It is an astonishing and depressing prospect, given that less than four years ago there was a remarkable alignment of UK media in support of climate action ahead of COP26 in Scotland.
All that seems a long way off now. The White House keys are back in the hands of a man who regards renewable energy as a “scam” and has ordered the US out of the UN’s Paris climate agreement, joining the other naysayers: Iran, Libya and Yemen.
As CEO of Tesla, Musk was once an iconic figure for producing clean energy. But his irascible posts on X suggest he is more concerned with fighting “wokeness” than global warming. Tasked by Trump with improving government efficiency, Musk has publicly humiliated federal climate specialists for having “fake jobs”.
And British politics has changed so much from 2021 when the world’s eyes were on Glasgow and the Conservatives and Labour were in lock-step in championing renewables. Today, Reform UK is surging in the polls. Its deputy leader Richard Tice has attacked “climate change nonsense”.
BBC unafraid to call out Trump's 'ludicrous' comments despite legal threats
Read MoreIn the face of extreme weather events it has become implausible for serious media to promote outright climate denial in the way some once did. In 2013, James Delingpole wrote in The Daily Telegraph: “The man-made global warming scare story has not a shred of scientific credibility”. Today readers reject such gaslighting.
Another study by Carbon Brief found that this manifested as an onslaught on the Environment Secretary Ed Miliband, who was the subject of 45 negative editorials in the latter part of 2024. He was described as an “eco-zealot” by the Daily Mail and a “hysterical eco-obsessive” by The Sun.
Commenting in The Telegraph on the Los Angeles wildfires, Freddy Gray pointed the figure at “Democrat misrule” and criticised “the climate change lobby”. Musk, like right-wing influencers on YouTube and TikTok, put the blame for that catastrophe on diversity, equity and inclusion policies, tweeting “DEI means people DIE”.
The first Trump presidency brought striking children onto the streets in fear for the planet they will inherit. This time the threat might be greater, as will be the need for trusted quality information.
The British media seemed to be approaching a consensus over climate change. The risk is that it becomes another foggy and divisive culture wars issue, where opinions are formed according to tribal loyalties rather than scientific evidence. That is something the world cannot afford.
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