Covering Climate Now is a global journalism collaboration committed to improving climate coverage

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Covering climate, weather, and energy means cutting through more disinformation, spin, and greenwashing than ever. How are you dealing with it? Are you still figuring out what works, or do you have your own tools and tricks to spot and counter disinformation in your reporting?  

Wherever you are on the learning journey, Climate Action Against Disinformation (CAAD) and Covering Climate Now are developing a new, improved, and global Journalist Field Guide to Covering Climate Disinformation, building on CAAD’s existing resource — and we’d love to hear from you first.

Wherever you are in the world, we’d love your input. The information integrity community is growing globally, and you never know from where the next solution might come, or where the latest new problem may be evolving.  

The new guide we’re working on is meant to be as useful as possible for any journalist, anywhere, so we’re hoping to hear from journalists everywhere. Whether you’ve used CAAD’s guide before or not, your experience and perspective will help shape the new version.

Share your feedback here to help develop the new one

The survey is short, and your responses are completely anonymous. You can answer in English or Spanish.

Thank you in advance for helping us update this resource for colleagues all around the world.

Best,

CAAD + Covering Climate Now teams

Covering Climate Now is a global journalism collaboration committed to improving climate coverage.

The Invisible Frontline: Why the Global Press is Rebuilding the Toolkit for Climate Truth

The modern newsroom is no longer just a place of observation; it has become a high-stakes laboratory for deconstructing deception. As the planet warms, the airwaves are cooling under a different kind of pressure: a sophisticated, multi-billion-dollar deluge of disinformation, strategic greenwashing, and digital spin.

For the journalists stationed on the climate and energy beats, the mission has shifted. It is no longer enough to report the facts; they must now learn to dismantle the fictions.

The Anatomy of the Fog

Reporting on the environment in 2026 feels less like science communication and more like forensic investigation. Journalists are navigating a landscape where:

Greenwashing has evolved from simple marketing into complex corporate narratives that mimic environmental advocacy.

Coordinated Disinformation campaigns leverage bot networks to drown out localized weather alerts with climate skepticism.

The "Information Integrity" Gap leaves many reporters—particularly those in under-resourced regions—vulnerable to high-gloss, low-truth press releases.

But a global counter-offensive is mounting. Leading the charge, Climate Action Against Disinformation (CAAD) and Covering Climate Now have issued a worldwide call to arms for the journalistic community.

A Field Guide for the Future

The original Journalist Field Guide to Covering Climate Disinformation served as a vital shield for reporters. Now, in recognition that the "next solution" or "latest problem" could emerge from any corner of the globe—from a newsroom in Manila to a radio station in Nairobi—a new, global version is under construction.

This isn't just an update; it is a collaborative reconstruction. The goal is to build a resource that is as adaptive and resilient as the reporters using it.

Your Voice is the Intelligence

The intelligence gathered from the frontlines—the "tricks of the trade" developed by reporters on the ground—is the fuel for this new guide. CAAD and Covering Climate Now are seeking direct input from journalists everywhere to understand:

What’s working? Which tools are successfully spotting deepfakes or debunking energy myths?

What’s missing? Where are the current blind spots in our collective defense?

Global Nuance: How does disinformation in Spanish-speaking markets differ from English ones, and how can we bridge that gap?

The Call to Action: Whether you are a veteran investigative lead or a freelancer just starting the climate journey, your perspective is the missing piece of the puzzle.

Join the Global Collaboration

The information integrity community is growing, and its strength lies in its transparency. By contributing to this brief, anonymous survey, you aren’t just answering questions—you are helping to forge a global standard for truth.

The survey is available in both English and Spanish, ensuring that the resulting guide is a truly universal asset.

In an era of rising tides and rising lies, the most powerful tool a journalist possesses is a shared defense. Help build the manual that will protect the narrative of our planet for years to come.

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The information age has birthed a new kind of shadow war, one fought not with weapons, but with "truth sandwiches," viral myths, and the strategic manipulation of reality. At the heart of this conflict lies climate change—a global crisis increasingly obscured by a sophisticated "misinformation supply chain" fueled by social media algorithms and deep-pocketed industry interests.

The Architecture of Deception

Climate misinformation is no longer just about denying the existence of warming; it is a complex web of "Discourses of Climate Delay". According to the Journalist Field Guide, this deceptive content often takes the form of:

Scientific Sabotage: Cherry-picking data to erode trust in experts and the scientific consensus.

