Climate Visuals is the world’s only evidence-based programme for climate change photography. It hosts an image library, guidance, resources and research on what makes for compelling, impactful climate change photography.
Who we are
Climate Visuals is run by Climate Outreach, a team of social scientists and communication specialists who work to ensure people trust, support and have a say in the changes we must make to address climate change.
Why we exist
All too often, climate change imagery is ineffective at driving change, it may be aesthetically pleasing and illustrative but not emotionally impactful and often misses an opportunity for detailed engagement with viewers. Furthermore, high-quality, ethical and detailed photojournalism is expensive, time consuming and difficult to produce, meaning it is often out of reach for many potential users.
Evidence and impact
Based on international social research, Climate Visuals has had a significant impact in catalysing a new, more diverse and more compelling, visual language for climate change. Major projects include a new collection of air pollution photography, Visualising Climate Change, Ocean Visuals, representing indigenous people in images, and promoting diversity in outdoor photography.
The Climate Visuals evidence base proves that imagery needs to embody people-centred narratives, local impacts and positive solutions, and must resonate with the identity and values of the viewer. Images need to be produced from diverse perspectives and we must centre the importance of ethical image production.
Climate Visuals images were prominently displayed at COP27 in Egypt and COP26 in Glasgow, and are widely used by outlets such as the Guardian, NGOs large and small, and educators globally.
Since our launch in 2016, we have grown our library to host over 1,500 Creative Commons and Rights Managed images. All content embodies our evidence-based 7 Climate Visuals principles, through photography commissioning, curation, two global open calls, and partnerships. Climate Visuals’ library of impactful climate photography is trusted by over 10,000 NGOs, educators, journalists and communicators across the world.
Licensing images
Many of the images in the Climate Visuals library are available through Creative Commons licences. These cover a range of uses and often, for example with our Visualizing Climate Change, Ocean Visuals and Visualising Air Pollution collections, are freely available for use in the non-profit, educational and editorial sectors. This makes detailed, compelling photojournalism more accessible to communicators across the globe. You can find out more about image licencing in our FAQs.
Using the library
Registered users can browse and access content that is ‘rights ready’ for their profile and needs, searching in combination by keywords, country, theme, collections, date, licence type and source. Users can generate links directly to images for sharing to social media, and, with lightboxes, they can also save, download and collaborate on their image selections.
You can browse the library without registering, however to access images, either by direct download or by following links to an image provider, you must be registered and logged in. Registration is free.
For a guide on how to use the Climate Visuals library, including registering, information on image licence types and tips on navigating the image collections, follow the link below.