no Tapajós Decisão foi confirmada pelo governo federal após reunião, em Brasília, com lideranças indígenas e a ministra dos Povos Indígenas Sonia Guajajara.

In #Brazil, after a monthlong occupation at the Cargill port by Indigenous peoples from the Tapajós region, the Brazilian government has reversed course on its decree to privatize rivers in the Amazon. By Fábio Bispo, Jullie Pereira, and Samantha Rufino for InfoAmazonia…

The Climate Newsroom: Canada Cohort — Covering Climate Now Learn about CCNow’s training program aimed at helping reporters, editors, newsroom managers, and meteorologists produce more robust climate coverage for digital, social, radio, TV, and print. …

🇨🇦 Free training for Canadian journalists!

Our free training program, The Climate Newsroom, provides story ideas and support so you can deliver solutions-driven climate stories in 3 sessions.

Apply by March 13:

Highly recommend applying for this!

It’s FREE to enter, is international (=more inclusive and interestingly competitive) and is one of the easier submission processes out there.

AND if you win you get a super cool orange glass globe trophy for your desk! To keep us motivated. 😎

Supreme Court accepts oil industry’s bid to quash climate lawsuits If successful, the lawsuits from cities, states and counties could put companies like Exxon Mobil on the hook for billions of dollars.

The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear an argument by #fossilFuel companies seeking to undercut the legal basis for the wave of lawsuits being brought against those companies by US cities and states. By Lesley Clark for Politico's E&E News:

Resettled, not rehabilitated: Inside India’s ‘climate colony’ Displaced by coastal erosion, people began moving to Bagapatia in the 2010s, but continue to decry the village’s inadequate and dangerous conditions

#India’s first so-called “rehabilitation colony” for people displaced by climate change is not equipped to sustain its population of more than 17,000 people. Climate change, however, has made Bagapatia nearly uninhabitable. By Dimple Behal for @dialogueearth.bsky.social...

Catch a glimpse of the occupation in a succinct social video by AJ+: buff.ly/taoPgV3

Governo federal revoga decreto que privatizava rios da Amazônia após um mês de ocupação indígena no Tapajós Decisão foi confirmada pelo governo federal após reunião, em Brasília, com lideranças indígenas e a ministra dos Povos Indígenas Sonia Guajajara.

In #Brazil, after a monthlong occupation at the Cargill port by Indigenous peoples from the Tapajós region, the Brazilian government has reversed course on its decree to privatize rivers in the Amazon. By Fábio Bispo, Jullie Pereira, and Samantha Rufino for InfoAmazonia…

CCNow Basics A series of trainings for journalists that explain the foundational science of climate change, how to report on solutions, the three pillars approach we reco...

Eager to report on #climateChange but need a little confidence getting started?

Check out our #CCNowBasics webinar series, designed to help journalists who are new to the climate story get started:

19 years ago, the Supreme Court told EPA it could regulate climate pollution. Trump is trying to undo that Last week, the Trump administration delivered a catastrophic blow to US climate policy by repealing the longstanding scientific finding that planet-warming pollution poses a danger to humans.

More than a dozen climate and environmental groups are suing to prevent the overturn of the “endangerment finding,” the legal foundation for federal climate policy, just days after the Trump administration announced its rollback. By Ella Nilsen for @cnn.com...

Locally Sourced Archives — Covering Climate Now Find reporting tips, ideas, and examples, plus resources for localizing the climate story. Subscribe here. Lee “Fuentes Locales” en español.

Looking for #climate story ideas? Check out our #LocallySourced archive for quick reporting guides, including sample stories, expert tips, and resources to get you started:

Thank you for sharing, Nina!!

AI Data Centers & Their Climate and Community Impact — Covering Climate Now The tech industry’s insatiable interest in AI is driving a data center boom in the US that shows no sign of slowing down; nearly 3,000 are under construction, adding to the more than 4,000 already in…

The first webinar in our ongoing series on AI and climate change tackled data centers and their climate and community impacts. Catch a recording here: buff.ly/Q0Mx99G

"AI's Unquenchable Thirst for Water" is the second in our ongoing series on AI and climate change. Expert panelists will be:

⭐️ Luke Barratt, @source-material.org
⭐️ Peter Colohan, @landpolicy.bsky.social
⭐️ Shubhangi Derhgawen, @deutschewelle.dw.com
⭐️ Shannon Mullane, @coloradosun.com

AI’s Unquenchable Thirst for Water Join Covering Climate Now for a one-hour webinar discussion about AI's ever-growing thirst and how to investigate the story through a local lens

🤖 AI webinar alert 🔔

This live discussion will brief journalists on #AI’s staggering use of water, explore how to cover local communities facing water shortages, and investigate potential solutions to safeguard this increasingly scarce resource.

RSVP: buff.ly/wKIMtUz