Environmental activists, spurred in part by a Media Matters study that found CNBC was misleading on climate change, held a protest in front of CNBC's headquarters Tuesday and submitted more than 42,000 signatures in support of a petition urging the cable network to improve its coverage of that issue.

Members of Environmental Action and Forecast the Facts gathered in front of the business network's offices in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., for a 20-minute event. Their protest highlighted the damage done to New Jersey during last year's Hurricane Sandy and pointed out that CNBC's poor climate change coverage does a disservice to its audience, whose companies can reduce risk and increase profits with accurate information on how climate change is impacting their industries.

“There is this growing evidence of the economic impact of climate change,” said Jesse Bacon, field organizer for Environmental Action. “It is crucial and we hope to see an improvement in their climate coverage. CNBC has a reputation as a journalistic outlet so people take them seriously.”

The protest is, in part, a response to findings by Media Matters in June that the majority of CNBC's climate coverage cast doubt on the validity of the situation.  

At the end of Tuesday's event, Bacon and other organizers presented the petition with what they said were more than 42,000 signatures to CNBC spokesman Brian Steel.

The petition states:

To CNBC Chief Executive Officer and President Mark Hoffman:

Tell Joe Kernen and your other on-air personalities and guests to stop denying climate science and start reporting the facts on the economic risks of fossil-fueled climate change.

Media Matters identified Kernen, the co-anchor of Squawk Box, as “the most vocal CNBC figures on climate change in 2013, frequently pointing to cold weather to suggest that global warming is not occurring.” 

Bacon said more than 42,000 signatures was “a very high number of people for us. This really resonated. People do care what's on television and what's being covered.”

Steel met the group in the parking lot of CNBC and said he “will commit to read these. We always appreciate the feedback, we love viewer feedback.”