NY Times hires WSJ’s Brown to cover climate

New York Times climate editor Hannah Fairfield sent out the following on Friday:

We’re excited to announce that Claire Brown is joining the climate desk as a reporter for the Climate Forward newsletter. Along with David Gelles, Claire will bring original reporting and analysis to the Climate Forward newsletter, and she will contribute to our news and enterprise coverage as well.

Claire joins The New York Times’ Climate desk from the Wall Street Journal, where she produced impressive and varied coverage on sustainability, policy and the energy transition. She has reported on creative attempts to import solar components from China, billionaires battling to keep Washington State’s signature climate law intact and a panic over bacon prices after California’s animal welfare law went into effect.

Claire has also written several freelance stories for the Times, including New York Times Magazine pieces on a vast price-fixing scheme in America’s chicken industry, and an examination of how herbicides are leading to the rise of superweeds that are changing our food systems.

Prior to the Journal, Claire completed a Knight-Bagehot fellowship and received an MBA degree at Columbia Business School. She was also a staff writer at The Counter, a nonprofit publication that covered food and agriculture. She holds a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.