Does climate change doom New Orleans? That’s the upshot of a new scientific paper and the headlines it generated in The Guardian, CNN, and other international outlets. Rising global temperatures are melting vast amounts of the planet’s ice, and the run-off particularly threatens islands and delta regions like New Orleans, which sits at the mouth of North America’s biggest river, the Mississippi. New Orleans has now passed a “point of no return,” the paper in Nature Sustainability argued, and authorities should immediately begin planning to relocate the city.
New Orleans residents complained their city was being unfairly singled out. “Miami sits on porous limestone that cannot be walled off from rising seas,” Michael Hecht, the president and CEO of Greater New Orleans, Inc., noted in a letter to The Guardian. “New York’s financial district faces catastrophic flood exposure. But nobody suggests that these cities should be deserted.”
Hecht has a point, though it does not relieve New Orleans. The fact is, many of the world’s biggest cities — from Shanghai, Tokyo, and Bangkok in Asia to Amsterdam, London, and Hamburg in Europe, to New York, Washington, and San Francisco in North America — are also at severe risk from climate change–driven sea-level rise. Globally, more than one billion people live within 10 kilometers (six miles) of coasts.
The danger is more urgent than widely recognized, and it is high time for journalists to help our audiences and policymakers understand the stakes and what can be done about it. Issues of timing and scale are fundamental: How soon will the oceans rise, and by how much? Also key: When preparing for sea-level rise, social context can matter as much as raw numbers. Do communities living in a given location take science seriously, govern responsibly, and possess the resources to act accordingly?
Sea-level rise differs from other climate impacts triggered by rising temperatures. The harsher heat, deeper droughts, and stronger storms of recent years could still be contained if humanity rapidly phases out fossil fuels, as most of the world’s biggest economies pledged to do last month at the landmark Santa Marta climate conference. If humanity cuts emissions to zero, temperatures would stop rising in three to five years. Not only could this keep extreme heat and other impacts from getting more extreme, it would boost the chances of not pushing key planetary systems past tipping points, such as slowing down the Atlantic ocean current whose warm waters currently keep northern Europe habitable.
Alas, sea-level rise doesn’t work like that. The current 1.4 degree Celsius of global temperature rise is already melting massive amounts of polar and glacial ice, and melting it faster all the time, especially in the Arctic and the Antarctic. Even if temperature rise were miraculously halted at today’s level of 1.4 degree C, this melting will continue. In other words, the tipping point for much of Earth’s ice has already been crossed; seas will continue rising for a long time to come. (Which is one reason why the recent brouhaha over whether to disregard worst case, “high emissions” scenarios of future warming is so misplaced: Even under a low emissions future, climate change will still pose enormous challenges.)
Again, the crucial question is, how much and how soon will oceans rise? Here, the science is much less settled. The US scientific agency NOAA has projected that seas could rise by 7.2 feet by 2100, while eminent scientists such as James Hansen and Harold Wanless have calculated the rise at 10 to 20 feet. The most conservative estimates envision three feet of sea-level rise by 2100, but even this will pose enormous challenges. For example, it would put the current runways of airports serving New York, Washington, San Francisco, Shanghai, and other cities underwater. “In south Florida, where I live,” Wanless wrote, “residents will lose access to fresh water…. In China, India, Egypt and other countries with major river deltas, two to three feet of sea level rise will force the evacuation of tens of millions of people and the loss of vast agricultural lands.”
Our best hope, experts say, is to limit the speed and amount of sea-level rise to buy time to implement adaptation measures. As The Netherlands and Bangladesh in particular have demonstrated, those measures include strengthening sea barriers, developing salt-tolerant strains of rice, and, yes, abandoning areas that cannot feasibly be defended. None of this will matter, however, if global temperature rise is not halted. Preparing for three feet of sea-level rise by 2100 will be hard enough; doing so by 2050, the timeline implied by humanity’s current emissions trajectory, or trying to manage seven feet of sea level rise by 2100, is hard to even fathom.
So, is New Orleans in trouble? Absolutely. What journalists need to get across is that lots of other places are in trouble as well. But let’s also convey that many of the solutions are well understood and, in some places, already being implemented. Our reporting can show those solutions in action while emphasizing the most important point of all: There is precious little time to save ourselves from a dangerously watery future.
From Us
Apply: Climate Social Media Lab. This June, join CCNow for a three-part series of free, hands-on online workshops designed for climate journalists looking to improve their social media content and grow their online audience. Space is limited! Learn more + apply by next Tuesday, June 2.
CCNow Basics: Reporting Solutions. Solutions reporting about climate change is critical for giving audiences the whole story. Join us next Thursday, June 4, for a free training to learn how to find, question, and report on potential climate solutions. Learn more + RSVP.
Radar Clima: cómo cubrir el calor extremo. La última edición de Radar Clima, nuestro boletín en español para periodistas, te trae datos clave, voces expertas y recursos para reportar el más letal de los impactos climáticos. Mira aquí las ediciones anteriores y suscríbete para recibir el boletín los miércoles.
Watch: 2026 Hurricane Season. Ahead of NOAA’s 2026 hurricane outlook last week, CCNow and Climate Central examined climate change’s “fingerprint” on warm ocean waters and explored what 2025’s hurricanes might tell us about this season. Watch the recording.
