NPR Establishes Climate Desk

Covering Climate Issues

NPR is establishing a Climate Desk for coverage of the climate crisis, opening on OCTOBER 1st and led by Science Desk head ANDREA KISSACK. With KISSACK taking charge of the new department, Senior Supervising Editor VIKKI VALENTINE will serve as Acting Head of the Science Desk.

Deputy Climate Editor NEELA BANERJEE and four other climate journalists from the Science Desk will work with KISSACK in the new department, along with a new Supervising Editor of the station Energy and Environment collaborative. Training for station and network journalists and a national symposium on climate change for public media will be offered; the expansion of NPR's climate coverage and addition of a new Climate Solutions reporter is being funded by a grant from the CHAN ZUCKERBERG INITIATIVE, with additional funding for local and regional reporting coming from the ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION.

“Climate might be the most important story of our time and we need a dedicated team of journalists to cover it and work across desks in our newsroom and with our international bureaus,” said NPR SVP/News and Editorial Director NANCY BARNES “The new climate desk will collaborate with Member stations to do ambitious work that builds on their deep local expertise.”

“No story touches as many people as climate change. Heat waves, mega-droughts and unprecedented floods are all becoming more intense and frequent. Climate related weather disasters are upending the way people live from CHINA to CALIFORNIA, from PAKISTAN to FLORIDA. These extreme events have caused a global food crisis, the rise of new diseases and the displacement of millions of people,” added KISSACK. “With the NPR newsroom and Member stations, we’ll strive to do stories that shape the national conversation on climate change.”

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