Climate Change Coverage in The Guardian, 2010–2025

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Abstract

Leading news outlets play a central role in shaping how political leaders and the public understand the causes, impacts, and solutions to climate change. Here, we provide the first comprehensive assessment of how The Guardian, a globally influential newspaper widely recognized for high-quality climate journalism, has reported on climate change between 2010 and 2025. We applied a validated methodology based on large language models to analyze N = 18,785 articles and evaluate to what extent reporting covers scientifically grounded causes, impacts, mitigation strategies, and adaptation measures. We find that climate coverage increased markedly after 2018 and has remained structurally elevated relative to the preceding decade. Coverage of causes and mitigation is dominated by fossil fuels and renewable energy, whereas agriculture, overconsumption, carbon inequality, and economic growth are mentioned far less frequently. Aspects related to adaptation receive considerably less attention than aspects related to causes, impacts, and mitigation. Our findings highlight opportunities for more comprehensive coverage that better reflects full range of societal transformations needed to address climate change.

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