Noteworthy Stories
Hot hot hot. A heat dome carrying warm air from northern Africa is causing an unprecedented early heat wave across Western Europe this week, triggering excessive heat and health warnings. Europe is warming at a faster rate than the global average. By Priyanjali Narayan for The Hindustan Times…
- The UK’s MET office noted on X that “[t]his heat would be exceptional in the UK even in mid-summer, let alone May.” Last week, climate experts released a report that the UK was “built for a climate that no longer exists” and recommended urgent changes to deal with extreme heat. By Fiona Harvey for The Guardian…
Reforestation. Besides conservation, restoring decimated or degraded forests — especially rainforests — is one of the most effective and least costly ways to combat climate change. Nine years ago, Brazil pledged to restore 12 million hectares of forest by 2030; today, it’s behind schedule: Nearly 8.6 million hectares, an area the size of England, remain to be seeded with trees, shrubs, and other native plants. By Isabel Seta for Agência Pública…
Platforming misinfo. TikTok may have pledged to tackle climate misinformation on its platform in 2023, but earlier this month the company sponsored the annual meeting of the right-wing Canada Strong and Free Network that featured multiple climate deniers as speakers. By Rei Takver for DeSmog…
“Sustainability.” Drilled and Intercept Brasil partner on “Carbon Cowboys,” a new podcast that investigates the business dealings of American Midwest corn ethanol magnate Bruce Rastetter and Brazilian government ministers hoping to make their country “the Saudi Arabia of sustainable aviation fuels.” Listen on Pushkin in English + Portuguese…
Rapid growth. For the first time ever, wind and solar generated more energy than gas worldwide in April, according to data released by the energy think tank Ember. By Dan McCarthy for Canary Media…
Quote of the Week
“[This] latest heatwave in Europe is a brutal reminder of the growing impacts of the climate crisis.”
– Simon Stiell, the UN’s top climate change official, quoted in El País
Resources & Events
Heat tools. Is it really hotter than usual for this time of the year where you live? Here’s a tool from Les Décodeurs to check. Browse Le Monde’s useful climate weather tool to compare current conditions with historical averages.
World Cup. Climate Central wants to help journalists effectively tell the tournament’s heat story. Bookmark the information hub “Off Your Game: How Climate Change Could Slow Down the 2026 World Cup” (launching June 3) to view data and story ideas for each stadium, match, and team. Sign up for a special weekly newsletter and attend a webinar on Wednesday, June 3, at 12pm Eastern Time (16h UTC) for expert perspectives and interactive tools.
Popular myths. The Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) debunks 10 myths about adaptation in an excerpt from “Climate Adaptation: Guide for Journalists and Newsrooms,” a new guide from Instituto Talanoa, a Brazil-based climate policy think tank.
Climate across beats. This free online course organized by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas in partnership with GIJN, “Climate journalism: Investigative reporting for every beat,” runs from June 1–28.
Odisha journalists. Internews’s Earth Journalism Network is holding a workshop on renewable energy for communicators and content creators in Bhubaneswar, India, from July 30 to August 1. Learn more + apply by June 5.
Climate inspo. Grist is hosting a virtual event, “Radical Possibility: How Climate Fiction Can Create Better Futures,” on Wednesday, June 10, at 11am US Eastern Time (15h UTC).
On the Beat
In this interview, Deutsche Welle’s Johanna Rüdiger talks about the German broadcaster’s plans to train their traditional journalists in content creation practices to help better relate and connect with audiences on social media platforms, without losing their objectivity. By Gretel Kahn for the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism blog…
Jobs, Etc.
Jobs. The Boston Globe is hiring a Reporter to cover the environment, climate change, and clean energy (Boston, Mass.). Nexstar Media Group is looking for an Evening Meteorologist (Colorado Springs, Colo.). The Montana Free Press, Mountain Journal, and Grist are hiring a Climate Reporter to cover the complex intersections of climate change, land, water, energy, agriculture, and rural life across Montana (Helena or Bozeman, Mont.). ProPublica is looking for a Southwest Reporter (Phoenix, Ariz.). The New York Times is seeking a National Correspondent, Science (remote, extensive travel) and a Senior Producer, Vertical Video, Opinion Shows (New York, N.Y.). Bulletin of Atomic Scientists is looking for a new Editor in Chief (remote, apply by June 5). Climate Central is hiring a Writer and Associate Editor (remote, apply by June 8). Lighthouse Reports is hiring a Climate and Environment Editor (remote; apply by May 29). Politico is looking for a Deputy Editor to help edit their energy and environment cover of Congress (Arlington, Va.).
Internship. CarbonBrief is offering a three-week journalism internship this summer (London).
Fellowships. ProPublica is accepting applications from local newsrooms to host a Local Reporting Network Fellow (consult map for eligible states) to assist with yearlong accountability journalism projects. The Climate Change Media Partnership (CCMP), led by Internews’s Earth Journalism Network and the Stanley Center for Peace and Security, is accepting applications from journalists — and, for the first time, creator journalists! — from low- and middle-income countries for the COP31 CCMP Reporting Fellowship Program, which offers travel, accommodations, and other support for two full weeks in Antalya, Turkey; apply by June 17, 2026. Retraction Watch and The Open Notebook are thrilled to announce a new fellowship program, The Retraction Watch Research Accountability Reporting Fellowship, for up to six local reporters funded by The Center for Scientific Integrity to hone their scientific integrity reporting skills.
🍹 Free Drinks!
If you’re a journalist in, near, or coming through New York this summer, you’re invited.
CCNow’s always popular, journalists-only happy hours will take place the first and third Wednesdays of June, July, and August, from 6–8pm. We kick off this Wednesday, June 3, at Frying Pan, an outdoor bar aboard an old NY Fire Department boat with gorgeous views up and down the Hudson River. Point your GPS to 207 12th Avenue. Closest subway: C and E trains at 23rd Street. CCNow buys your first drink. See you there!