Climate journalism shouldn't begin with disaster: Introducing the Climate Frontline Toolkit

Climate emergencies don't begin when disaster strikes. Neither should journalism.

Across Europe, floods, wildfires, droughts and heatwaves are becoming more frequent and more intense. Yet much of our reporting still begins when the first evacuation order is issued, the first homes are lost, or the first dramatic images appear. By then, communities have already been living with risk for months or years.

Over the past year, through the Climate Frontline programme, the European Journalism Centre (EJC) and REVOLVE worked alongside local newsrooms, scientists, emergency responders, civil society organisations and communities across Portugal and Spain to explore a simple but important question:

How can journalism help communities before, during and after climate hazards - not only while they unfold?

The Climate Frontline Reporting Toolkit is our answer. 

The toolkit comes as a practical package: one comprehensive reporting toolkit accompanied by four printable Field Guides - each designed to support a different stage of climate hazard reporting. It distils a year of collaboration with journalists, scientists, emergency responders and communities into practical guidance for reporting on climate hazards before, during and after.

Built through workshops, listening sessions and field experience, it offers newsrooms practical ways to strengthen preparedness, build trust and report with communities throughout the full emergency cycle.

Designed for newsrooms, not bookshelves

Let's be honest. When a wildfire is spreading or a river has burst its banks, nobody has time to read a 57-page toolkit. That's why we created something else.

Alongside the full toolkit, we've produced four printable Field Guides - designed to be pinned to the newsroom wall and used throughout hazard season.

They're not summaries of the toolkit. They're working tools. 

Quick-reference guides that help journalists prepare earlier, ask better questions, verify information under pressure and continue reporting long after the headlines have faded.

They distil the toolkit into practical checklists, questions and newsroom actions that can be used when time is short—and long before the next emergency arrives. Together, the four Field Guides cover the full cycle of climate hazard reporting:

🟩 Before the Clouds Gather

Preparing your newsroom before, during and after climate hazards.

🟦 Who's in the Room?

Reporting with communities, vulnerability and trust.

🟨 Through the Noise

Verifying information during climate emergencies.

⬛ After the Storm

Learning, accountability and reporting beyond the headlines.

Practical, not theoretical

The Climate Frontline toolkit is full of ideas that can be put into practice immediately.

Among the many practical suggestions you'll find throughout the toolkit is this one:

 IN THE NEWSROOM

Instead of waiting for fire season, invite a hydrologist, firefighter or climate scientist for coffee before hazard season. Add them to your contacts list before you need them.

That simple suggestion captures the philosophy behind the entire toolkit: preparing before disaster strikes, rather than simply responding once it does.

Climate journalism isn't only about documenting disasters as they unfold. It's about understanding your territory. Building trusted relationships. Preparing your newsroom before the emergency begins.

Throughout the toolkit, you'll find dozens of practical prompts like this, alongside newsroom exercises, checklists, reporting frameworks and discussion questions developed directly from the experiences of journalists and communities living with floods, droughts, wildfires and extreme heat.

Whether you're preparing coverage ahead of wildfire season, verifying information during a flood or returning months later to ask communities "What changed?", we hope these Field Guides become something you return to - not something that sits unread on your desktop.

Download the complete toolkit package

Download the complete Climate Frontline Toolkit package below and discover how the four Field Guides complement each stage of climate hazard reporting.

Your download includes:

• Climate Frontline Reporting Toolkit
• Four printable Field Guides

Access all five resources HERE

Access all five resources HERE