On October 31, 2021, the 26th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) opened in Scotland. The main issues at COP26 included policies to achieve the goal of limiting temperature rise to within 1.5°C compared with the pre-industrial era, as well as financing for climate action. However, to achieve the temperature-limitation goal, it is necessary to reduce emissions by 55% by 2030. If all major emitters implemented policies to cut emissions, the world would move closer to the target, but would still fall short, making it difficult to curb warming.

Concerned that media coverage does not match the severity of climate change, an international initiative called “Covering Climate Now” (Covering Climate Now) has been launched to improve the situation. It aims to increase the amount of climate reporting and improve its quality, and more than 460 news organizations from around the world participate as partners. GNV also participates in this initiative and actively disseminates climate coverage.

GNV has conducted analyses of climate coverage several times before, and in this article we examine, in light of the volume of coverage, which regions and which themes are drawing attention.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres speaking at COP26 (Photo: COP26 / Flickr [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0])

Developments related to climate change from 2018 to 2020

This analysis examined coverage in the Mainichi Shimbun over a three-year period from 2018 to 2020. First, let’s briefly review key climate-related events during that period, looking at the progression of climate change, the damage it has caused, responses to it, and civic movements.

Regarding the progression of climate change, emissions of carbon dioxide—one of its drivers—have continued to rise, and in 2020 the planet recorded the second-warmest year on record. Temperatures in 2019 were the third warmest on record. Global mean sea level also set a new record, continuing to rise year after year.

Next, major impacts from climate change: during the period, disasters whose scale has been linked to climate change occurred around the world and caused damage. In 2019, the number of fires increased dramatically in the Arctic and surrounding regions in particular. There were also heavy rains and flooding in East Africa, typhoons that struck the Philippines and Vietnam, and a large cyclone that made landfall in India and Bangladesh, all of which caused severe damage. In addition, there was record ice melt in Greenland, and many other impacts were reported across regions.

Flooding in Uganda in May 2020 (Photo: Climate Centre / Flickr [CC BY-NC 2.0])

One avenue of response to climate change has been the COP meetings. At COP25 in 2019, parties failed to reach agreement on items for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and the review of targets for 2030 was postponed. In addition to COP, the UN held a Climate Action Summit in 2019 to discuss climate measures. At the summit, participating countries reaffirmed the need for climate action and pledged to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.

Civic movements related to climate change also intensified. In September 2019, the largest-ever protest against climate change took place. Coordinated actions were held simultaneously around the world, with an estimated 4 million participants. Among the multiple groups that organized these protests, Fridays for Future stood out in particular. Led mainly by young people and active worldwide in calling for climate action, it takes its slogan from the weekly Friday strikes initiated by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.

Having briefly reviewed these climate-related events, how well did the media report on them?

The state of climate coverage

In this study, we examined the volume of Mainichi Shimbun reporting whose headlines included climate-related terms between 2018 and 2020 (※1). There were 315 relevant articles during the period, averaging only about 9 per month. We also found large differences in volume by period.

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Across the 3 years, there were 96 articles in 2018, 154 in 2019, and 65 in 2020; the volume in 2019 was about 2.5 times that of 2020. Looking at monthly counts, the spikes in December 2018 and December 2019 coincide with COP meetings, and many articles focused on COP. One factor behind the higher volume in 2019 was the influence of activist Greta Thunberg, who advocates for climate action. Her speech at the UN Climate Action Summit in 2019 drew worldwide attention and was widely covered in Japan; there were 18 articles about her in 2019. By contrast, the lower volume in 2020 was largely due to the surge in coverage of COVID-19, which led to a sharp increase in pandemic stories and a decline in other topics.

Next, dividing coverage between domestic and international, we first look at the share devoted to domestic reporting. It is known that in Japan, including newspapers and television, about 90% of all news coverage is domestic. Yet climate change is a transboundary global issue that does not stop at Japan’s borders. Are Japanese media approaching this global problem with a global perspective? Our analysis found 119 articles related to Japan, about 38% of the total. While some pieces did take a global view, topics connected to Japan accounted for a large share.

Looking at what domestic reporting on climate change covered (※2), there were 51.9 articles on measures, 39.3 on impacts, 10.1 on meetings, and 5.6 on activism. Among measures, many articles dealt with climate-related legislation. Coverage also included countermeasures for typhoons and heavy rains. Japan’s carbon dioxide emissions are the fifth largest in the world. However, over the three years there were only 7 articles about measures to reduce Japan’s CO2 emissions. Regarding impacts, many articles framed typhoons that made landfall in Japan and heavy precipitation as consequences of climate change. Most articles about meetings focused on Japan’s positions and statements at COP, though there were also some about government meetings held domestically. Most pieces about activism covered domestic demonstrations calling for climate action.

International coverage of climate issues

We next examine international reporting, which accounted for about 62% of climate coverage. Excluding Japan, the most common focus was the world as a whole (57.5 articles), closely followed by international organizations (55.2 articles). This reflects that climate change is a global, transboundary issue. Many of the articles about the world as a whole addressed emissions, temperature rise, and the loss of wetlands as global problems. Coverage of international organizations was frequent because organizations feature prominently in climate-related meetings such as COP.

