David Vetter
David Vetter reports on climate change as a system-wide risk, linking scientific research with economic, technological and policy consequences across sectors. He writes regularly for Forbes on environment, energy and sustainability, and runs his own climate-focused newsletter, The Climate Laundry. His work uses science-based narratives to show how warming, extreme weather and slow-onset climate shifts translate into risks for food systems, insurance markets and the wider economy. In a recent feature on a climate scientist forced to flee wildfires, he uses personal experience and expert testimony to frame climate change as a race against time for both science and policy.
Climate Risk, Insurance Losses And Economic Fallout
Vetter’s coverage consistently treats climate change as a financial and systemic shock rather than a distant environmental issue. He has reported on research showing how climate change adds around $600 billion in insurance losses, highlighting the cascading economic impacts of more frequent and severe climate-related events.
In a Forbes Brasil piece on climate inaction, he covers analysis warning that failing to address climate change could cost roughly one-third of global GDP over this century, with much of the damage driven by disruptions to supply chains rather than only floods and fires. Another recent article profiles a scientist who describes Europe as “frankly insane” for continuing to import fossil fuels, using that critique to explore the risks of delay in the energy transition and the exposure of European economies to volatile fossil markets.
Across these stories he draws direct lines between climate risk, insurance losses, trade, and investment, positioning climate change as a core business and macroeconomic concern rather than a niche environmental topic.
Food Production, Bioeconomy And Climate Science
Food systems and agriculture are a recurring lens in Vetter’s reporting on climate impacts. In Forbes Brasil he writes on a study warning that the United States and Europe could face up to a 40% drop in food production as climate change intensifies, noting that major agricultural powers are often less adapted than countries in naturally hotter regions. He has explored how a “bioeconomia circular” can combat the climate crisis, using examples from smart toilets to vertical farms to show how biomass and circular resource use could be key to a greener economy.
That article draws on research in Nature Food to illustrate how a circular bioeconomy might simultaneously address biodiversity loss and climate change, grounding the concept in peer-reviewed science rather than slogans. Vetter’s work also highlights soil as a climate tool: he covers biotech firms that aim to turn farm soils into vast carbon sinks through microbiological seed treatments that both capture more carbon and produce healthier crops, and he notes that soil-based sequestration can be more economically feasible than some existing technological approaches. In Forbes Japan, he writes on climate and environmental topics such as how El Niño and human-driven climate change have strengthened ocean warming, using coral records described as a “1000-year thermometer” to confirm long-term trends.
Together, these pieces show a reporter who connects climate science to tangible outcomes in food security, land use, and ocean ecosystems, and who is comfortable moving between field research, laboratory studies and policy implications.
Innovation, Hunger And Low-Carbon Solutions
Vetter’s climate beat includes a strong focus on innovation and practical solutions, especially where technology intersects with humanitarian needs.
In a detailed Forbes piece highlighted by the World Food Programme, he reports on how iris scans, hydroponics and blockchain are being deployed to fight global hunger in a world where climate change and COVID-19 compound existing vulnerabilities. That story balances high-tech interventions such as digital identity, artificial intelligence and blockchain-based systems with lower-tech approaches like hydroponics for smallholder farmers and improved grain storage to cut post-harvest losses.
His reporting on soil-carbon biotech explores how tailored microbial communities in farm soils could help cut a quarter of carbon emissions while boosting crop yields, framing these innovations as both climate mitigation and agricultural modernization.
The circular bioeconomy coverage similarly examines technologies and business models that turn waste streams and biomass into drivers of decarbonization. Across these articles, Vetter treats climate solutions as multi-level systems that range from frontier technologies to basic infrastructure, and he uses interviews with scientists and innovators to test whether proposed fixes are scalable, economically viable and aligned with broader sustainability goals.
Climate Narratives, Disinformation And Global Reach
Vetter’s work shows a distinct interest in how climate stories are told, contested and communicated. In his Forbes article “5 Big Lies About Climate Change, And How Researchers Trained A Machine To Spot Them,” he reports on researchers using machine learning to identify and classify common patterns in climate misinformation, revealing how recurring narratives shape public debate.