Greenwashing: Falsely claiming that certain actions support climate goals when they actually contribute to warming.

The "Big Lie" Effect: Using political elites to platform unfounded accusations, pressuring media outlets into "false balance" where facts are treated as equal to fabrications.

The stakes are material. Research shows that the internet has accelerated a symbiotic growth between digital conspiracy theories and real-world violence, often outpacing our ability to coordinate solutions.

The Front Lines: A New Playbook for Truth

For the modern journalist, traditional reporting is no longer enough. To avoid "getting gamed by grifters," newsrooms are adopting a tactical defense known as the "Truth Sandwich":

Lead with the Fact: Start with a clear, pithy, and sticky truth.

Warn About the Myth: Before mentioning the misinformation, explicitly warn the audience that a myth is coming.

Explain the Fallacy: Briefly explain how the myth misleads without repeating manipulative language.

Reinforce the Fact: Finish by repeating the causal truth multiple times.

Strategic Silence and the Tipping Point

One of the most difficult decisions a reporter faces is whether to debunk a lie or ignore it. Reporting on an obscure myth can inadvertently grant it the "oxygen of amplification". Experts now advise "Strategic Silence" until a piece of misinformation reaches a "tipping point" of public circulation.

Once that threshold is crossed, the focus shifts to "Strategic Amplification"—exposing the bad actors behind the scenes rather than just the content they produce. Organizations like DeSmog and the Center for Countering Digital Hate help track the "Toxic Ten"—a small group of publishers responsible for the vast majority of climate denial content on social media.

The Human Cost of Passive Reporting

The guide also challenges journalists to rethink their language to promote accountability. Using the "Passive Voice" can invisibilize the victims of climate policy.

The Hidden Responsibility: "Marginalized communities have high incidences of asthma".

The Accountable Truth: "Politicians deciding to build power plants near marginalized communities has led to higher rates of asthma".

A Call to Inoculate

The ultimate goal is Inoculation. Much like a vaccine, journalists can "pre-bunk" myths by warning audiences about deceptive techniques before they encounter them. In an era where emotions often outpace facts, the path forward requires not just better data, but stories that center on human consequences and social justice.

As the guide concludes, climate change is a "story for every beat," and it is the responsibility of the media to ensure that story isn't written by those seeking to delay its ending.

The Scorched Earth: Global Food Systems on the Precipice

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The sun, once the bringer of life, has become a relentless predator. Across the tilled plains of Kyrgyzstan and the soybean heartlands of Brazil, a silent, sweltering crisis is rewriting the rules of human survival. According to a harrowing joint report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), extreme heat is no longer a seasonal threat—it is an existential wall that global food systems are hitting at full speed.

A World Under Siege

We are witnessing the emergence of a "new normal" where the mercury doesn't just rise; it destroys. For over a billion people whose lives are tethered to the soil and the sea, the environment is becoming a battlefield.

"Extreme heat is increasingly defining the conditions under which agrifood systems operate," warns WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo. It is a "compounding risk factor," a ghost in the machine that finds every crack in our global infrastructure and pries it wide open.

The Biological Breaking Point

The physics of our food is failing. Most of the world's staple crops have a "thermal ceiling." Once temperatures cross the 30°C (86°F) threshold, plant biology begins to shutter. Structures weaken, yields plummet, and the very foundation of our caloric intake erodes.

The animal kingdom is fareing no better. Pigs and poultry—species incapable of sweating away the heat—are succumbing to organ failure and stunted growth. In our oceans, the situation is even more dire. In 2024, 91% of the global ocean suffocated under marine heatwaves, depleting oxygen and leaving fisheries in a state of collapse. From the canopy of scorched forests to the depths of the sea, the message is clear: the heat is winning.

The Multiplier of Misery

Extreme heat does not act alone; it is a "risk multiplier" that recruits other disasters. It triggers:

Locust Swarms: As seen in Kyrgyzstan, where a 10°C spike didn't just wither cereal harvests by 25%, but invited a biblical plague of insects.

Water Scarcity: Evaporating irrigation reserves when plants need them most.

Wildfire Volatility: Turning forests into tinderboxes, as evidenced by the devastating North American heat dome of 2021.

