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The impact of climateXchange members’ work—told in their own words.
Oskar Månsson, cXc Impact Researcher; Lucy O'Meara, climateXchange Programme Director
This report draws directly on the 2025 climateXchange Impact Survey, completed by 51 members across 43 countries. Its substance is members' own words, answering three timely and imperative questions:
What is the cXc community doing differently compared to the rest of the industry? The cXc community is going against the trend of declining audiences: 90.2% of cXc members grew or held steady the reach of their climate stories this year, and 88.3% did the same for engagement, at a time when referral traffic is down by a third across the industry and news avoidance is at record highs. The report breaks down why this is happening.
What change follows after publication? Reach is only the start of the story. We mapped what members told us across four levels, from a single reader to a changed law, and two types of action, from a shift in thinking to a shift in behaviour. 77% of members received direct feedback that their reporting had moved someone to change something in their life, from starting an urban farm to a community winning back its fishing waters. Much of this happens quietly, without newsrooms ever realising the scale of what their work has done. Find out how your newsroom is likely already producing more impact than you know.
Does having an impact strategy actually change outcomes? Members with a formal Theory of Change or impact strategy were more than twice as likely to report growth in reach and engagement, three times more likely to report policy or systemic change, and nearly three times more likely to see their reporting picked up as evidence by advocates and communities. The pattern held across nearly every measure in the survey: reach, engagement, budget, editorial practice, and every level of impact. Having an impact strategy helps newsrooms explain who their work is for, and amplifies the impact after amplification.
