BBC News chiefs are facing mounting pressure to do more to promote coverage of the climate crisis including installing a permanent tab on its home page.
The public broadcaster is subject of a petition on the change.org website which quickly gathered more than 1000 + names soon after launch.
Appealing for support, organisers said: “The climate and ecological emergency is the most important issue humanity faces, and will have devastating consequences for everyone, There is precious little time left to prevent the worst of it.
“The BBC News should create a ‘Climate Crisis’ Tab on its front page, similar to the special tab they have created for ‘Coronavirus’ where all the news related to the climate and ecological emergency can be found.
“This simple intervention would not only be extremely powerful for public messaging, but is editorially justified simply because of the magnitude and severity of the crisis facing us.”
They added: “Simply put, the Climate and Ecological Emergency should be front page news, day after day. It will have far worse consequences than the COVID-19 pandemic and is just as important at this moment. “
The petition comes after the BBC’s Director General Tim Davie announced a plan for the content giant to reach net zero emissions by 2030, bringing it closer into line with rival broadcasters including Sky and BT.
The BBC has faced controversy over its use of climate deniers to provide so-called ‘balance’ in its coverage. It also came under attack after publishing a controversial article which said UK law was being used to “hound” government minister over climate was ‘biased’.
A year ago the BBC promised its “most ambitious year of climate coverage” saying it was “stepping up” with special programming, digital coverage and debate. That would have coincided with COP26 before it was rescheduled from November. Sky News now been announced as a key sponsor of the rearranged event.
The BBC News website does have a ‘topics’ page under the term ‘climate change’.