What Covering Climate Now does

Covering Climate Now (CCNow) is a nonprofit journalism collaboration founded in 2019 that supports, trains, and convenes journalists and newsrooms worldwide to produce rigorous climate coverage. Co-founded by Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope, alongside Columbia Journalism Review, The Nation magazine, the Guardian, and WNYC, CCNow operates as a free membership platform serving two primary segments: news outlets with two or more editorial staff that meet editorial-independence criteria, and individual journalists (including freelancers, meteorologists, producers, editors, and multimedia reporters) dedicated to climate reporting. As of 2025–2026 the network includes more than 500 partner outlets across 53–60 countries, a Slack community of 3,000+ journalists, and a combined partner audience reach of approximately 1.74 billion people.

CCNow's core products and platform are built around a community-led model rather than proprietary technology. The product surface comprises the Sharing Library (an Airtable-based, password-protected database of partner climate stories available for republication), the Climate Beat, Radar Clima, Locally Sourced, and Climate at the Border newsletters, the CCNow Academy and The Climate Newsroom/Station training programs (now expanded to Canada and Nigeria), the annual CCNow Journalism Awards, recurring Talking Shop webinars and press briefings, collaborative reporting projects such as the 89 Percent Project, and white papers including 'A Burning House, A Quiet Media, A Silenced Majority'. The underlying technology stack is off-the-shelf — Slack for networking, Airtable for content and application management, and Zoom for virtual events — with no proprietary AI, machine learning, or data models disclosed.

The business model is grant-funded philanthropy rather than commercial revenue. CCNow charges no membership fees and offers all services free of charge to qualifying newsrooms and journalists. Operating revenue is sourced from foundation grants and individual donations, with current funders including the Park Foundation, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Waverley Street Foundation, Michaux Family Foundation, Green South Foundation, Actions@EBMF, and WOKA Foundation; the MacArthur Foundation is represented on the Steering Committee. The organization is fiscally sponsored by The Fund for Constitutional Government, a Washington, DC-based 501c3, with a core team of approximately 9 named staff and an 11–50 employee range, co-directed from New York and Washington. Distribution is direct-to-partner via digital channels, with go-to-market driven by community referrals, journalism conferences, and earned media rather than paid acquisition.

Name

Covering Climate Now

Legal name

Covering Climate Now

Website

https://coveringclimatenow.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Covering Climate Now is a nonprofit journalism collaboration that supports, trains, and convenes 500+ newsroom partners and 3,000+ journalists across 60 countries to produce rigorous climate coverage. Founded in 2019 by Columbia Journalism Review and The Nation.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Climate Journalism Collaboration

NAICS

Environment, Conservation and Wildlife Organizations (813312)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Climate Change Mitigation & Adaptation (BPAGAGAF)

Keywords

• Climate journalism collaboration
• Journalist training programs
• Newsroom partnership network
• Climate media resources
• Editorial support services

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Foundation Grants and Philanthropy: CCNow is funded primarily through grants from foundations and individual philanthropists. Current funders include Actions@EBMF, Green South Foundation, Michaux Family Foundation, Park Foundation, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Waverley Street Foundation, and WOKA Foundation. The organization is actively seeking additional funding and accepts individual donations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Covering Climate Now (CCNow) is a nonprofit journalism collaboration that convenes, supports, and trains journalists and newsrooms to produce rigorous climate coverage. The organization provides free membership to a global network of 500+ partner news outlets in 53+ countries, offering training programs (Academy, Climate Newsroom), a password-protected Sharing Library for content republication, Slack-based journalist networking, editorial newsletters, press briefings, and the annual CCNow Journalism Awards.

