Leading climate journalists from the Nordic countries and abroad will share best practices and discuss strategies for climate journalism in a time where the consequences of climate change are dire and rapidly growing, but international collaboration to mitigate and adapt to the changes are under attack and other global conflicts dominate the news.
There will be plenary sessions with keynotes and discussions, and hands-on workshops for journalists who want to improve their knowledge and skills.
The conference is primarily aimed at working journalists, as it also seeks to strengthen networks between reporters interested in the climate beat.
There are limited spaces available.
The conference is supported by the Fritt Ord Foundation and Klimastiftelsen Umoe.
Program
Thursday 28 August
Morning session
- 08:30: Coffee, snack and mingling
- 09:00: Welcome by Welcome by Executive Director of the Norwegian Institute of Journalism Siri Skaalmo and OsloMet Rector Christen Krogh
- 09.15: Keynote: Ajit Niranjan, Europe’s Environment Correspondent, The Guardian: "How to make space for climate journalism in your newsroom and practice in a time where military conflicts and new global power struggles set the news agenda?"
- 10.00: Coffee and mingling
- 10.15 Panel debates with QA: "What can we learn from countries and contexts with long experience in doing climate journalism under pressure?" – A conversation between international journalists and experts from Tunisia, Pakistan, Greenland, Turkey, Sweden.
- 12.00: Lunch
Afternoon session
Parallel hands-on workshops with skill training
13:00–15:00
- Climate and artificial intelligence: AI tools which improve your climate journalism, with Henrik Brattli Vold, IJ
- Breaking Climate: How to cover climate stories as breaking news, with Ine Schwebs, VG/Panorama
- Visual/multimedia climate journalism: Sharing tools and learning from practice, with Agnes Walton, IJ, and photojournalists from photo.circle Nepal (TBC) and Pathshalainstitute Bangladesh (TBC)
Panel debate with QA
15:30–16:30
"What are the strategies for climate journalism in the Nordic countries’ newsrooms? How to strengthen the climate expertise/tool box/leverage in your newsroom?" Panel with Nordic journalists and editors:
- Astrid Rommetveit, NRK (N)
- Marie Sæhl, Information (DK)
- Hanna Nikkanen, Long Play (FI)
Award Ceremony
At 18:00 there will be an award ceremony for the "Klimapress" price – a new Nordic prize in climate and environmental journalism.
The ceremony is held at Pressens hus and there will be dinner and mingling.
The purpose of the prize is to highlight the best of our climate and environmental journalism, and inspire investment in climate and environmental issues among Nordic journalists.
Friday 29 August
Morning session
Coffee, snacks and mingling from 08.30.
Towards the UNFCCC COP30
09:00–10:30
We take a look ahead towards the UNFCCC COP30 in Brazil in November. Ten years since the Paris climate agreement, and one year since the 1,5 threshold of global warming was passed. What’s at stake in the upcoming international climate summit and what’s in it for journalists?
Keynotes:
- Karla Mendes. Award-winning Brazilian journalist, Investigative reporter at Mongabay, fellow of the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network and 2nd vice president, Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ).
- Ricardo Garcia. Journalist, writer and environmental analyst from Portugal, born in Brazil, author of several books, including Sobre a Terra, a handbook on environmental issues for journalists, teachers, students and the general public.
We will have a coffee break at the end of the session.
Panel debate with QA
11.00–12:00
How to engage your audiences in climate journalism? What does research and practice tell us?
