Matt McGrath
Matt McGrath is an environment correspondent at the BBC whose defining strength is turning complex climate science and policy into clear stories about how people, places and economies are changing. His coverage links global negotiations and scientific assessments to everyday experiences such as heatwaves, air conditioning, energy use and the health of rivers and forests. He has reported on environment and climate for the BBC for more than a decade, and his work has been recognised with a major international award for environmental communication.
Climate change, heatwaves and everyday impacts
McGrath repeatedly uses extreme weather as a way into the wider climate story, tracking how rising temperatures are reshaping daily life and public debate. Recent coverage includes reports on how the UK's extreme heat is shifting the conversation about air conditioning, directly connecting household cooling decisions to broader climate and energy questions.
He has examined estimates that thousands may have died in exceptional May and June heatwaves, translating mortality statistics and epidemiological analysis into accessible language that foregrounds human impact.
In explaining episodes like August being declared a joint hottest month on record by a European climate agency, he situates local records within long-term climate trends and global datasets. His reporting on El Niño focuses on how a large-scale climate pattern threatens weather extremes, outlining the mechanism and its consequences without losing sight of practical implications for communities and economies.
Global climate negotiations and UN science
International climate diplomacy is a long-running strand of McGrath’s work, and he often serves as a guide through major UN climate conferences and reports. He has fronted explainers on what nations want from summits such as COP21, breaking down negotiating positions and the stakes for different blocs into plain terms.
In pieces such as his analysis of whether history was made at the Paris climate summit, he weighs political outcomes against scientific warnings and long-term temperature goals, giving readers a sense of what agreements mean beyond headline pledges.
McGrath also distils multi-thousand-page UN climate assessments into concise takeaways, as in his “five things we’ve learned” format, which highlights key messages on emissions, impacts and adaptation. Across these stories he keeps technical detail grounded in concrete consequences, linking diplomatic language to changes already underway in climate systems.
Environment, biodiversity and policy accountability
Beyond climate negotiations, McGrath follows how policy, industry and ecosystems intersect, often focusing on whether environmental promises translate into measurable change on the ground. He has reported on advisers saying a third Heathrow runway should only proceed if airlines pay for cleaner flying, using the controversy to examine aviation emissions, offsetting and who bears the cost of decarbonisation.
Coverage of the majority of England’s rivers and lakes failing a new environmental review combines regulatory findings with on-the-ground conditions, showing how water quality standards reflect broader pressures on freshwater ecosystems. In a contrasting but related register, his story on mangrove forests healing after decades of human destruction traces how restoration, protection and local management can reverse damage, tying biodiversity recovery to climate resilience. Pieces on plug-in solar panels becoming available in shops use consumer technology as an entry point into household energy generation and the role of small-scale renewables in the wider energy transition.
Earlier investigations into cheating in carbon accounting show a willingness to scrutinise the integrity of climate policies and markets, not just their stated ambition.
Science reporting background and communication style
McGrath’s current environment beat is built on a long history of reporting across science and technology for the BBC.
He has covered issues ranging from mad cow disease and cloning to global warming, genetically modified food and the scientific impacts of doping in sport, which has given him a broad grounding in how evidence is generated and contested. This breadth underpins his ability to explain climate and biodiversity change for a general audience, an approach that has been recognised by the BBVA Foundation’s Biophilia Award for Environmental Communication for his “extraordinary capacity to communicate complex environmental issues and science to global audiences.”
Over the years he has reported extensively on climate from locations including the Arctic and major UN summits, blending on-the-ground observation with analysis of scientific findings and policy outcomes. His work spans the BBC’s digital, radio and television outlets, and he is frequently invited to speak about environment and climate change, reflecting a role that combines reporting with public science communication. The through-line across this output is a focus on clarity, accuracy and the practical meaning of environmental change, rather than abstract theory or advocacy.
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.