Four years ago, we took a stand. Of all the crises facing the world, the most alarming is climate breakdown. We asked ourselves: what can the Guardian do? The answer: to report relentlessly on this emergency each day – its causes, consequences and solutions. To keep pressure on governments and businesses to act now, to make changes for the better, to make good on their promises. And to look at our own organisation to ensure we are practising what we preach.
Now, we are updating our readers and supporters on the progress we have made on six vital promises – including, this year, a stronger commitment to the natural world.
1.
We will continue our longstanding record of powerful environmental reporting, known around the world for its quality and independence
Our expert environment journalism is read, watched and listened to at scale, and that means it has impact. By shining a light on the climate and nature emergencies, and giving them the sustained attention and prominence they deserve across our website, apps and newspapers, our journalism changes minds and policies.
The Guardian has more than a dozen dedicated climate, biodiversity and climate justice reporters, based in the UK, the US, Australia, Europe and the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. We work with our foreign correspondents around the world and other specialists across our newsrooms to cover each angle of this most urgent of issues that touches every aspect of our lives. We collaborate with other media organisations that also publish work in the public interest to reach the widest possible audience.
As an independent news organisation, our reporting on the environment will never be influenced by commercial or political interests. Instead, we counter misinformation and sensationalism with journalism that is rooted in facts, guided by the Guardian’s purpose and values.
2.
We will report on how climate breakdown is already affecting people and species, including during extreme weather events
We recognise that all too often those hit hardest by the climate and nature crises are poor and marginalised communities who bear the least responsibility for it. We make sure we interview people whose lives and livelihoods are most affected, as well as the toll on the natural world.
Alongside on-the-ground reports of extreme weather events, we also cover the latest science attributing these heatwaves, floods, wildfires and droughts to human-caused global heating – demonstrating how humanity’s vast carbon emissions are forcing the climate to disastrous new extremes.
And we report on the policies, ideas and solutions that will not only work to urgently reduce emissions and protect the natural world but will do so in a way that creates a fairer and more equal world.
3.
We will publish up-to-date global indicators on the crisis and use language that recognises its severity
In 2019, the Guardian established new language guidelines to introduce terms that more accurately describe the environmental crises facing the world. We have now updated these further, to use the term “nature crisis” instead of “biodiversity crisis”, which we feel is more accessible and relatable.
In our coverage, we continue to make clear the connections between the climate and nature crises, and incorporate the latest science in our reporting. And we hold countries and businesses to account for destruction of the natural world, in the same way we do for climate.
To ensure our readers have up-to-date data, we also publish the rising level of carbon in the atmosphere every day and report extensively on the ominous rise of temperatures around the world.
4.
We will eliminate two-thirds of our emissions by 2030 and reduce our impact on nature
We recognise that our environmental impact has a wider footprint beyond greenhouse gas emissions, and so last year we announced we were undertaking a study to learn about the Guardian’s impact on nature. We have now published our findings and a plan of action.
As a first step, we are strengthening our procurement processes to assess suppliers on their environmental impact, and developing new guidance for staff to purchase sustainably.
We continue to measure our progress against our target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by two-thirds by 2030. This goal has now been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative, a step we committed to in 2021.
5.
We will seek to decouple our business and finances from fossil-fuel extractive companies
The Guardian refused advertising from all fossil-fuel extractive companies from January 2020 – we are one of few media publishers to do this.
Since we announced our pledge to divest the Scott Trust endowment from fossil fuels in 2015, we have almost fully eliminated our exposure in our public portfolio, and we are using our private portfolio to speed up the transition to renewable energy use. The endowment is also taking steps to understand the impact of its investments on the climate emergency and nature loss, and identify ways for mitigation. The endowment is a participating investor in Nature Action 100, a global investor initiative to drive greater corporate ambition and action.
6.
We will be transparent about our progress
This year we published our latest sustainability and positive impact report, detailing our greenhouse gas emissions, and the steps we are taking to reduce them. Emissions fell by 30% in the first two years of our 10-year plan. We recently completed our emissions audit for our most recent financial year; these results will be published in the coming months. Reducing our carbon emissions will also reduce our impact on nature, so we also intend to incorporate biodiversity into our emissions reduction plan.
The Guardian was the first major international news organisation to achieve B Corp status in 2019 and we re-certified in 2023, increasing our overall score and making progress in almost every category. This reflects many improvements we have made to our governance, employment policies and environmental performance over the past three years.