Publication Items

Top Environment and Energy Topics To Watch in 2026 [1]

Explore our 10th annual Journalists’ Guide to Environment + Energy, as we scour the beat to identify 15 top stories to put on your radar for 2026. Our updated format for the special report provides a quick read and a broad scope — with insights on climate change and environmental justice, bird and insect declines, data centers and deep sea mining, deregulation and PFAS and much more. Get started here [1].

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ News [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Agriculture [4]
Air [5]
Biodiversity [6]
Chemicals [7]
Climate Change [8]
Disasters [9]
Economy & Business [10]
Energy & Fuel [11]
Environmental Health [12]
Environmental Justice [13]
Environmental Politics [14]
Environmental Studies [15]
Fish & Fisheries [16]
Forests [17]
Government [18]
Health [19]
Infrastructure [20]
Journalism & Media [21]
Laws & Regulations [22]
Military [23]
Natural Resources [24]
Policy [25]
Pollution [26]
Science [27]
Technology [28]
Waste [29]
Water & Oceans [30]
Wildlife [31]
Region:
National (U.S.) [32]
Alaska and Hawaii [33]
California [34]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [35]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [36]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [37]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [38]
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [39]
Northwest (OR WA) [40]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [41]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [42]
International [43]
Visibility:
Public [44]
- Read more about Top Environment and Energy Topics To Watch in 2026 [1]
Orphans and Zombies — Reporting on Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells Across the Country [45]

For more than a century, oil and gas companies have been drilling — and abandoning — wells across the country, leaving hundreds of thousands to potentially leak pollutants into the air, water and soil. Climate and environment reporter Martha Pskowski looks at how funding and regulatory issues are impacting efforts to identify and plug these wells, and offers resources for drilling into their story.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [46]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [4]
Air [5]
Climate Change [8]
Economy & Business [10]
Energy & Fuel [11]
Environmental Health [12]
Government [18]
Health [19]
Journalism & Media [21]
Laws & Regulations [22]
Natural Resources [24]
Policy [25]
Pollution [26]
Technology [28]
Water & Oceans [30]
Wildlife [31]
Region:
National (U.S.) [32]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [35]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [36]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [37]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [38]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [42]
Visibility:
Public [44]
- Read more about Orphans and Zombies — Reporting on Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells Across the Country [45]
Data Centers — A Local Drain on Power and Water, Coming to a Community Near You [47]

Thousands of energy-hungry, water-gulping data centers are helping fuel the artificial intelligence boom in the United States (and elsewhere). The latest TipSheet takes a closer look at this escalating phenomenon and encourages environmental journalists to look into how it may be playing out in their communities. Ten story ideas and reporting resources to cover data centers’ local impact.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [48]
Topics on the Beat:
Energy & Fuel [11]
Infrastructure [20]
Journalism & Media [21]
Planning & Growth [49]
Policy [25]
Pollution [26]
Water & Oceans [30]
Region:
National (U.S.) [32]
International [43]
Visibility:
Public [44]
- Read more about Data Centers — A Local Drain on Power and Water, Coming to a Community Near You [47]
The Cost of Losing Our ‘Sacred Acres’ [50]

In “We Are Eating the Earth,” author Michael Grunwald explains masterfully how good intentions have led us astray over our food system and climate change, writes BookShelf editor Tom Henry. Whether it’s our obsession with meat, myths about biofuels and regenerative agriculture, or feel-good ideas based on bad science, Grunwald argues it’s time for a fundamental shift in values.

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [51]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [4]
Climate Change [8]
Consumer [52]
Economy & Business [10]
Food [53]
Natural Resources [24]
Policy [25]
Science [27]
Region:
National (U.S.) [32]
International [43]
Visibility:
Public [44]
- Read more about The Cost of Losing Our ‘Sacred Acres’ [50]
Tapping Into COP30 To Cover Indigenous Issues [54]

COP30 negotiators from around the world gather next week in Belém, Brazil, at the mouth of the Amazon River. Our Voices of Environmental Justice columnist Yessenia Funes says it’s a vital opportunity to engage with the Indigenous peoples who help protect the vast rainforest region — even for environmental reporters not there in person. Here’s how to tell their stories.

