A group of leading climate scientists have written to broadcast editors to express “concern” about recent UK heatwave coverage.
The letter urged news organisations to better inform the public of the scientific links between extreme weather, climate change and net zero.
It argued that news coverage “increasingly overlooks the fundamental ‘why’”.
The letter, seen exclusively by Press Gazette, was sent by nine climate scientists including Liz Bentley, chief executive of the Royal Meterological Society (see the full letter and list of signatories below).
They said that “the UK public are frequently not well served with clear information about the scientifically indisputable connection between greenhouse gas emissions and extreme heat.
“News stories about heatwaves often do not mention the influence of climate change or the burning of fossil fuels on increased temperatures – for example, three in five stories during the May heatwave did not – while two-fifths of those about net zero make no mention of climate change. In this context, it is unsurprising that the public often do not understand these issues or the connection between them.”
As well as making these links clear in heatwave coverage, the letter also urged visual imagery around extreme heat events to “reflect their serious health risks”.
The letter was sent to editorial leaders at BBC News, ITV News, Channel 4 News, 5 News, Sky News and LBC owner Global.
It was also shared with IPSO, which regulates many of the UK’s national and regional news providers, and broadcast regulator Ofcom.
Press Gazette was able to find recent examples of heatwave coverage that link the extreme temperatures to climate change.
Sky News science and technology editor Tom Clarke reported on how very high temperatures could become a regular feature of the UK’s weather cycles.
An ITV News report on Tuesday featured climate experts warning “the worst is yet to come” and an online story said: “As our climate continues to warm, we can expect the chance of 40C heat to keep rising.”
A Channel 4 News report noted that “the Met Office predicted that with climate change, the heatwaves of the future will be on a different level” and explained what that could look like. And Press Gazette understands that Wednesday’s 5 News evening bulletin will be dedicated to the heatwave with coverage framed through the context of climate change.
During the May heatwave a BBC News story about why temperature records are being broken noted that “scientists have little doubt that human-caused climate change – largely the result of the burning of coal, oil and gas – has supercharged the heat”.
A BBC spokesperson said: “We will reply directly to this letter. The BBC has been highlighting the role of climate change in extreme weather conditions, as well as reporting the record-breaking temperatures and giving clear health and safety information.”
A spokesperson for ITN, which produces ITV News, Good Morning Britain, Channel 4 News and 5 News, told Press Gazette: “The heatwave has been reported within the wider context of climate change, featuring interviews and expert analysis to explain the increasing likelihood of extreme weather events and the need for the UK to adapt in the years ahead.”
The letter did praise past work by the broadcast media, noting: “UK broadcasters have traditionally been leaders in providing balanced and accurate information and have previously taken significant steps to address exaggeration of supposed doubts about climate science.
“We need your institutions to continue this tradition to ensure the public understand the causes of increased extreme weather and what can be done to address it.”
A recent survey of 80 journalists and production staff at the BBC, ITV, Sky News, Channel 4 and Channel 5 ranked climate change and the environment as the third most urgent topic to cover behind the cost of living and the economy.
But more than 80% of them said they were too busy chasing the news agenda to produce more climate change coverage and almost two-thirds said that these stories often do not have a timely enough news peg.
The journalists ranked extreme weather as the number one trigger for climate change stories. Former head of Sky News John Ryley said this showed “a broader malaise in contemporary newsrooms: a reluctance to examine issues in depth. Too often there is little appetite to explain as well as report… News is treated as a series of isolated events rather than as part of a larger story that requires context and analysis.”
Full letter from climate scientists to UK broadcast leaders
John McAndrew, Director of Programmes, BBC News
Jonathan Munro, Global Director, BBC News, Deputy CEO, BBC News and Current Affairs
Laura Wilshaw, Editor, ITV News
Esme Wren, Editor, Channel 4 News
Debbie Ramsay, Editor, 5 News
Jonathan Levy, Executive Editor, Sky News UK
James Rea, Chief Broadcasting and Content Officer, Global
Cristina Nicolotti Squires, Group Director for Broadcast and Media, Ofcom
John Davidson, Head of Communications, IPSO
We are writing to express our concern about recent media coverage of extreme weather, climate change and net zero and to urge you to ensure your institutions use their power to inform public audiences of the scientific links between these topics.
The heatwave this week will be extraordinarily dangerous, with record daytime temperatures, high humidity and exceptional night-time temperatures. Life and the economy will be disrupted, many will suffer ill-health and some will die.
As climate scientists actively working on these issues, we can say with certainty that climate change, caused by burning coal, oil and gas, along with other human activities such as deforestation, has made this week’s heatwave hotter and more likely. Temperatures above 35°C used to be extremely rare in the UK; they have now occurred in seven of the last 12 years.[1] This sustained surge in extreme heat would not have happened without human-caused climate change.
There is also no doubt that temperatures will continue to increase, with further rises in extreme heat, until the world reaches net zero carbon dioxide emissions. The UK has already breached 40°C and we will suffer such heatwaves more often, and even hotter temperatures, as long as emissions continue. Our homes, infrastructure and economy are not built to cope with such conditions.
Yet the UK public are frequently not well served with clear information about the scientifically indisputable connection between greenhouse gas emissions and extreme heat. News stories about heatwaves often do not mention the influence of climate change or the burning of fossil fuels on increased temperatures – for example, three in five stories during the May heatwave did not[2] – while two-fifths of those about net zero make no mention of climate change.[3] In this context, it is unsurprising that the public often do not understand these issues or the connection between them.[4]
It is essential that the public are well informed about such a crucial issue as climate change, particularly at a time when it is affecting their lives ever more directly and also becoming more debated politically. While it is right to debate policy and implementation, coverage increasingly overlooks the fundamental “why”. Net zero is not an arbitrary slogan, but a boundary dictated by the laws of physics.
UK broadcasters have traditionally been leaders in providing balanced and accurate information and have previously taken significant steps to address exaggeration of supposed doubts about climate science. We need your institutions to continue this tradition to ensure the public understand the causes of increased extreme weather and what can be done to address it.
To properly inform the public, coverage of heatwaves should mention the certain influence of greenhouse gas emissions, primarily from burning fossil fuels, on making extreme heatwaves more intense and frequent. Coverage of net zero, and associated decarbonisation measures such as renewable energy, electric cars and heat pumps, should explain that it refers to the overall ending of the carbon dioxide emissions that cause climate change and that extreme heat, among other consequences, will continue to worsen until the world reaches net zero. Visual imagery associated with heat events should also reflect their serious health risks.
We would be very pleased to meet you and your teams to discuss these important matters.
Liz Bentley, Chief Executive, Royal Meteorological Society
Richard Betts, Chair in Climate Impacts at the University of Exeter
Piers Forster, Professor of Climate Physics, Director Priestley Centre for Climate Futures, University of Leeds
Hayley Fowler, Professor of Climate Change Impacts at Newcastle University
Ed Hawkins, Professor of Climate Science, University of Reading
Sir Brian Hoskins, Emeritus Professor in Meteorology, University of Reading
Tim Lenton, Professor of Climate Change, University of Exeter
Friederike Otto, Professor of Climate Science, Imperial College London
Peter Stott, Professor in Detection and Attribution, University of Exeter
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