This week we’re sharing an abbreviated Climate Beat, still filled with job and training opportunities, thought-provoking conversations, resources to spark ideas, and more. We’ll be back with a Climate Beat essay on Thursday, August 20.
From Us
Apply: The Climate Newsroom (US edition). The Climate Newsroom is a free, three-session training program designed for US reporters, producers, and editors, with or without experience covering climate. Now accepting applications for our summer cohort. Apply by TOMORROW, Friday, August 7.
Apply: The Covering Climate Now Academy. From misinformation to heat, and from tech to justice, CCNow Academy gives journalists real tools, real stories, and real support to deepen their climate coverage. We’re accepting applications for our free three-month training program for journalists that runs from September to December 2026. Space is limited. Apply by next Tuesday, August 11.
RSVP! CCNow Basics: Three Pillars. Join our newest public training session next Wednesday, August 12, at 10am US Eastern Time (2pm UTC), digging into CCNow’s Three Pillars approach to covering climate change: humanize, localize, solution-ize. All journalists, especially early-career reporters, are welcome!
NEW! The South Atlantic Climate Journalism Hub (SAJCH). CCNow is launching a regional support project for journalists working in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. There’s no cost to join or membership fees. Email david@coveringclimatenow.org with questions or to join.
Watch: Climate Blueprint: Don’t Underestimate the Impact of Climate Stories. Draw inspiration from how Planet Detroit, the Great Salt Lake Collaborative, and the Pulitzer Center think about what counts as impact and how to track it in our latest Climate Blueprint conversation, moderated by Breanna Draxler.
Watch: Wildfires & Climate: Experts Help You Get the Story Right. In the midst of wildfire season, Sammy Roth of Climate-Colored Goggles moderated a conversation with journalists and experts about how climate change is making wildfires bigger and more severe and how the press is covering the story.
Radar Clima: ¿Qué están haciendo los gobiernos de América Latina para afrontar los efectos de El Niño? ¿Hemos aprendido las lecciones del pasado? En la última edición de nuestro boletín en español para periodistas de todas las áreas, te damos las claves para cubrir los impactos de El Niño desde México hasta el Cono Sur, con ideas para investigar historias sobre agricultura, comunidades costeras, infraestructuras y biodiversidad. Échale un vistazo a las ediciones anteriores y suscríbete para recibir el boletín los miércoles.
Noteworthy Stories
Windfall war profits. Major oil firms recorded a staggering $97 billion in profits in the second quarter of 2026 as the Iran War sent oil prices surging, renewing calls for Big Oil to pay for environmental damages caused by the emissions-fueled climate crisis as heatwaves and wildfires rage around the world. By Jillian Ambrose and Damian Carrington for The Guardian…
Insurance nightmare. As wildfires burn across Europe, displacing hundreds of thousands of people, the European Central Bank and EU insurance regulator are calling on Brussels to set up an EU-level reinsurance program and a public natural disaster fund to protect citizens from soaring insurance rates and shore up local government budgets. By Marianne Gros, Giorgio Leali, and Aude Le Gentil for E&E News…
Operation Green Shield 2026. Authorities in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru have made 839 arrests linked to illegal mining, land grabs, logging, and other environmental crimes in the Amazon basin. By Steven Grattan for Associated Press…
Understanding CSS. Carbon capture and storage, a costly and unproven technology to capture emissions and bury them underground, is at the center of many nations’ net-zero plans. Many energy experts, including the IPCC say it is “critical” for the world to reach net zero, but is it viable? By Josh Gabbatiss for Carbon Brief…
Climate adaptation. US state and local governments are taking action, implementing climate adaptation plans to protect people, infrastructure, and real estate from the impacts of heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, and flooding exacerbated by climate change. By Rebecca Falconer for Axios…
Coalition tested. The Santa Marta coalition, a group of governments, businesses, and civil society organizations seeking to accelerate the global transition away from fossil fuels, will lose one of its founding members this week. Colombia’s new far-right president has pledged to increase coal exports and reverse the country’s ban on fracking. Coalition leaders are hopeful that it can “live without Colombia.” By Sebastian Rodriguez for Climate Home News…
On the Beat
2021 CCNow Journalism Award winner Rahma Diaa interviews Mabrouka Khedir, editor-in-chief of Tunisia’s Cosomos Media, about reporting on this summer’s wildfires in Northern Africa.
“Reporting from the field means walking through intense heat, scorched landscapes, and centuries-old trees that were lush and green only days earlier. You see burned animals, meet families who have lost their homes and loved ones to wildfires, and speak to business owners whose livelihoods have been destroyed by prolonged power cuts. Then you return home to find no electricity or cold water, spending sleepless nights because of the unbearable heat and physical and emotional exhaustion. It is heartbreaking.” Read more at The Energy Pioneer… (This story is available for republication via our Sharing Library.)
Resources & Events
- “Climate change increases likelihood of compounding drivers of severe wildfire conditions in France and Spain” (World Weather Attribution)
- “Socioeconomic and demographic vulnerabilities as primary determinants of heat-related mortality in the U.S.” (Environmental Research: Climate)
- “Rising Temperatures, Rising Hospital Admissions: The Impact of Extreme Heat on Pediatric Mental Health” (Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry)
- “Warming U.S. Cities Face Higher Cooling Demand and Energy Bills” (Climate Central)
- “The Human Cost of Houseplants” (Dēmos, WeCount! and Partners for Dignity and Rights)
- “A majority of Americans don’t actually fit either climate camp” (Anthropocene Magazine)
- “Factcheck: How nuclear, gas, wind and solar power are affected during heatwaves” (Carbon Brief)
- RSVP: “Communicating through change: Policy, perception, and growth in the clean energy transition” with Latitude Media, on Wednesday, August 12, at 12pm US Eastern Time (4pm UTC)
Jobs, Etc.
Jobs. Solutions Journalism Network is hiring a Southeast Asia, Consultant (Southeast Asia, remote). The Savannah Morning News is hiring a Climate Change/Environment Reporter (Savannah, Ga.). The Globe & Mail is hiring an Energy Reporter (Ottawa, Canada). Fuller is contracting a Commissioning Editor for nine months (with the possibility of extension to 12 months, remote). The Santa Barbara News-Press is hiring a Climate, Environment & Water Reporter (Santa Barbara, Calif.). The Texas Tribune is hiring an Immigration, Environment, and Climate Editor (remote, Texas).
Fellowships & Grants.
- Climate Tracker Latin America, GAIA, and Break Free From Plastic will select 40 journalists for a training program (in Portuguese) on zero-waste strategy and its relationship to the climate crisis; apply by August 30.
- Earth Journalism Network is offering grants to support coverage of countries’ progress toward the 30×30 Marine Conservation Target 2026-2027 (coastal countries, with particular focus on Ghana, Mexico, and the Philippines) and other opportunities; apply by August 10.
- WBUR (Boston, Mass.) is offering three salaried, full-time, year-long 2027 newsroom fellowships for early career journalists; apply by September 25.
- The Pulitzer Center is accepting applications for its Climate Storytelling Accelerator; apply by August 14.
- Investigative Reporters & Editors is accepting applications for The Chauncey Bailey Journalist of Color Investigative Reporting Fellowship; apply by September 1.
Pitches. The Revelator has opened a brief pitch window for stories on how authoritarian governments affect environmental issues; apply by August 14. Fuller is accepting water scarcity story pitches; apply by August 18.