“As extreme weather intensifies globally, coverage often attributes impacts to natural climate variability, particularly El Niño. While El Niño plays a role, the growing body of scientific evidence shows that the scale, frequency, and severity of today’s extreme events are primarily driven by human-caused climate change.

“But there is a second story that rarely makes the headlines: who pays when the weather turns extreme? Floods, droughts, and heatwaves do not hit everyone equally. The communities least responsible for climate change absorb the heaviest losses,in damaged homes, failed harvests, and uninsurable risk. And the fossil fuel system driving these events continues to be subsidised to the tune of $12 trillion a year, while ordinary people foot the bill three times over: through their taxes, their energy bills, and the escalating cost of climate disaster.

“This session is designed to support journalists and communicators in strengthening the accuracy, depth, and framing of climate reporting, connecting the science of attribution with the economics of who bears the cost.”