The Philippines remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels for its power and energy needs. Fossil fuels also happen to be the main drivers of the climate crisis. Although the country contributes only 0.3 percent of carbon emissions globally, the reliance on coal and fossil gas continues to generate negative and increasingly serious impacts on the daily lives of Filipinos in terms of harm to the economy and human health. Continuous burning of fossil fuels results in air pollution, where long-term exposure can increase the risk of developing illnesses such as asthma, lung cancer, and stroke.

A power sector regime of planned and unforced shutdowns of new and old coal-fired power plants – with some of the newer power stations remaining offline for eight months and counting – has led to persistent blackouts and spiking power costs. The suffering of countless Filipino households and businesses still coping with the brutal effects of the pandemic has been made more tenuous and fragile because of the outages and astronomical electricity bills.

Yet the other side of this narrative coin might be just as, if not even more compelling.

Inherent in the energy transition are stories of positive disruption that have so far gone unreported. While there are reports on solar farms and the solarization of shopping malls, there are fewer stories on the workers, cooperatives, and financers involved in other renewable energy sources, batteries, and storage plants. Other stories that could be further explored include efforts of households to become energy efficient; challenges faced by communities and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in shifting to renewable energy options, and how integral sectors, such as farmers and fisherfolk, can benefit from and take part in the country’s path to climate resilience and transition to low-carbon development.

With all these interesting angles and approaches to storytelling, the Jaime Espina Klima Correspondents Fellowship is a timely opportunity for journalists to reframe approaches to prevailing climate and energy narratives.

The Fellowship is in honor of the late Jose Jaime “Nonoy” Espina, a veteran reporter and press freedom campaigner. His reportage on energy, environmental, and climate change issues in his home province of Negros Occidental helped paved the way towards what is increasingly dominating public discourse today: climate change and the energy transition.

The Fellowship is open to professional journalists, correspondents, and freelancers, working in any medium (print, online, television, radio). We also accept applications from journalists whose works are published in international news outfits, though we highly encourage applicants to engage and secure local or national publication interest in publishing the report/s they will produce under the Fellowship.

Fellows need not be reporters covering climate and energy issues. We strongly encourage journalists assigned to different beats and assignments, such as politics, metro, culture, business, tourism, and lifestyle, among others, to join the Fellowship and learn how climate and energy stories can be developed based on current coverage.

Interested applicants must form a team, consisting of one reporter/ journalist, and one visual storyteller.

Fellowship organizers reserve the right to decline applications if the applicants are found to have engaged in unethical professional conduct.

The Fellowship will select 10 teams of Fellows while striving to maintain balanced representation across the different regions and island groups in the Philippines. Each team will receive a grant of up to P100,000, based on the budget proposal they will submit as part of their application.

Fellows will be selected by an esteemed panel composed of veteran journalists and editors, as well as communications, climate, and energy experts. Upon selection, Fellows must attend a three-day in-person session in Metro Manila from December 10-12, 2024. The learning sessions will tackle the country’s energy situation, renewable energy and its importance, and community-driven renewable energy applications. It will also cover topics such as journalism ethics focused on community engagement and libel check. Fellows will also be offered workshops on photography and visual journalism, energy reporting, and data journalism, among others.

Fellows are expected to begin story production in December. All outputs must be published by March 2025, at the latest. Fellows will have an opportunity to consult with media experts and ICSC representatives to refine the story project.

Stories can be published in any language. However, English translation is required for those publishing in their local languages. ICSC will also seek the Fellows’ consent for rights to publish and distribute their stories on select social media sites and with our national and international partners.

• Compose your team. Applications must be sent as a team through this link. Teams should be composed of: One reporter/ journalist, and one visual storyteller.
• Prepare the application requirements.
  • STORY PROPOSAL: A (maximum) 500-word story proposal that includes a geographic focus, approach or treatment of the content, and the potential impact. These elements will help us better understand your story proposal.
  • STORY THEMES: Applicants can consider any story themes related to climate and energy such as, but not limited to, the following:
    • Efforts to accelerate the energy transition towards affordable, sustainable, reliable, and efficient energy systems, by any of the following: local government units, national government agencies, academic institutions; electric cooperatives, micro, small, and medium enterprises; and household or community initiatives;
    • Renewable energy strategies and systems powering humanitarian responses and community build-back-better strategies and low carbon resilience programs;
    • Small- to large-scale initiatives demonstrating collaborations among government, civil society, and the private sector to promote renewable energy; and
    • Efforts to promote new thinking and analysis in low carbon development-driven economics or scientific explorations, covering different areas other than the power sector, such as tourism, agriculture, health, education, and cities.
  • SPECIFY THE FORMAT OF YOUR STORY: It can take the form of traditional written narratives accompanied by images, for print and online publication; multimedia; animation; a short documentary; or a podcast series. In particular, stories can be in the form of:
    • One multi-part story series with at least five (5) curated photos;
    • Three short written articles with at least three (3) curated photos each;
    • One full video documentary with at least 15-minute running time; or
    • Two audiovisual stories of at least seven minutes for each output.
  • OUTLINE OF STORY PRODUCTION: Include an outline of your story production, including research, fieldwork, writing, and editing. Publication should be in March, at the latest.
  • WORK PLAN: Applicants should also submit a work plan, which must include the budget, timeline, and distribution plan. A more detailed plan, including target interviews/references, travel details, timeline, budget, and an updated distribution plan, will be requested from selected Fellows at a later date.
  • ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS:
    • Letter of intent addressed to the ICSC Executive Director, signed by all members of the applying team.
    • Statement of support from the affiliated publication, with the commitment to publish the story/stories produced by the Fellows.
    • Updated CV and sample works (maximum of three) of the journalists (stories on climate and energy are preferred, but not required).
  • APPLICATION FORM GUIDE: To help you prepare, we’ve created an Application Form Guide with a complete list of questions and fields that encapsulate the requirements listed above. Use it to get ready, but remember: you’ll still need to submit the official form to apply.
  • COMPLETE AND SUBMIT: Accomplish the application form and submit all required documents through the provided link.