Local Project

Beyond natural climate variability, human-induced climate change has had extensive negative effects on nature and people, including more frequent and powerful extreme events, according to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The reported increase in the frequency and intensity of climate and weather extremes, such as hot extremes on land and in the ocean, heavy precipitation events, drought, and fire weather, has had widespread, pervasive effects on ecosystems, people, towns, and infrastructure.

Meanwhile, media coverage of the climate crisis has only recently improved in engagement and accuracy. This improvement is severely weighed down by scientifically misleading, deliberately polarizing and fake information meted out through media outlets with political or ideological biases. IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report acknowledges that “Accurate transference of the climate science has been undermined significantly by climate change countermovements, in both legacy and new/social media environments through misinformation”, negatively impacting climate governance. The outcome is stalled mitigation of the climate emergency in many countries where its health impacts can be deadlier than cancer. Research has shown Climate reporting in the Global North has significant regional bias and a tendency to report as ‘detached observers’, giving space to debates around the facts of climate science and ignoring climate-related humanitarian emergencies in the Global South and indigenous populations. Misinformation and trolling campaigns motivated by biased political and fossil fuel-dependent organizations are also a major challenge in this regard.