In the paper, we provide an extensive validation of our methodology, additional analyses, discussion of limitations, suggestions for future research, and highlight opportunities for more comprehensive climate journalism: osf.io/preprints/so...

See also LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/posts/fabian...

We hope that our findings and methodology can contribute to a discussion about how the news media can best inform about the causes and impacts of climate change and the full scope of the societal transformations needed to secure a livable and sustainable future for all.

4️⃣ 𝐂𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞.
The only clear shifts involves growing attention to net-zero targets and carbon taxes.

🔥🌎 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫?
Informing the public and political leaders about the full range of causes, impacts, and solutions is essential for effective climate action.

3️⃣ 𝐂𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬' 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠.
Left-leaning outlets more frequently reported that climate change is human-caused, highlighted fossil fuels as a cause, emphasized the need to reduce their use, and discussed systemic drivers more often.

Economic growth, overconsumption, and inequality in carbon emissions between the rich and poor appeared in less than 5% of articles.

For example, while agriculture is responsible for a third of emissions, it was mentioned eight times less than fossil fuels as a cause of climate change — in a mere 6.3% of all articles. Plant-rich diets as a solution were also comparatively underrepresented.

We found:

1️⃣ 𝐀𝐝𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝.
Aspects relating to causes, impacts, & mitigation were much more covered than aspects relating to adaptation.

2️⃣ 𝐂𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐥 𝐟𝐮𝐞𝐥𝐬.
Agriculture, overconsumption, carbon inequality, & economic growth were rarely mentioned.

We built a custom scraping methodology to get access to virtually all articles about climate change published in major German newspapers since 2010.

We then designed a structured set of IPCC-aligned questions covering causes, impacts, mitigation, and adaptation, and used LLMs for content analysis.

I just noticed this too. DeepL suggested I refer to a different different book from the same author. I'm out!

You can find a longer summary of the paper on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/posts/fabian...

As trusted knowledge producers, scientists influence how societies understand climate risk and solutions. We hope this work sparks reflection & dialogue within the scientific community about how our worldviews influence not only our research, but also the kinds of climate actions we take & promote.

Techno-optimistic scientists were less likely to engage in civic action (e.g., signing petitions, participating in protests) and high-impact lifestyle changes (e.g., reducing flying, shifting to plant-rich diets)

On average, their engagement was 28% and 20% lower, respectively.