1 in 10 U.S editors and reporters - nearly 10,000 - have been laid off since 2023
Local news is vanishing.
Climate coverage is shrinking.
Trust is fraying.
The deck is stacked against climate journalism
There’s just $50M funding for climate journalism versus a mighty estimated $1B* for fossil fuels and disinformation. In other words, the void created by shrinking coverage is being filled by a fossil fuel communications machine.
The annual cost of disinformation
$1B*Promoting fossil fuels
$50mFunding climate journalism
* Estimate drawn from report by Impact Architects (2026), Meaghan Parker (2025), Climate Accountability Research Project (2024), InfluenceMap (2022), Climate Investigations Center (2019).
The reality: Journalism is shrinking
Nearly 40% of U.S local newspapers have vanished since 2005 - that is 3,500 in all
The decline in global climate coverage since 2021
Americans with limited or no access to local news
Medill 2025, Media Matters 2026, MeCCO 2025, Reuters Inst 2025.
Independent, credible climate journalism can only survive this imbalance with dedicated, sustained philanthropic support.
And that’s where we come in.
Purpose & Members
12 newsrooms. One message.
Launched in February 2025, the Climate News Task Force (CNTF) is a first-of-its kind collaboration. It brings together 12 diverse news organizations that produce or publish climate news.
Here’s how:
Investigative
Focusing on accountability through deep investigation
Floodlight
Floodlight investigates the powers stalling climate action
Drilled
A global, multimedia investigative newsroom focused on climate accountability
Center for Investigative Reporting / Mother Jones
A non-profit newsroom that publishes Mother Jones, produces the Reveal radio show / podcast and is home to CIR Studios, an award-winning TV and documentary film unit
Wisconsin Watch
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit newsroom producing investigative reporting in Wisconsin
National Climate
Reporting on climate, energy, food and environmental change
Grist
Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to reporting on climate change
Canary Media
Canary Media reports on the transition to clean energy and solutions to the climate crisis
Sentient
Sentient is a nonprofit news outlet reporting on factory farms and their impact on the world
High Country News
Nonprofit independent magazine, High Country News shines a line on all the complexities of the West via unblinking journalism
Regional Collaborations
Focusing on the issues shaping regions and communities across the US
Mountain West News Bureau / NPR
The Mountain West News Bureau is a daily and investigative news collaboration between major market public radio stations in seven states (AZ, CO, ID, NM, NV, UT, WY) and NPR
Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk
The Desk is a journalism collaborative covering the United States’ largest watershed
Local and Community-Centred Voices
Elevating underrepresented voices on a local and community level
Planet Detroit
Planet Detroit’s journalism amplifies local voices, holds power accountable, spotlights solutions and inspires hope in Michigan and across the Great Lakes
The Xylom
The Xylom covers the world's most pressing health and environmental disparities
Action
First, collaboration.
We support collaboration between newsrooms across three interconnected functions that reinforce and amplify one another.
Collaboration
We are a non-competitive space for newsrooms to build trust, form editorial partnerships, co-publish stories, expand audiences and pool data that no one newsroom could do alone.
Capacity building
We provide shared content tools, technical infrastructure, operational best practices and coordinated fundraising that reduce redundancy and build the capacity of member newsrooms.
Funder advocacy
We create, and tirelessly build, the field-wide case for dedicated climate journalism funding through research, donor education, and recommendations.
Then, action.
CNTF members are already working powerfully together.
Here’s how:
Editorial mentorship
Floodlight’s veteran investigative editor worked directly with The Xylom on this story. The story is now a finalist for the Institute for Nonprofit News’ investigative journalism award.
Audience Growth
A joint newsletter tool turns a single reader interaction into shared subscriptions across multiple CNTF newsrooms. The tool multiplies reach without multiplying cost. You can join it using the sign-up box below.
Data sharing
Information exchange between outlets leads to new reporting. For example, Sentient’s Food & Farming Journalism Network gets advance access to new data from Grist, enabling stories that none of the outlets could produce independently.
We’re in the news
Here’s some recent media coverage for the Climate News Task Force.
Nieman Lab
The year of the network
December 18, 2025
Center for Cooperative Media
Here are the top 10 journalism collaborations of 2025
December 18, 2025
Undark
Will science journalism funders step up or retreat?
October 15, 2025
RJI Online
Building a centralized content sharing platform for newsrooms
August 25, 2025
ReportEarth
What climate journalism means heading into a 1.5 C world
June 14, 2025
Nieman Reports
Battling a climate change backlash
June 2, 2025
Funding
But we need to do more, and that requires more funding.
We recommend doubling the annual philanthropic investment in climate journalism
Read our report* Estimate drawn from report by Impact Architects (2026), Meaghan Parker (2025), Climate Accountability Research Project (2024), InfluenceMap (2022), Climate Investigations Center (2019).
We believe that three mechanisms could get us there
Press Forward Climate
An aligned giving group within Press Forward, pairing community outlets with national climate-expert partners through Local Climate Journalism Collaboratives
ClimateNewsMatch
An expert council connecting vetted climate newsrooms with aligned funders – a clearing house for guidance, and analysis for both.
Climate Journalism Pooled Fund
Multiyear general operating support to editorially independent climate newsrooms – enabling planning horizons beyond single grant cycles.
The climate crisis demands journalism that can match its scale, urgency and complexity. This is how you can help:
Fund CNTF Newsrooms Directly
Directly fund the reporting of 12 independent newsrooms producing rigorous climate reporting – from national investigations to Indigenous-led and regional coverage – and expand the stories reaching the public.
Invest in the Collaborative
Support CNTF. Every dollar invested in shared tools, editorial coordination and collaborative capacity strengthens all 12 member newsrooms at once.
Help us Build the Field
Help us make the case to peer funder – by co-hosting briefings, conveying your climate and journalism networks, or using your voice to argue that credible climate reporting is funding infrastructure worth defending.
Get in touch
To get involved in funding, supporting, hosting briefings or any other aspect of the CNTF, please just drop us a line at contact@newscollaborative.org
Meaghan Parker
Council for the Advancement of Science Writing
Emily Holden
Floodlight
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Acknowledgements and sources
CNTF is steered by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing and Floodlight, and is supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Packard Foundation, Walton Family Foundation, Meliore Foundation and Heineman-Russell Family Foundation.
Medill 2025, Media Matters 2026, MeCCO 2025, Reuters Inst 2025.
* Estimate drawn from report by Impact Architects (2026), Meaghan Parker (2025), Climate Accountability Research Project (2024), InfluenceMap (2022), Climate Investigations Center (2019).
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