In the face of the climate crisis, The Boston Globe is expanding and rethinking its climate journalism, putting an increased emphasis on local coverage.

“We are committed to making sure that this isn’t a beat that focuses too much on the abstract,” said Brian McGrory, Editor of The Boston Globe and a member of the World Editors Forum Board.

“Our intent is to be here and now, often with angles that get to the heart of the everyday lives of our typical readers, both in terms of how they can impact the crisis, and how the crisis is impacting their world right now.”

A climate mandate for the newsroom

With this in mind, the Globe launched a mandate to incorporate the implications of a changing climate and the urgency of addressing it across the newsroom. It has created a climate team, composed of three journalists already in the newsroom and two newly created positions.

Climate stories will be marked with the label “Into the Red: Climate and the fight of our lives.” to draw more attention to them, and focus on highlighting solutions, the challenges of radically reducing carbon, and holding to account elected officials and business leaders.

One of the highest priorities

In terms of editorial priorities, the project sits “very high, as in, at or near the top of what we’re doing,” McGrory said, adding that they are seeing notably high readership on their climate crisis coverage – much higher than anticipated.

The Globe’s climate coverage going forward is underpinned by a few core foundations. For one, journalists won’t debate the reality or cause of climate change, that debate is considered settled.

Also, as Massachusetts has set some of the most ambitious climate goals in the country, coverage will be intensively local, shedding light on problems and solutions both in the city of Boston and the state at large.

Lastly, the Globe will put particular emphasis on highlighting injustices faced by communities more likely to be impacted by the changing climate and the radical changes needed to forestall it.

The virtual summit Journalism and the Climate Crisis on 22-23 February will focus on newsroom initiatives to increase the impact of their climate change coverage.