Climate Feedback is a climate change journalism organization which analyzes media or academic reports on climate change and then provides summaries of the findings. Their evaluations are published to the website with a credibility rating and explanations of accuracy and biases. Each scientist employed as a reviewer holds a PhD in a relevant field of science and is published in a top-tier peer-reviewed journal. ¹  It is associated with Science Feedback, a science journalism project hosted by the University of California, Merced.

Evaluation Process

Fact-checking evaluations are published on Climate Feedback’s website and are rated on a credibility scale from -2 being “very low” and +2 being “very high.” Each evaluation includes a link to the article being evaluated and a thorough explanation for the rating. ² According to Vincent, Climate Feedback attempts to contact the authors or editors of the articles being evaluated to better understand where the author was receiving their information and then provides them with Climate Feedback’s analysis, but responses from the publishers are rare. Article selections are based on the influence of the publisher and the attention the article is getting on social media. ³

Use as a Resource

Climate Feedback is used as a standard source for organizations such as Duke University and Facebook. Duke includes the website in their “Reporters’ Lab” data base of fact-checking sites,⁴ and Facebook uses the website as a source to filter alleged inaccurate news from their platform. ⁵ Media platforms such as the Washington Post,⁶ Politifact,⁷ and The Guardian⁸ have all used analysis from Climate Feedback in their stories.

IFCN Code of Principles

Science Feedback, the parent organization of Climate Feedback, is a signatory of the International Fact Check Network (IFCN) code of principles. ⁹ The code is a structure of guidelines with the purpose of maintaining accurate and transparent fact-checking practices, and to ensure accountability for media outlets. ¹⁰ IFCN reviews their signatories annually and recertifies their signatories based on their adherence to the code of principles. Science Feedback currently has three verified applications on file, starting from 2017. ¹¹ IFCN was founded in 2015 by Poynter Institute for Media Studies, which operates the left-leaning fact-checking group Politifact. ¹²

Bias Allegations

Evaluations published by Climate Feedback have been primarily critical of right-of-center outlets, or right-leaning authors writing op-eds on neutral or left-leaning platforms. Currently there are 13 full pages of evaluations on their website, with each page displaying 10 evaluations. Of the 20 evaluations on the first two pages alone, right-leaning outlets received eight low ratings, while not receiving any high ratings,^{13141516171819} and left-leaning outlets received eight high ratings while not receiving any low ratings. ^{2021222324252627} The remaining four were rated neutral or had neutral reputations.

Leadership and Administration

Emmanuel Vincent founded the website in 2015. Vincent holds a Ph.D. in Oceanography and Climate from Université Pierre et Marie Curie. His focuses within the climate field are oceanography and tropical cyclones. ²⁸ He describes Climate Feedback’s work as broad analysis beyond just fact-checking. saying, “I don’t think we are exactly a fact-checking operation…We try to ask scientists to also check the reasoning, argumentation, and explanation of the facts. That’s really what science is about.” ²⁹

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