Media Shied Away From Climate Coverage in 2025 Despite Increased Reader Interest

As temperatures and greenhouse gas emissions rose last year, the number of stories about climate change in news sources around the world took a dramatic plunge.

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In a media environment increasingly cluttered with political turmoil and institutional climate change denialism, mainstream media around the world last year drew back from reporting on climate change, according to new reports. 

This drop occurred despite increasing reader interest in the topic, while greenhouse gas emissions and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations continued to hit new historic highs. According to a year-end analysis by the Media and Climate Change Observatory (MeCCO), climate-related issues, events, and developments in 2025 garnered less frequent coverage around the world, down 14% in 2025 compared to the previous year 2024, and 38% lower than the highest year of coverage in 2021. In fact, last year’s coverage ranked just 10th in the past 22 years of tracking global coverage of climate change or global warming.

According to the analysis, no record was broken in 2025 in the volume of articles referencing “climate change” or “global warming” per month in any region – unlike previous years. While January saw a higher level of reporting in Asian newspapers than previous years, a significant drop occurred in December, with the volume of coverage in Europe and North America reaching levels not seen since August 2016 and February 2018, respectively.

This 2025 downward trend contrasts with the reality of global warming and greenhouse gas emissions: last year was the year with the highest carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere since records began, fueled by total energy-related CO2 emissions that increased by 0.8% in 2024, hitting an all-time high of 37.8 Gt.

Engagement Stagnates, Reader Interest Grows

A separate analysis, by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, sought to understand how people engaged with climate change news and information in 2025. It drew on four years of comparable data collected in the same eight countries. This year’s report confirmed a previously identified trend of “climate perception inertia” – a stagnation in public views, attitudes, and engagement with climate information over time. The report found that the use of climate news and information is in decline in France, Germany, Japan, the UK, and the US, but stable in Brazil, India, and Pakistan.

However, the reduction in use of climate news is not for lack of consumer interest. According to the report, “Interest in climate news and information remains high and stable in most countries, suggesting that declines in climate news use are partly driven by reduced supply (especially on TV).”

This finding of continued interest is consistent with what editorial boards observe. Lyndsey Layton, Climate Editor of US-based media The New York Times, told Earth.Org in an email, “Our readers care deeply about the social and environmental impacts of climate change, and the underlying policies and potential solutions… Reader interest in our climate journalism grew in 2025 and this year we’re continuing to innovate new story forms, invest in visual journalism, expand our coverage, and produce strong, independent climate journalism.” 

When asked if the Times’ amount of climate reporting had gone up or down in 2025, Layton did not give a direct answer.

According to the Reuters Institute, half of the survey respondents say they trust the news media as a source of climate information, and this has remained stable in most countries since 2022. Trust is highest in Pakistan (72%) and lowest in France (36%). Trust in scientists as a source of news and information about climate remains high, and has grown slightly since 2022 (68% to 71%). Trust in politicians and political parties remains low (23%). The trust gap between the politicians and scientists has grown by five percentage points (pp) since 2022.

Meanwhile, according to the 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer, media as an institution were distrusted in 13 of the 28 countries measured in 2026, with journalists trusted less than “my neighbors”, and businesses gaining trust, especially among educated or higher income groups. Despite a decline, scientists and teachers remained the most trusted sources of information.

Featured image: Jörg Farys/Fridays for Future Deutschland/Flickr.