The climate crisis concerns all fabrics of society. Local journalism can play a key role when cities are handling the problems. This paper analyses local media discourses on climate change in four Swedish cities that aim to be role-models in the transition towards carbon-neutrality. A discourse analysis of news articles and op-eds about the climate, combined with semi-structured interviews with journalists working at four different local newspapers shows that the climate crisis is covered in all newspapers, even if the amount and ambitions varies, including the ability to fill key roles as watchdog and educator. The newsrooms’ climate focus also had to give way when the covid-19 pandemic struck. Local decisions about transportation, food and urban development are common topics and often debated in the local press. However, the price-winning cities ambitious green plans to become climate neutral already by 2030 remain vague for the journalists and probably their readers.