15 stories published on the effect of climate change in Europe

In February 2023, the selected fellows coming from a variety of European countries came together for a three day workshop in Amsterdam organised and hosted by Free Press Unlimited. Here they increased their knowledge on EU climate policy and energy transition, and learned data journalism skills that could immediately be applied in their editorial work.

A story on droughts in Italy

Following the workshop, fellows produced stories exploring practical aspects of climate change in their own areas. For example, one story touches on the impact of droughts on farmers in Italy who are making changes to their crop choices to manage the risk of losing crops because of the droughts.

Journalist Michele Bertelli wrote this story. He says: “The fellowship was highly influential on shaping this story. My mentor suggested that the human angle was the most important, so the story became a report about the struggle that those farmers had with the ongoing drought. I had the opportunity to leave my desk and talk face to face with those who suffer the consequences of climate change firsthand. On the ground reporting is invaluable: it provides our articles with a special flair, giving readers a better understanding of the impact of the events. The fellowship also helped me to set a local story into the larger international framework, using sources such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Sometimes, when working on daily news, it's hard to keep track of all the developments in climate politics and science. The fellowship gave us a strong understanding of the broader picture, something that I felt I did not tackle entirely in my previous reporting.”
 

A story on saving 12 hectares of green space

Another example is the story on a local community in Bucharest, Romania, fighting to save a park from being turned into private land for commercial developments. This story was written by Cristina Radu.

She says the following about the journey behind the story: “I wrote about IOR Park because it is important to show how it is possible that the destruction of 12 hectares of green space in a polluted city full of concrete is allowed: through permissive laws and people's indifference."

She continues: "The reactions of the authorities after the publication were almost non-existent - the police gave some more fines and that was it. Instead, the deforestation in the park continued, because a small fine of 25 lei (5 euros) means nothing. It's time to put some pressure on the authorities to work on this. In the meantime, the owner of the retroceded piece of land from IOR Park has threatened to sue me and Libertatea. It means we've bothered them, however, we will continue to bother them because there are some follow-up stories on the subject coming up.”

The 15 stories are now all published online, in their country and language of focus like Germany, Poland and Hungary. The subjects range from protecting glaciers in Austria to potential solutions to Poland's reliance on imported coal to Hungary's road to carbon neutrality. 
 

Coaching and editorial support

The fellows received editorial support and coaching from Free Press Unlimited during the months they spent sourcing, pitching and writing the stories. For one fellow, this was an opportunity to publish in one of their favourite news outlets. For others it was a chance to learn new data journalism tools. The majority of the fellows told us that because of the fellowship they feel more confident in their knowledge of climate issues. They are planning on publishing more stories on this subject and deeper investigate its complex elements.

Cristina Radu: “I've been working on the subject of the destruction of the IOR Park and how the lack of green spaces, pollution and climate change are interconnected for quite some time, but Free Press Unlimited helped me focus on it and write it the way I wanted.“