Product overview

Covering Climate Now is a global journalism collaboration that operates as a platform-plus-programs model. The core offering centers on a network of 500+ partner news outlets from 60 countries, supported by training programs (The Covering Climate Now Academy and The Climate Station), content sharing infrastructure (Sharing Library), editorial publications (Climate Beat, Radar Clima, Locally Sourced, Climate at the Border newsletters), collaborative reporting initiatives (The 89 Percent Project), professional recognition (CCNow Journalism Awards), events programming (press briefings, Talking Shops), a Resources Hub, and research publications (white papers). The organization provides free membership with access to training, networking via Slack, content republication tools, editorial guidance, and industry awards.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Sharing Library

Quantifiable outcome

• 439+ newsrooms in collaboration
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers17 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Partnerships

24 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship/co-founder, core, lead partner and core partner.

• Columbia Journalism Reviewflagship/co-founderStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019CCNow co-founded in 2019 by Columbia Journalism Review alongside The Nation magazine, in association with the Guardian and WNYC. CJR provides institutional leadership and the collaboration originated from CJR's initiative.
• The Nation Magazineflagship/co-founderStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Co-founding partner alongside Columbia Journalism Review. Mark Hertsgaard serves as both CCNow Executive Director and The Nation's environment correspondent. The Nation provides editorial platform and resources.
• The Guardianflagship/co-founderStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Co-founding partner in the 2019 launch. Lead partner in the 89 Percent Project. Guardian has made climate coverage a top news priority, updated its style guide, refused oil & gas advertising, and joined CCNow as its next step.
• WNYCflagship/co-founderStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Co-founding public radio partner from the 2019 launch. New York City's flagship public radio station provides broadcast infrastructure and audience reach.
• The Fund for Constitutional GovernmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCCNow's fiscal sponsor is the Washington, DC-based 501c3 organization. The Fund for Constitutional Government provides administrative infrastructure, accepts donations on CCNow's behalf, and its Executive Director Ian Gary also serves as CCNow's Executive Director.
• Climate CentralcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCCNow collaborates with Climate Central, a journalism support organization, to advance the quality, impact, and reach of climate journalism. Climate Central provides scientific expertise, visuals, and co-hosts events like hurricane season briefings.
• Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCCNow collaborates with SEJ, the main membership association in North America supporting excellent journalism on environmental issues. SEJ provides resources, tip sheets, and CCNow hosts events at SEJ's annual conference.
• Solutions Journalism NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCCNow collaborates with Solutions Journalism Network to advance quality, impact, and reach of climate journalism. SJN's guide on covering climate equitably is featured in CCNow's resources.
• Agence France-Presse (AFP)lead partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerOne of the world's largest news agencies as a partner. Ivan Couronne, 'Future of the Planet' global editor at AFP in Paris, serves on CCNow's Steering Committee. AFP provided free climate news feed to 21 Global South newsrooms pilot project.
• Reuterslead partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor global news agency partner committed to providing accurate climate crisis coverage. Reuters has a licensing agreement for CCNow partners to republish content.
• NBC Newslead partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor broadcast partner that joined CCNow in April 2020 marking Earth Day's 50th anniversary. Al Roker announced the collaboration on the NBC News TODAY show. Joined with plans to launch dedicated climate unit.
• France Télévisionslead partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational public broadcaster in France joined CCNow in December 2025. Demonstrates commitment by replacing weather forecast with climate-and-weather segment on flagship evening news program, increasing ratings.
• ProPublicalead partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerRenowned investigative newsroom joined CCNow in October 2025 at what CCNow describes as 'a critical moment for the climate story'.
• DW (Deutsche Welle)core partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerGerman international broadcaster partnered with CCNow in June 2022 to expand international collaboration and help raise climate's visibility in the public agenda.
• Climate TrackercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCCNow collaborates with Climate Tracker, where Santiago Sáez (CCNow's Director of Training) previously mentored young journalists. Co-hosted webinar on covering the FIFA World Cup under extreme heat.
• Earth Journalism NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEJN supports environmental journalism especially from developing countries. Their resources and guides are featured in CCNow's Resource Hub. Internews program that supports journalists globally.
