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Our blueprint to create impactful, ethical climate journalism
Climate change is one of the defining issues of our time. The media is critical in defining and shaping how the public perceives this crisis—but it is failing to convey its urgency, or motivate the action needed to mitigate its impact. Audiences care about the climate—but at the same time feel alienated, fatigued by doom-heavy narratives or left unable to understand how the issues intersect with their everyday lives.
ClimateXchange (cXc) is the first initiative of community interest company Syli. Its mission is to understand the gaps in climate understanding, and elevate climate journalism through collaboration with global newsrooms, research institutions and local initiatives. We enable and support work by our members that transforms the subject from a siloed, terminology-heavy topic to a cultural issue every citizen can understand, relate to, and feel empowered to act on.
These editorial guidelines reflect the principles upon which we work with our members around the world.
How can journalists write better, more impactful climate stories?
Objectivity
However emotive the subject matter, content should be delivered in a way that captures diverse viewpoints, isn’t inappropriately coloured by the views of the reporter or the title, and is free of agenda, save for one: that climate change is happening, its impact is increasingly intersecting with everyday life and situations, and action must be encouraged.
Accuracy
Journalists must source their material ethically and tenaciously, scrutinising their work for ambiguity and producing content that is persuasive yet factually correct and responsibly sourced to the highest degree possible.
Relatability
The blight of climate reporting is that it is happening faraway, to someone else. Bring it home to people; make them see why this affectsthem, too, and relates to their lifestyles, interests and wellbeing. And showthem exactly how little changes made by many can add up to big changes foreveryone and be aspirational in themselves.
To ensure all our stories follow this blueprint, we have created a story formula called IMERCS. This stipulates that really great climateXchange stories are:
Craft immersive, original content that is affecting and actionable in equal measure, and inspires conscious living.
Climate editorial doesn’t need to be doom-centric. Create the demand for climate responsible behaviours at a cultural level and inspire habits by showing audiences the personal benefits—as well as telling them why. Don’t rely on panic to get a click: choose fascination and curiosity as a way to get audiences on side, rather than give them a piece of content that simply answers a question, then prompts them to disengage.
Tell stories that linger and create action that becomes habit and impact
We all repeat things we learn in the news—but particularly if they are memorably framed. Crafting unusual analogies or metaphors that go the extra mile to visualise issues using in a way that strikes a chord with everyday people is a skill long favoured by journalists when breaking down complex issues. The climate crisis is no exception, but all too often climate storytelling fails to engage audiences on this level—instead using metrics and imagery all too commonly used in the communication of this subject. One climate story becomes indistinguishable from the next, and so on. A gap exists for work that transcends these stereotypes.
Arm your audience to understand ‘why’—and with solutions to make a positive change
Actionism from journalism is difficult to achieve. But the smallest piece of information can create measurable change in the way we behave and interact. Climate culture is the acceptance of climate change as part of our daily lives, and the adoption of climate-conscious living as a necessity. Cultural climate journalism is the reflection of this in our wider discourse, and its responsibility becoming a part of the stories we love to write, and we know our audiences love to read.
Create content that readers can identify with on subjects they engage with in their day-to-day lives. Use familiar frames of reference, numbers that mean something and outcomes anyone can understand.
‘Meeting audiences where they are at on climate’ is a phrase often used to illustrate what is essentially speaking to a group of people about environmental issues using frames they can immediately relate to their lifestyles and interests, in terms they can understand. This relatability is critical to helping audiences see the many ways in which climate issues are relevant not just in terms of accessibility of information, but their relevance to daily life.
Use balanced, unimpeachable information responsibly told, without agenda, from the best experts available.
Misinformation is on the rise, with an average of 58% of adults globally concerned about their ability to tell real information from misinformation and disinformation—rising to 73% in some major markets. Climate as a subject is prone to politicisation and confirmation bias as citizens seek to dovetail their aspirations with an enabling narrative—of which there are plenty. Ensuring journalism around the climate is rooted in factual, unbiased information from credible sources and fact-checked to the highest practical degree is critical in this environment where information can be misused, misinterpreted and shared at scale.
Design aspirational culture-first content that is social-friendly, delivers information fast and is amplified easily
Word of mouth in the shorthand of easily-deployed nuggets of information is important (see Memorable, above) but for scale, print and traditional online deployment has to hold its own on social media, too.
