The global movement for fossil fuel divestment encourages institutions to quit funding oil, coal, and gas companies for both moral and financial reasons. However, in many countries, fossil fuel investors continue to develop projects that face fierce opposition from local groups, who expose the environmental and social risks associated with the ventures.
We put out a call for communicators to shine light on fossil fuel investments in their country and with a resounding response, we’re proud to share with you our Fossil Fuel Reporting Fellows.
These young passionate communicators will publish stories over the coming months, with the aim to shift one of the world’s biggest coal financiers.
Eve Driver, United States/Kenya 
Eve is a writer living in Nairobi. She grew up in the northeastern United States and has had stints in Buenos Aires and Cape Town, where she also worked as a writer and researcher. In addition to her work as a journalist, Eve has worked as a fossil fuel divestment activist, a research assistant to an anthropologist, a criminal investigator for a public defender, and a campaign manager for an Argentine mayoral candidate.
She studied the history and culture(s) of environmentalism at Harvard University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 2020. Her research on media coverage of Cape Town’s “Day Zero” water crisis won the Undergraduate Essay Prize from the Science, Technology and Society department at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
Ezgi Erdaç , Turkey 
Ezgi is a climate policy officer venturing into the world of reporting. She holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and a masters degree in EU Trade and Climate Diplomacy. With this fellowship, Ezgi is looking forward to uncovering the fossil fuel stories in her country and helping the world.
Gaia Lamperti, Italy
Gaia is a multimedia journalist. Born in Milan, after living in Spain, the US and Australia, she’s now based in London. She holds a master’s degree in International Journalism and has been reporting on climate, sustainability, finance and technology across several platforms.
Gaia has been awarded the IMF Youth Fellowship in 2020 and is currently working on solutions stories about sustainable innovation that tackles the climate crisis with the Solution Journalism Network. With this fellowship, she is looking forward to work with a team of international journalists on exposing the environmental and social risks associated with coal investments.
Check out Gaia’s previous work
Kennedy Nyavaya, Zimbabwe
Kennedy is a multi-award winning, enterprising and hardworking communication practitioner with over half a decade of experience in mainstream media and public relations for civic organizations. In a journalism career spanning over half a decade, he has reported on a variety of events including those officiated by government officials as well as international diplomats and wrote different articles cutting across different topics albeit with a keen interest on human rights, the environment and climate change.
He won Renewable Energy Reporter of the year 2020, Best ICT journalist 2018 (National Journalism and Media Awards), Sanitation and Hygiene journalist of the year 2018 (National Journalism and Media Awards)
Rassela Malinda, Indonesia
Currently working as a field researcher in Yayasan Pusaka Bentala Rakyat, Rassela is passionate about issues related to agriculture, she’s addicted to Zumba, and enjoys Shiba-Inu memes.
Rassela is really looking forward to improving her knowledge about climate issues, through this fellowship. She’s also keen on increasing her English publications.
Stephen Otieno Oketch, Kenya
Stephen is an investigative reporter at Daily Nation newspaper, owned by the Nation Media Group, in Kenya. His favourite thing about being a reporter is discovering secrets and making them known to the public.
He was a finalist at the 9th Annual Journalism Excellency Awards (AJEA) in Kenya and placed 2nd in the Governance category in this year’s AJEA. Through this fellowship, Stephen is looking forward to linking human rights to throughout his stories.
Keep up with this team! We know they’re about to publish some amazing stories!