Greenhouse gas emissions rose again last year, while global temperatures continued to rise. Carbon dioxide concentrations reached new record highs. Despite this, climate-related issues, events, and developments saw less frequent media coverage around the world, down 14% compared to 2024 and 38% lower than in 2021.
Have people lost interest in climate issues? Not at all. According to surveys of countries around the world, interest in climate news and information remains high and stable in most countries. Typically, more than 70% of people in surveys say they are interested in the environment and climate-related news and information.
The media environment is increasingly cluttered with political turmoil and climate change denialism on the part of institutions that spend lots of money on advertising. As a result, only half of the respondents to a survey by the Reuters Institute say that they trust the news media as a source of climate information. Trust in scientists as a source of news and information about climate is roughly at 70%. Meanwhile, trust in politicians and political parties is at 23%.
There are good sources of information about climate if one looks for them. Reader interest in the Climate and Environment dedicated coverage by the New York Times continues to grow. However, whether the newspaper’s overall climate reporting has grown or shrunk is unclear.
Most people get their news and information from a relatively small number of sources. Whether those have continued to give climate issues their due can vary greatly.