The Human Toll: Half a Trillion Hours Lost

Beyond the chemistry of crops lies the tragedy of the hands that harvest them. We are currently losing 500 billion work hours annually to extreme heat. In regions like South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the forecast is grim: workers may soon face up to 250 days a year where it is physically too hot to labor outdoors. This isn't just a loss of productivity; it is a loss of dignity, income, and the very ability to feed one's family.

The Final Warning

The "clock is ticking," and the alarms are sounding from every corner of the globe. From the disrupted supply chains in the Strait of Hormuz threatening the flow of fertilizers, to the 20% yield drops in Brazilian soybeans, the buffer zones of the global economy are gone.

The UN agencies are calling for a radical pivot:

Bio-Innovation: Developing heat-resilient crops that can survive the 30°C+ reality.

Infrastructure Evolution: Solar-powered irrigation and early warning systems to give farmers a fighting chance.

The Great Transition: A decisive, global move away from a high-emissions future.

The scorched earth is a preview of a world where food is a luxury and shade is a memory. Protecting the future of agriculture is no longer about "sustainability"—it is about survival. As the report concludes, the choice is ours: we can adapt our systems today, or watch them burn tomorrow.

The Twin Reapers: Inside the Global Fight to Outrun Climate and Economic Collapse

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BERLIN — The air in the room was heavy with the weight of a planet at a breaking point. As delegates gathered for the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell did not open with platitudes or polished diplomatic jargon. Instead, he issued a visceral warning: the world is currently being hunted by "Twin Reapers."

On one side, the relentless march of global heating. On the other, the suffocating "cost chaos" of a world still shackled to volatile fossil fuels.

"These are perilous times," Stiell declared, his voice echoing through the hall. "Fossil-fuel driven stagflation is now stalking economies—driving up prices, driving down growth, and pushing budgets deeper into quagmires of debt."

A Gut-Punch to the Global Soul

The backdrop of the speech was somber. With conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere destabilizing the globe, Stiell pointed to a harsh reality: war isn't just a humanitarian catastrophe; it is an economic "gut-punch." By locking in high fossil fuel costs for years to come, these conflicts have stripped nations of their autonomy, leaving billions of households to choose between heating their homes and putting food on the table.

But in this darkness, Stiell argued, lies a paradox of hope. The very crisis of fossil fuel dependency has provided the ultimate argument for the clean energy transition.

"Clean energy offers security and affordability," Stiell insisted. "It returns sovereignty to nations and their peoples."

From Paper to Pavement: The Era of Implementation

The era of grand promises and landmark treaties is over. We are now, according to the UN chief, in the Era of Implementation. The goal is no longer just to sign documents, but to break down global targets into "achievable chunks" and turn them into physical projects on the ground.

The clean energy transition, Stiell noted, has reached a historic milestone: it is now irreversible. The momentum of the "real economy" is moving faster than the ink on diplomatic cables. However, the pace is still not enough to outrun the Reapers. To bridge the gap, Stiell called for a massive mobilization of trillions of dollars, specifically targeting the Global South to ensure no nation is left in the "economic trapdoor" of oil and gas.

The High-Impact Battlefields

Where will this war for the future be won? Stiell mapped out five critical sectors where the impact can be fastest and strongest:

The Power Grid: Modernizing the world’s aging grids to handle the surge of renewable energy.

Methane Suppression: Attacking this "ultra-potent" gas to put an immediate brake on global heating.

Early Warning Systems: Deploying technology to save lives before the next climate-driven disaster strikes.

Sustainable Cities: Transforming the urban jungles where half of humanity lives.

The Food Revolution: Resilient food supplies and waste reduction. Action here alone has the potential to slash global emissions by a staggering one-third.

A United Front: The Road to COP30 and Beyond

The speech served as a rallying cry for the upcoming presidencies of COP30 and COP31, led by Brazil, Turkey, and Australia. The message was clear: the Paris Agreement is working, but it must go "further and faster."

As Stiell concluded his remarks, the challenge left hanging in the air was not just for the ministers in the room, but for the global financial systems and industries they oversee. The choice is no longer between "going green" or "staying rich." In the face of the Twin Reapers, the only way to survive is to cooperate—or perish separately.

"Paris is working," Stiell reminded the delegates. "So let’s get on with the job."