ITV News at Ten increases climate change coverage

ITV has launched a new series that will focus on the devastating impacts of climate change.

ITV News at Ten will devote a portion of their show to highlight the severity of the climate crisis this week.

The new series, Earth on the Edge, will see ITV correspondents report from Europe, South America and Africa showing the devastating consequences of the climate emergency.

This week’s coverage will focus on the impacts of deforestation. ITV News Science Editor Tom Clarke travelled to Colombia where he flew across huge swathes of the Amazon destroyed by deforestation - years after the height of the country’s bloody cocaine wars.

This month, a new IPCC report found that land is critical in averting the climate crisis. The new series will highlight this point as a major driver that is hindering the environment.

Dr Jane Goodall, primatologist and anthropologist, told ITV News combating climate change, exacerbated by the deforestation seen on camera, is "one of the biggest challenges that we have to face".

She said: "It’s growing all the time as you see – with increased melting of the arctic ice and the glaciers and sea levels are rising and we are releasing more and more carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels.

The new ITV series comes after, in April, the BBC aired an hour-long show dedicated to the climate crisis. Media outlets are becoming more serious about their coverage of climate change and showing the devastating consequences if urgent action is not taken.

At this years NYC Climate Week, many media outlets have pledged to spend a whole week covering the climate crisis as part of a campaign to raise awareness of the topic.

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has highlighted the importance of the Climate Action Summit at NYC Climate Week, saying that the ticket to entry – for governments, business and civil society – is “bold action and much greater ambition”

Photograph: James West