- Katherine Dunne, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism’s Climate network
- Hans Cosson Eide, head of climate department, NRK
Lunch
12:00–13:00
Lunch and mingling
Afternoon session
Parallel hands-on workshops with skill training
13.00–15.00
- Cross border: How to succeed in cross border journalism on climate/ environmental issues?, with investigative reporter Tarjei Leer-Salvesen
- How to cover climate and environment in local news, with Atle Andersson, Bergens Tidende
- It’s in the wrapping: How to tell the climate story, with Torsten Schäfer
- Reflections about covering nature and the environment, with Århus University
Moving forward
15.00–16.00
Letting the world know – moving forward: How can we collaborate/exchange knowledge about/promote climate journalism? with Alexandra Urisman Otto (Dagens Nyheter) and Lisa Röstlund (Aftonbladet)
Speaker presentations
- Erika Bjerström is one of Sweden's most experienced foreign correspondents, with climate, geo-politics and democracy as key expert areas. Between 2019-2024 she was the first global climate correspondent at SVT, National Swedish Television reported and before that staffed senior correspondent SVT's based in EU, Africa and USA. She is also an author, and her latest book ”Democracy Dies in the Heat” will be published in September 2025
- Syed Muhammad Saqib is a climate journalism educator and researcher from Pakistan. He has a PhD in Climate Journalism, and is an Assistant Professor at Forman Christian College University, with published research and extensive training experience on climate communication, climate journalism education, and youth climate activism. He is a member of the MediaClimate Network and collaborator on climate literacy initiatives with academic and development sector partners.
- Hansigne Broberg is a trained journalist with a master's degree in social science. She teaches at Ilisimatusarfik / University of Greenland, and at Klimapress she will talk about how climate change affects everyday life in Greenland, where nature and hunting play a central role – and how the media covers (or fails to cover) these changes.
- Lamis Issa has worked with the freedom of expression organization Article 19’s Middle East and Nort Africa (MENA) office for 7 years, focusing on transparency issues. She is coordinating a program on climate journalism, bringing together journalists, scientists and activists in Lebanon, Algeria, Libya, Marocco and Tunisia. Lamis has background in political science, and long-term experience in working with human rights and transparency advocacy. She is currently working on a PhD, exploring questions of advancing the right to information across the MENA region.
- Marie Sæhl is a journalist at Dagbladet Information, where she writes about climate, environment, and biodiversity. She is a trained journalist from the Danish School of Media and Journalism in Aarhus and from Politiken, and has previously worked as a climate journalist at DR. She also serves on the jury for the Nordic Prize in Environmental and Climate Journalism.
- Hanna Nikkanen is an environmental journalist and co-founder of Finland's award-winning long-form publication Long Play. Author of several books and of "Hyvän sään aikana", a collaborative climate journalism book she directed and co-authored with 21 journalism students.
- Atle Andersson is a climate and environmental journalist at Bergens Tidende, the largest regional newspaper outside of Oslo. He has covered climate, environmental, and nature issues for 25 years. He has won several awards and recognitions for his coverage of climate issues. Andersson has, among other things, conducted investigative journalism on Norwegian climate financing abroad. Today, he primarily works on regional and local climate and nature issues in Western Norway.
- Torsten Schäfer is a professor at Darmstadt's University of Applied Science. He teaches writing and investigation as well as storytelling with a focus on climate journalism, ethics of sustainability and indigenous perspectives. He works as a nature writer as well as an environmental journalist for national newspapers in Germany. In the project "Talking salmon", Schäfer explores how migratory fish species can help to tell relational stories that connect land and sea and bridge the gap between humanity and nature.
- Alexandra Urisman Otto is a climate reporter at Dagens Nyheter. She was awarded Climate Journalist of the Year in 2021 and is one of the contributors to "The Climate Book" (2022), described as an "essential guide to a better world".
Lisa Röstlund is an investigative reporter at Aftonbladet. She's been awarded the national prize for investigative journalism, Guldspaden, for her book "Skogslandet" (2022), which scrutinises Swedish forestry. Her most recent book, "The Norwegian Paradox" (2025), is about the Norwegian oil industry.
Together they have authored a handbook of climate journalism, published in March 2025, called "Letting the world know" ("Att låta världen få veta"). Here they share the basic knowledge and starting points that every journalist now must have – gathered in the book with the help of fellow journalists and researchers from all over the world.
