Broadcast TV news mentioned solutions in 23% of its climate coverage in 2024
CBS has led on climate solutions coverage for the last four years running — in fact, the network has led the field in overall volume of climate coverage since at least 2020.
CBS led its competitors again in climate solutions coverage in 2024, mentioning solutions in 40 of its 129 climate segments (31% of its segments), followed by ABC with 21 mentions (20%) and NBC with 14 (16%). The majority of CBS’ segments addressing climate solutions (26) aired on the network’s morning news program, CBS Mornings.
CBS senior national and environmental correspondent Ben Tracy reported 30 climate segments in 2024 before departing the network in September, leading all correspondents across corporate broadcast networks. These segments discussed the role of burgeoning technologies in addressing climate change, from examining how AI can optimize traffic lights to cut down on the release of carbon emissions from idling cars, to exploring new technology that provides lifesaving air quality alerts — particularly important as wildfires are becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change.
Tracy’s reporting on carbon capture technology — a prohibitively expensive and controversial approach to reducing emissions — is notable for presenting the critiques of these types of advancements. In this case, experts caution that in addition to being unproven and costly, the technology would incentivize industry to continue to burn fossil fuels unabated.
During the March 19, 2024, edition of CBS Evening News, Tracy looked at the new carbon capture industry that the Biden administration helped launch while noting: “To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, scientists say we need to stop burning fossil fuels and switch to cleaner forms of energy — but also need to remove billions of tons of carbon dioxide we’ve already put up into the atmosphere.”
During a lengthy April 20, 2024, segment featuring an interview with Bill Gates, who is investing in and promoting carbon capture through his Breakthrough Energy foundation, Tracy evinced skepticism about the efficacy of carbon capture and questioned its role in helping the fossil fuel industry to “greenwash” its products.
“Critics and scientists worry that using direct air capture this way will prolong oil production, leading to more planet-warming emissions just as world leaders have pledged to transition away from fossil fuels,” he reported.