Rethinking Climate Journalism: Why Climate Must Shape Every Story We Tell
By Ibrahima Yakubu
Head of Communication and Strategies
Science and Environmental Journalist
African Climate Reporters
🌍 www.africanclimatereporters.com
📧 ibrahimayakubu@gmail.com
Climate journalism can no longer be treated as a “beat” or a specialist subject reserved for environment reporters. Climate change is not a standalone issue , it is the backdrop against which today’s economic, political, social, and security stories are unfolding. From business and finance to health, agriculture, migration, and conflict, climate change is influencing decisions, risks, and outcomes across every sector.
When journalism continues to frame climate as a niche topic, it fails to reflect reality. Climate change is fundamentally a business story. It affects supply chains, investment choices, energy markets, insurance systems, food prices, infrastructure, and jobs. It is also a development and security story, particularly in regions like Africa, where climate impacts are already deepening inequality, driving displacement, and intensifying competition over land and resources.
Yet shifting climate journalism from the margins to the centre of newsroom priorities is not easy. Media organisations face real and persistent obstacles.
Climate stories often lack the kind of immediacy that newsrooms traditionally favour. The climate crisis unfolds through long-term trends rather than dramatic single events, making it harder to package as breaking news. Its scientific nature can be complex, technical, and difficult to explain clearly without losing accuracy or audience interest.
High-quality climate reporting is also expensive. It may require travel to remote or climate-affected communities, access to data and experts, and time for investigative or explanatory reporting. For many newsrooms , especially in the Global South ,shrinking budgets make such investment difficult to sustain.
There is also the emotional and political weight of climate reporting. Stories of loss, destruction, and risk can feel depressing to audiences already overwhelmed by crises. Climate coverage can be politically polarising, exposing journalists and media organisations to denial campaigns, pressure from powerful interests, or accusations of advocacy.
When climate journalism is presented in dry, technical, or uninspiring ways, it risks failing to attract large audiences. This feeds the damaging myth that climate stories do not generate public interest, making editorial commitment even harder.
But these challenges are precisely why climate journalism must be reimagined — not sidelined.
The future of climate journalism lies in integration. Climate should not exist as a separate desk competing for attention; it should be a lens that shapes reporting across all beats, especially business journalism. Reporters covering companies, budgets, trade, energy, infrastructure, and development must routinely ask climate questions: Who benefits and who pays the environmental cost? How exposed is this investment to climate risk? What does this policy mean for communities already living on the climate frontlines?
When climate perspectives are woven into everyday reporting, climate journalism becomes more relevant, human, and impactful. It moves beyond abstract global warnings and connects climate change to people’s livelihoods, health, and economic futures. It also creates space for stories of accountability, innovation, adaptation, and resilience — narratives that inform, engage, and empower audiences rather than overwhelm them.
Rethinking climate journalism is not about abandoning journalistic standards; it is about updating them for a warming world. In an era of escalating climate impacts, the real failure would not be the difficulty of climate reporting, but the refusal to recognise it as central to the defining story of our time.
