First-year students: In the fall semester, first-year students are invited and encouraged to attend a series of brown-bag lunches with guest speakers, who are cutting-edge researchers, journalists and filmmakers. In their Spring semester, they are offered an “Introduction to Climate Reporting” seminar, which provides students in all tracks the fundamental knowledge and skills to report on climate change, culminating with a story pitch for the second-year Climate Journalism Lab. 

The course also provides resources and contacts for students to engage with the wider campus network of climate change research and action (hundreds of faculty and dozens of groups, along with University of California labs and field stations). In 2023–2024, the focus of the introductory class was “Food, Water and Equity in California.” In the 2024–2025 academic year, the focus is “Why Climate Change is Everything: Reporting on Politics, Business, Water, Food, Energy, Biodiversity, Cities and More in a Time of Epic Disruption,” co-taught by Professor Jason Spingarn-Koff and lecturer Mark Schapiro.

Starting fall 2025, students can apply to participate in the Berkeley Climate Journalism Lab thesis seminar. This is the focal point of the climate journalism program, in which students create work across all media for the broad public, in partnership with funders and publishers. Depending on student interest, the Lab may include several projects or a larger collaboration on a theme — and can involve documentary films, multimedia packages, podcasts and narrative writing. The Lab is designed to complement work in other production classes, including the Documentary Workshop (students would enroll in both classes and produce one capstone project). Additionally, the Lab welcomes select graduate students from other programs across the University, who add expertise in environmental science and policy, and gain experience in climate journalism.

Research projects: The climate journalism program includes ongoing research and publishing projects. 

• Some students work with Professor Spingarn-Koff as Graduate Student Assistants and interns on documentary film projects. 
• From 2023–2025, internships are available with the Climate Equity Reporting Project. A collaborative effort between Berkeley Journalism and UC Berkeley's Energy and Resources Group (ERG), funded by a grant from the state of California, the project aims to produce a series of articles for various publications that explore the intersection between climate and equity, with a focus on greenhouse gas reduction efforts. Led by Professor Spingarn-Koff and writer/editor Twilight Greenaway. 

University-wide courses: Students are encouraged to take courses in other Berkeley schools and colleges on specialized subjects spanning food, water, biodiversity, energy, economics and more. (Note these are at the discretion of each department and instructor and subject to student bandwidth, factoring in course credits and J-School requirements.) Find the Climate Course Guide.