SEJ Publication Types:
Voices of Environmental Justice [55]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [4]
Biodiversity [6]
Climate Change [8]
Economy & Business [10]
Energy & Fuel [11]
Environmental Health [12]
Environmental Justice [13]
Environmental Politics [14]
Forests [17]
Government [18]
Journalism & Media [21]
Natural Resources [24]
People & Population [56]
Planning & Growth [49]
Policy [25]
Pollution [26]
Water & Oceans [30]
Region:
International [43]
South America [57]
Visibility:
Public [44]
- Read more about Tapping Into COP30 To Cover Indigenous Issues [54]
Find Environmental Justice Stories With Grants Data [58]

Efforts under Trump 2.0 to cut funding for environmental justice programs may be the new reality, but the uncertain status of hundreds of Biden-era grants offers important local stories. And as Reporter’s Toolbox finds, a database that rescued federal grant information helps make that reporting possible, with coding by congressional district to put the conflict into political context.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [59]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Justice [13]
Environmental Politics [14]
Government [18]
Journalism & Media [21]
Policy [25]
Region:
National (U.S.) [32]
Visibility:
Public [44]
- Read more about Find Environmental Justice Stories With Grants Data [58]
Will Your Town Pass the Electric School Bus Acid Test? [60]

A Biden-era plan to put billions into school buses, clean EV-style, could be in the rearview mirror under the Trump administration, reports the latest TipSheet. That’s despite the fume-free, greenhouse gas-scarce qualities that benefit the air and the climate, parents and kids. To get in the driver’s seat on this story, here are a half a dozen local story ideas, plus reporting resources.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [48]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [5]
Climate Change [8]
Energy & Fuel [11]
Environmental Politics [14]
Government [18]
Health [19]
Infrastructure [20]
Journalism & Media [21]
Policy [25]
Pollution [26]
Technology [28]
Transportation [61]
Region:
National (U.S.) [32]
Visibility:
Public [44]
- Read more about Will Your Town Pass the Electric School Bus Acid Test? [60]
Why Media Consolidation Threatens Press Freedom, Democracy [62]

Speeding media mergers — the latest examples being Paramount’s hookup with CBS and its recent pursuit of CNN parent Warner Bros. Discovery — could have serious societal repercussions, argues WatchDog Opinion. Among them: the risks of growing government control and political censorship. But a glimmer of hope comes from another, quieter, revolution that might just be the saving grace for independent accountability journalism.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog [63]
Topics on the Beat:
Economy & Business [10]
Government [18]
Journalism & Media [21]
Policy [25]
Region:
National (U.S.) [32]
Visibility:
Public [44]
- Read more about Why Media Consolidation Threatens Press Freedom, Democracy [62]
DOE Climate ‘Endangerment’ Report Sparks Stormy Retort [64]

When the Trump Energy Department issued a report this summer questioning a central precept of U.S. climate change policy, it kicked off an angry backlash from scientific experts who fear it undermines decades of peer-reviewed research — and the very basis for climate action. Backgrounder scrutinizes the DOE report and the climate skeptics behind it, as well as the furious response.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [65]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [8]
Environmental Politics [14]
Environmental Studies [15]
Government [18]
Laws & Regulations [22]
Policy [25]
Science [27]
Region:
National (U.S.) [32]
International [43]
Visibility:
Public [44]
- Read more about DOE Climate ‘Endangerment’ Report Sparks Stormy Retort [64]
Climate Solutions, for Some, May Not Be [66]

A small Louisiana community, home to the descendants of formerly enslaved Black people, continues to fight for its freedom many decades later, this time from a potentially polluting technology. FEJ StoryLog contributor Yessenia Funes recounts her journey to this Cancer Alley community, where a grant from the Fund for Environmental Journalism helped her tell the story of residents challenging a multibillion-dollar carbon capture plant.

SEJ Publication Types:
FEJ StoryLog [67]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Air [5]
Chemicals [7]
Climate Change [8]
Economy & Business [10]
Energy & Fuel [11]
Environmental Health [12]
Environmental Justice [13]
Environmental Politics [14]
Journalism & Media [21]
People & Population [56]
Planning & Growth [49]
Policy [25]
Pollution [26]
Science [27]
Technology [28]
Region:
National (U.S.) [32]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [41]
Visibility:
Public [44]
- Read more about Climate Solutions, for Some, May Not Be [66]

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