He has written long-form climate narratives, including a story about a secret Cold War military base in Greenland that transmits a warning to the world, which he discussed on a climate-focused podcast as an example of using history and geopolitics to illuminate contemporary climate risks. The wildfire scientist feature adds another strand, using lived experience of disaster and evacuation to underscore the urgency of cutting emissions and strengthening resilience. His own site describes his work as researching, writing and talking about how humanity is pushing past the limits of what the planet can sustain, and why that matters.
Public profiles and bios describe him as a climate writer with over 15 years of experience in online and print media who focuses on science-based sustainability stories for global audiences. His reporting appears across Forbes and its sustainability channels, including Forbes ESG and Forbes Brasil, and extends to international editions such as Forbes Japan as well as outlets like Yahoo Singapore and The BMJ.
Beyond his journalism, he continues the climate conversation through The Climate Laundry newsletter, reinforcing his role as a specialist voice on climate, environment, energy and sustainability.
4 more environment journalists.
Abby Wallace
Abby Wallace covers where energy, climate and politics meet, with a focus on how net zero, power markets and extreme weather affect people and institutions. She is an energy and climate reporter at POLITICO, covering U.K. energy policy, climate targets and the transition from fossil fuels. Her subjects include government and opposition debates over net zero, decarbonization, support schemes, infrastructure, public spending and climate adaptation. She also reports on energy companies, household bills, labor standards, supply chains and corporate accountability. Her work connects technical policy choices to jobs, competitiveness, public services and voter sentiment. She uses polling, expert voices and political analysis to examine public attitudes and government response to extreme weather. Before POLITICO, she worked on the companies desk at the Financial Times and the business news desk at Insider. She has also freelanced on politics, business and climate.
Adam Fulton
Adam Fulton is a digital news producer focused on fast-moving global stories where environment, conflict and politics meet. He works on the Guardian’s Australian operation, using rolling live blogs to cover geopolitical crises, climate-linked disasters and wars with clear structure and context. His Middle East coverage, including the Gaza peace plan, tracks tension between political messaging and on-the-ground realities, tying leaders’ statements to military movements, diplomatic reactions and humanitarian reports. His disaster reporting, such as on Nepal–Tibet floods, links rising tolls and missing people to infrastructure damage, rescue strain and cascading environmental threats. His Ukraine war blogs treat resource scarcity, especially water and energy, as strategic factors and track how infrastructure damage shapes the conflict. A former entertainment and arts reporter and senior editor at major Australian newspapers, he applies careful pacing and narrative arcs to collaborative, time-stamped live coverage.
Alec Luhn
Alec Luhn is an environment reporter whose work follows climate change at its extremes, frontiers and human consequences, often reporting directly from places where warming, instability and displacement intersect. He covers climate, conflict and migration, showing how abstract climate trends turn into risks for communities, infrastructure, health and preparedness. He reports for New Scientist on climate breakdown, extreme events, El Niño, limits of models, melting glaciers, warming seas and adaptation to heat, mixing scientific explanation with lived experience. A defining strand of his work is reporting from remote icy and mountainous regions on Arctic sea ice loss, permafrost, polar bears, pollution and fragile ecosystems. He has a long record on conflict and security, including the Skripal poisoning case. His reporting appears in New Scientist and major international outlets, with work across print, digital, audio and television and recognition from climate and journalism awards.
Amy Lyall
Amy Lyall is a regular contributor to The Connexion, and her work stands out for turning French rules, services and the built environment into clear, usable advice for everyday readers. She covers housing, energy use, resident obligations and the practical steps behind things like getting air-conditioning approved for flats. Her beat also includes national and local schemes, insurance and legal conditions for lending a car, mobile network coverage, mosquito-borne diseases, water filters, fruit harvests and emergency drones with defibrillators. She writes news, practical guides and magazine-style features, using plain language to explain technical topics and official systems. She also writes explainers on French words and phrases and occasional culture pieces on unusual sites such as Maison Picassiette.