• Oxford Climate Journalism NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPart of the Reuters Institute, OCJN fosters a global climate journalism exchange. Listed as a networking resource in CCNow's Resource Hub for journalists.
• The Uproot ProjectcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerA network for journalists of color who cover climate and the environment. Listed in CCNow's Resource Hub as a networking resource for climate journalists.
• Climate VisualscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCCNow co-hosted webinar on compelling climate visuals with Climate Visuals. Their photography resources are featured in CCNow's Visuals & Data resources section.
• Global Investigative Journalism NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCCNow features GIJN's investigative reporting guides on methane, carbon offsets, and other climate topics in its Resource Hub.
• Yale Program on Climate Change CommunicationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCCNow's 89 Percent Project is based on research from Yale and other institutions showing 80-89% of people support climate action. Yale's climate communication resources are featured in CCNow's Resource Hub.
• DeSmogcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInvestigative outlet focused on climate disinformation. CCNow white paper references DeSmog's investigations into Big Tech's climate denial rhetoric. Partners with Financial Times on climate reporting.
• MongabaycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEnvironmental news platform. Their stories are available for republication through CCNow's Sharing Library. Translation approval required. Mongabay and Ladera Sur launch joint calls for climate pitches.
• 500+ Newsroom Partners (Aggregated)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOver 500 news outlets including: TIME, The Times of India, Al Jazeera English, Bloomberg, CBS News, ABC News, Rolling Stone, Grist, The Intercept, Vox, PBS NewsHour, WNYC, WBUR, KQED, Teen Vogue, HuffPost, The Nation, Democracy Now, and more.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Climate Central: Climate Central is a journalism support organization that provides scientific expertise, visuals, and reporting tools to newsrooms covering climate change. It is explicitly listed as a CCNow collaborator and is the closest direct peer in mission: equipping journalists to improve climate coverage through data, visuals, and editorial resources.
• Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ): SEJ is the main membership association in North America supporting environmental journalism, providing tip sheets, conferences, and resources. It is a named CCNow collaborator and the closest analog as a membership-based journalism support organization focused on the environment.
• Earth Journalism Network (Internews): EJN supports environmental journalism especially in developing countries, providing grants, training, and reporting resources. It is featured in CCNow's Resource Hub and is directly comparable as a global environmental journalism support organization.
• Solutions Journalism Network: SJN trains and supports journalists in solutions-focused reporting and is a named CCNow collaborator. Comparable in operating model (nonprofit, training-focused, partnered with newsrooms) and shares audience (journalists seeking editorial frameworks), though SJN's frame is solutions rather than climate specifically.
• Oxford Climate Journalism Network (Reuters Institute): OCJN, housed at the Reuters Institute, fosters a global exchange among climate journalists and is listed in CCNow's Resource Hub. It is directly comparable as an academic-anchored climate journalism network providing training and community to reporters worldwide.
• The Uproot Project: A network for journalists of color covering climate and the environment, listed in CCNow's Resource Hub. Comparable as a peer membership-and-resource network serving climate journalists with a specific community focus.
• Pulitzer Center: Pulitzer Center funds and supports in-depth journalism on underreported issues including climate, providing grants, training, and educational resources. Comparable in operating model (nonprofit journalism support organization providing training, grants, and partner networks to newsrooms and journalists).

Emerging players

• DeSmog: DeSmog is an investigative outlet focused on climate disinformation and is referenced in CCNow's white paper. Comparable as an adjacent climate-journalism player, though DeSmog is primarily an investigative publisher rather than a journalist-support collaboration.
• Mongabay: Mongabay is an environmental news platform whose stories are available for republication through CCNow's Sharing Library. Comparable as a climate/environmental journalism outlet with content-licensing arrangements, though Mongabay is a publisher rather than a journalist-support organization.

Broad incumbents

• Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN): GIJN is a global network supporting investigative journalism; its climate reporting guides are featured in CCNow's Resource Hub. Comparable as a broader journalism support organization with overlapping climate focus, though GIJN's scope extends well beyond climate.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/coveringclimate
• Facebookfacebook.com/CoveringClimateNow
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/coveringclimatenow

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Covering Climate Now