Climate Change
COP31 Climate Change Media Partnership Reporting Fellowship
Sixteen journalists from low- and middle-income countries will participate in a fellowship program and report on location in Antalya, Türkiye, at the 31st UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP31) in November 2026.
Updated September 2026
The Earth Journalism Network (EJN), a project of Internews, Informed Earth, and the Stanley Center for Peace and Security, are pleased to announce that 16 journalists have been awarded fellowships to cover the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP31), as part of the Climate Change Media Partnership (CCMP) program.
The fellows selected to attend and report on COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, from November 9-20, 2026, are:
- Anandabhuwana (Indonesia)
- Angelica Maria Daza Romero (Colombia)
- Aparna Bose (India)
- Aria Deemie (Liberia)
- Hammad Sarfraz (Pakistan)
- Lerato Tshilidzi Ida Mutsila (South Africa)
- Maria de los Ãngeles Graterol Camacho (Venezuela)
- Maria Vasileva Petrova-Galabova (Bulgaria)
- Nadia Soledad Luna (Argentina)
- Nathalie Iriarte Villavicencio (Bolivia)
- Nkoli Lovelyn Omhoudu (Nigeria)
- Noel Charles Piringi (Solomon Islands)
- Ontomwa Francis Gekuno (Kenya)
- Shaikh Shahrukh Farhan (Bangladesh)
- Zenebe Hailu Gemechu (Ethiopia)
While at COP31, the 16 fellows will participate in orientation activities, daily briefings, interviews with high-level officials and networking events organized by the Stanley Center, EJN and Informed Earth to facilitate quality reporting on developments and outcomes at the climate talks. The fellows will receive support and guidance from seasoned climate journalists affiliated with EJN’s global network of trainers, who will accompany them to Antalya.
Journalists covering this year’s COP will have front row seats on talks ranging from ensuring equitable implementation of climate infrastructure and funding adopted at previous negotiations as well as progress on climate mitigation and adaptation targets.
For the first time, two independent creator journalist fellows will be part of the CCMP cohort. These fellows are journalists who are not affiliated with a news outlet and use journalistic practices and content creation techniques to deliver climate news to their audiences on social media platforms.
In addition to the 16 fellows who will travel to Antalya to report on COP31 in person, the CCMP will be organizing a companion program to support a group of fellows reporting remotely from their home countries, with a focus on oceans.
COP31 hosts Türkiye and Australia are keen to emphasize the shift from talk to action at this year’s event, with key targets being Electrification, Zero Waste and Resilient Cities. Partnering with its neighboring Pacific nations, lead negotiator Australia is also expected to highlight the importance of representation and adaptation funds for small island developing states (SIDS).
The event in Türkiye’s Mediterranean resort city comes as the region reels from a season of unprecedented wildfires, caused by an intensely hot, dry summer. The World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) State of the Climate report showed that fossil fuel use in 2025 continued to rise, despite being a major cause of the changing climate, amid increased extreme weather events across continents and a clear risk to livelihoods, biodiversity and global security. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said “This report should come with a warning label: Climate chaos is accelerating, and delay is deadly.” Given the rapidly shrinking window of opportunity to reduce emissions and prevent global average temperatures from exceeding 1.5 °C above preindustrial levels, calls for developed countries to hold fast on their commitments on climate finance and energy transition are increasing.
About CCMP
EJN, along with Panos London and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), formed the CCMP in 2007 to enable journalists from low- and middle-income countries to attend and report from the annual UN climate summits. Virtually every year since then, the CCMP has supported more than 550 journalists to report on location from the annual UN climate summit. This year marks the eighth time the Stanley Center and EJN have collaborated on the CCMP fellowship program, and the first time working in partnership with Informed Earth.
Audiences and media houses benefit from having local journalists present who can contextualize the climate negotiations and cover the most relevant stories from COP for their countries and communities, rather than relying on broader, international wire services. This year, the CCMP’s global open call for applications drew more than 500 applications. For this cohort, eligible countries included low- and middle-income countries as defined by the World Bank, those neighboring the COP host country and countries with demonstrated need for increased reporting on climate change. All fellows will be attending and covering a COP for the first time. Fellows were selected by a panel of international judges following two rounds of review and interviews with shortlisted applicants.
The COP31 CCMP Reporting Fellowship program is co-organized by Internews’ EJN, Informed Earth and the Stanley Center. Financial support for Informed Earth has been provided by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the Federal Government of Germany as part of the SYMBIOTIC program.