Seven regional journalists have undertaken an eight-day road trip in a bid to discover how the climate crisis is affected their titles’ circulation areas.

Journalists from DC Thomson’s daily titles in Aberdeen and Dundee have driven the electric van from John O’Groats to Glasgow ahead of the United Nations’ climate summit.

The journalists have investigated various environmental matters in the run-up to the COP26 conference and hosted eight climate chats with readers across Scotland.

A road trip diary has also appeared daily on the websites for both Aberdeen’s Press & Journal and Dundee daily The Courier.

P&J journalists Philippa Gerrard and Kieran Beattie

The seven journalists to take part were Philippa Gerrard, Kieran Beattie, Blair Dingwall, Jason Hedges, Kim Cessford, Scott Milne and Aileen Robertson.

Peter John Meiklem, head of transport and the environment for The Courier, said: “We have organised this road trip to better understand how the climate crisis is changing our communities.

“We hope to learn more about how the climate crisis is shaping our communities. To find out how the people who read and watch our content feel about the growing emergency. And to discover what they would tell the decision-makers in Glasgow if they had the chance.”

The team stopped in the Highlands, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Dundee, Fife and Perthshire en route to COP26 host city Glasgow.

Philippa Gerrard, P&J environment and transport journalist, said: “It’s been an exciting adventure. Travelling such large distances in the electric van has been a real eye-opener.

“We plan to tell the climate stories that matter, taking the pulse of our communities as they stand on the brink of an enormous change.

“We want to capture their hopes and fears as Scotland heads down the road towards net zero emissions by 2045.”