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By region, there were 31.2 articles on North America, 26.5 on Europe, 7.6 on Asia, 6.8 on Latin America and the Caribbean, 3.0 on Oceania, 1.0 on the Middle East, and 0.7 on Africa. With the exception of one piece, North American coverage was about the United States; European coverage was more dispersed across countries. The UK had the most coverage in Europe with 5.1 articles, but no country stood out markedly. Strikingly, coverage of regions outside North America and Europe was uniformly low. Despite its geographic proximity to Japan, Asia had only 7.6 articles; within Asia, China had the most with 3.2. Whereas in international news overall about 40% of articles concern Asia, the share in climate coverage is notably low. In Latin America and the Caribbean, Brazil accounted for roughly half of the region’s articles. There were only 2 articles about Africa over the three years.

Dividing countries into high-income emitters of CO2 and low-income countries that bear the brunt of climate impacts (※3), there were 62.9 articles about high-income countries such as those in North America and Europe, compared with 9.5 about low-income countries such as those in Africa—less than 5% of all climate reporting. This mirrors broader trends in international coverage and constitutes a challenge not only for climate reporting but for international reporting in general.

Turning to content, among all international climate reporting there were 55.9 articles about meetings, 52.1 about measures, 27.2 about impacts, and 21.4 about activism. The predominance of coverage about international meetings is a notable feature. Articles about COP comprised a large portion, many of which also discussed climate measures. There was a substantial focus on global targets and measures, while relatively few articles zeroed in on specific policies in individual countries. Coverage of activism centered on demonstrations influenced by Thunberg, with many stories focusing on her as an individual rather than on demonstrations or other large-scale organized movements per se.

A power station in Ratcliffe, UK (Photo: MaltaGC / Wikimedia [CC BY-SA 4.0])

With respect to emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases, there were almost no articles that singled out countries with a large share of global emissions and discussed the specific reductions required. Although Asian countries such as China and India account for a large share of CO2 emissions, there were no articles problematizing their emissions. Coverage of the United States, the world’s second-largest emitter, largely focused on climate change as an electoral issue and on corporate initiatives, with little content critically highlighting emission levels. In addition, none of the articles mentioned the UN Secretary-General’s call for emissions reductions at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit.

By contrast, articles about low-income countries affected by climate change included a few pieces on deforestation in Brazil, but there were few that addressed concrete impacts beyond that; most reported on calls for action in the context of international meetings. As for the events outlined at the beginning of this article from 2018 to 2020, coverage existed but was very limited. There were 2 articles on wildfires and 3 on ice sheet melt in Greenland, but large-scale heavy rains and flooding were not reported.  

Why does coverage skew this way?

What explains these tendencies in climate reporting? One reason for the overall low volume may be that climate change is a continuous issue rather than an event-driven one. Large, attention-grabbing happenings or prominent individuals like Thunberg are easier for the media to cover. By contrast, because climate change unfolds over long time spans, it is harder for the media to report on, which may result in lower coverage. Some journalists also point out that it is difficult to establish scientific attribution between climate change and specific extreme weather disasters, making such reporting challenging.

A protest held in Pittsburgh, United States (Photo: Mark Dixon / Flickr [CC BY 2.0])

Regarding regional imbalances, both in climate reporting and international reporting more broadly, one factor behind the paucity of coverage of low-income countries is that such countries are routinely assigned a low priority in international news. Because of this low priority, news organizations maintain fewer foreign bureaus in low-income countries, further reducing opportunities for coverage and concentrating reporting in high-income countries.

How can we explain the content tendencies in climate reporting? In Japanese international news on climate change, articles about international meetings were the most common. This likely stems from a characteristic of Japanese media: focusing more on the words and deeds of political elites than on global problems themselves. Coupled with climate change’s ongoing nature, this led to frequent coverage of statements and actions by leaders of high-income and major powers. The attention to movements by the U.S. president and to COP, where political elites from major powers gather, and the large number of related articles, reflect this trait. Conversely, reporting was sparse on issues like climate impacts in low-income countries, where major-power elites are less actively engaged.

Analyzing climate coverage

Our analysis shows that current reporting is far from commensurate with a crisis that threatens even humanity’s existence. Despite the fact that climate-related damage increases each year, its share of coverage is small and the reporting is highly skewed geographically. We also found a large disparity between coverage of high-income countries, which emit CO2 and other greenhouse gases that cause climate change, and low-income countries, which suffer the impacts. This tendency parallels that of international reporting more generally and constitutes a problem not only in climate coverage but across international news. Another notable feature was the scarcity of articles on climate impacts and the prevalence of pieces focusing on the words and actions of political elites in high-income and major countries. In such a media environment, it is difficult for people to form a comprehensive, reality-aligned understanding of climate change. We hope media organizations will recognize these issues and fulfill their role more fully.

※1 The survey used “Mainichi Shimbun Mai-Saku” and targeted the “Tokyo morning edition” and “Tokyo evening edition” of articles whose headlines contained “climate change,” “COP,” or “global warming” between 2018 and 2020. For regional classification, each article was counted as 1 and divided by the number of related countries (e.g., if an article pertained to both the United States and Japan, each was counted as 0.5).

※2 Content categories were defined as follows: “measures” for climate policies; “impacts” for typhoons, heavy rains, sea-level rise, temperature rise, etc.; “meetings” for discussions such as COP; “activism” for movements such as demonstrations; and “other” for everything else.

※3 The differing abilities of wealthy and poor populations to respond to problems caused by climate change can lead to segregation known as “climate apartheid.” Not only disparities in impacts but also the widening of economic inequality due to such segregation are considered problematic.

Writer: Hisahiro Furukawa

Graphics: Hisahiro Furukawa

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