Dr James Dyke

Exeter researcher wins international climate journalism award

An Exeter researcher has won a 2022 Covering Climate Now Journalism Award for an article examining the concept of net zero. 

Dr James Dyke, Associate Professor of the Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter, wrote the article ‘Climate Scientists: Concept of Net Zero Is a Dangerous Trap’ for news website The Conversation last year.

The article, which was co-authored by Professor Robert Watson of the University of East Anglia and Professor Wolfgang Knorr of Lund University, was named Best Commentary by Covering Climate Now, a collaboration of journalists and news outlets from around the world focused on helping improve coverage of the climate crisis.

There were 23 winners in total selected from over 900 entries submitted from 65 countries, with juries composed of distinguished journalists representing 58 newsrooms around the world. 

Other winners included journalists at the Guardian, Agence-France Presse, Al Jazeera English, PBS NewsHour, Globo, and HBO Max.

I’m very pleased (& surprised!) to announce that I along with my co-authors @w_knorr and Sir Prof Bob Watson have been awarded a 2022 @CoveringClimate journalism award for our 2021 @ConversationUK article about net zero. A 🙏 thread.https://t.co/tzqg7i2DEV

— James Dyke (@JamesGDyke) June 15, 2022

The judging panel said Dr Dyke’s article was a “compelling piece of science commentary” that made “a technical, evidence-heavy argument accessible to the average reader”.

Dr Dyke called the article a “team effort” and said he was “very pleased (and surprised)”, adding: “This is an award that is, alas, needed more and more each year.”

‘Climate Scientists: Concept of Net Zero Is a Dangerous Trap’, which was commissioned by The Conversation and published in tandem with Apple News, was republished in multiple languages.

“The article has kept us all busy since publication, and produced many comments,” said Dr Dyke. “Let's keep that going!”

Date: 20 June 2022