Platforms such as Tiktok, Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube now command around 54% of the news audience, rising above TV for the first time in 2025. Monitoring social behaviour trends and ensuring climate storytelling leverages each platform to its full potential is critical—not optional—for work to be successful. Sharing is caring.
Since 2023 we have worked directly with newsrooms in three key regions—Southeast Asia, Africa and Europe—and our network of support extends around the world.
Want to write better climate stories? Here are some quick tips to get you started. If you’re a newsroom looking for more targeted guidance for your market, apply for cXc membership and let’s start a conversation.
1. Make climate personal
Relatability is one of the key problems with current climate output: it’s too big, too overwhelming, and happening somewhere far away. By engaging people not just where they are, but where their interests and enthusiasms lie—their culture and its many applications—the relatability gap can be bridged. It helps people understand why a story matters to them and their communities.
2. Use accessible language
Terminology is excluding and doesn’t cross borders. Often the people who take most from climate news are those with a limited understanding of the science. Use clear frames of reference, familiar cultural concepts and, if science is needed, use only the most relevant points. Take time to be clear.
3. Avoid alarmism
Scaring people can work when a threat is immediate. Otherwise, it can be a pathway to disengagement. Instead of using sensationalist headlines, use skillful framing to attract people to a story, and offer benefits to them and their way of living.
4. Make climate-positive behaviours sexy
Ambition begins with aspiration. And consumer culture is fed by both. Create the demand for climate responsible behaviours at a cultural level and inspire consumer habits by showing audiences the personal benefits— as well as telling them why. Individual-level action isn’t meaningless: the world’s biggest companies rely on consumer habits for their existence, and these start small. Create the demand for change, and change will happen. The media has the power to inspire it.
5. Don’t stop entertainment; be entertainment
Leverage interest niches. Use humour. Frame stories that are entertaining and accessible, and have a low threshold for buy-in. Use storytelling that appeals to the curious, or the bored, whilst retaining credibility and usefulness. Be diverting and rewarding: don’t annoy with interruptive, sensationalist content. You have far more to gain from spending those extra moments crafting a story than falling back on old tropes.
6. Be real
Carefully chosen, human-driven imagery is critical for credibility and cultural resonance, with climate content of all kinds often relying on a suite of cliched imagery. Exercise care when selecting pictures, ensure you use real people in real situations, and ensure you go the extra mile for impact—it is this that often makes the difference between a story being read, and being skipped.
7. Go (hyper) local
Local news has the potential to drive the most actionable change as it is unambiguous about who it affects: local voices are relatable, are deeply rooted in culture and speak to specific issues and experiences that inspire trust and recognition in audiences. Wherever possible use local journalists and local voices to anchor your
8. Be subtle
Climate is a serious subject, but engaging users with information relating to it can take many forms. Often small amounts of information packaged skilfully within other stories can be more memorable than long investigative pieces. And positive, affirmative pieces can be more effective than chiding, negative exposes. Education by osmosis can be a highly effective way to influence behaviour.
Read more in a Journalist’s Guide to Climate Culture, (pb cXc) accessible here.
Misinformation and distrust both in climate science and journalism is at an all-time high. In times of political unrest and economic uncertainty, the news industry continues to face many challenges, as detailed in the Reuters Digital News Report 2025.
To build trust with their audiences, we encourage climateXchange to adhere to its code of practice for responsible reporting:
cXc/Syli discourages material containing or subtexts that imply:
In addition, we encourage our members to:
cXc and by extension its community, either online or at in-person events, connects professionals from a range of backgrounds and cultures. Users of cXc channels have a right to use our platforms in a manner that is professional, safe and supportive. Users are asked to conduct collaboration and communication on these channels in a way that reflects this. When using cXc collaboration and communication channels please:
Any abuse of the channels should be reported to feedback@climatexc.org
If you would like to talk to us about an issue concerning cXc please use your cXc WhatsApp chat channel or email corrections@climatexc.org. If you have feedback, a suggestion or a complaint about the platform please email feedback@climatexc.org.
climateXchange is the inaugural initiative of Syli, a non-for-profit community interest organisation. We are gratefully supported by our generous funders and ask our members not reference any cXc or Syli patrons unless a request for use or mention has been granted. Please contact our commutations team if you have any questions.
Climate as Culture: a Journalist's Guide from climateXchange
ClimateXchange Global Insights Reports
cXc Membership application
The Reuters Digital News Report
EBU Covering Climate Report
