Climate Finance Initiative | Prior Cohort 2025

Adiel Kaplan is a freelance investigative reporter and editor, whose journalism focuses on the intersection of climate and labor. She has worked at outlets including NBC News, the Miami Herald and InvestigateWest, where her reporting has won awards and spurred legislative change. She teaches investigative data reporting at Columbia Journalism School.

Alexa Elliott is the creator of Changing Seas, a PBS marine science series on the air for nearly 20 years. Topics range from resilient coral reefs to field research in the polar night. A Fellow of the Explorer’s Club with two broadcast journalism degrees, she has received numerous honors, including 12 Emmy awards and the National Academy of Sciences' Communication Award.

Anna Bianca Roach is an investigative journalist in NYC covering business, labor, and the environment. They report on corporate risk and strategy at the Financial Times, focusing on climate adaptation and the energy transition. Their past work includes reporting on foreign bribery and the U.N., and they hold an M.S. from Columbia Journalism School’s Toni Stabile Center.

Ashlyn O'Hara is a reporter and evening news host at KDLL public radio in Kenai, Alaska. She covers issues like declining king salmon runs, wildfire risks in beetle-killed forests, and efforts to revive local oil and gas industries. Recently, she’s reported on growing federal and international interest in a proposed 800-mile natural gas pipeline through Alaska.

Audrey Tan is an assistant news editor at The Straits Times in Singapore, leading environmental coverage. With over a decade of experience, she focuses on climate change, biodiversity, and Southeast Asia’s response to these global crises. She received a Pulitzer Center grant in 2022 and holds a master’s in climate science and policy from Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Carolyn Beans is a freelance science reporter in Lancaster, PA, covering food, agriculture, and health. She holds a PhD in biology and entered journalism through an AAAS Fellowship at NPR. Her work appears in The Atlantic, Slate, Undark, and more. In 2025, she was an MIT Environmental Solutions Journalism Fellow reporting on climate-smart dairy for Lancaster Farming.

Christina Lu is an energy and environment reporter at Foreign Policy, where she covers the geopolitics of critical mineral supply chains, the energy transition, and climate change. Prior to joining FP in 2021, she worked at Foreign Affairs and the Southern African Institute for Policy and Research in Lusaka, Zambia. She lives in Washington, D.C. and is a graduate of Cornell University.

Coco Liu covers all aspects of climate change for Bloomberg Green, with a focus on climate tech. Before joining Bloomberg in New York, she spent a decade reporting on business, tech, and the environment across Asia. Her award-winning work spans 13 countries. In 2024, she was part of a Bloomberg team named Pulitzer Prize finalists for a series on corporate use of public water.

Constanze Bayer is a data journalist at German public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), focusing on climate and environmental stories through data analysis and programming. Her work includes projects like a CO2 calculator and investigations into climate development aid financing. She previously studied economics.

Daniel Ackerman is an award-winning audio journalist covering the economy and environment. He reports for Marketplace, a nationally syndicated radio show from American Public Media. He also writes the Seabed Spotlight newsletter about deep-sea mining. Daniel holds a PhD in climate change ecology.

Daniel Wolfe is a climate graphics columnist at The Washington Post, where he writes for The Climate Lab, a data-driven visual column on topics from environmental health to clean energy. He uses maps, illustrations, and charts to convey scientific nuance. His work has been recognized by the Pulitzer Foundation, Metcalf Institute, SND, and the Asian American Journalists Association.

Emma Foehringer Merchant is a journalist who covers climate change, energy, and the environment. Her work has appeared in the Boston Globe Magazine, Bloomberg Businessweek, Inside Climate News, the Washington Post, Greentech Media, Grist, and other outlets. She lives in California.

Eric Schmid is a multimedia journalist in St. Louis covering the intersection of climate, environment, business, and the economy. After six years at St. Louis Public Radio, he joined St. Louis Magazine in May to lead business coverage. His work has appeared in NPR, Grist, and Marketplace, and has earned awards for exposing groundwater contamination in southern Missouri.

Eshe Nelson is a business and economics reporter for The New York Times in London, covering European economic policy, central banks, and companies. She previously reported on global markets for Quartz and Bloomberg News. In 2020, she completed the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Economics and Business Journalism at Columbia University.

Gabriela Barzallo is an Ecuadorian-American bilingual journalist covering Latin America and its U.S. diasporas. Her climate reporting focuses on environmental justice, food sovereignty, biodiversity, and the Amazon. She has written for The Guardian, BBC, El País, and more, and is a fellow of IWMF, The Uproot Project, Solutions Journalism Network, and GRID-Arendal.

Helen Wieffering is an investigative reporter at The Associated Press in Washington, D.C. Since 2021, she has covered topics from methane emissions to police restraints, with a primary focus on oceans, shipping, and fisheries. Her recent work investigates startups exploiting the oceans for carbon credits. She holds a master’s in investigative journalism from Arizona State University.

Ishan Thakore is a climate and environment reporter at Colorado Public Radio. His work has appeared on NPR, WNYC, THE CITY, BBC, Netflix, and more. He worked for six years at the news and comedy show "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee," as a fact-checker and associate producer. He’s a Fulbright-National Geographic Fellow and a 2023-2024 Ted Scripps Fellow in Environmental Journalism at CU Boulder. 

Jamie Smyth is the US energy editor at the Financial Times, based in New York, where he leads coverage of the US oil, gas, and renewables sectors. He previously served as the FT’s US pharmaceutical, Australia, and Ireland correspondent. Before joining the FT, he reported for The Irish Times in Brussels and Dublin.

Jennifer Collins is a senior editor and podcast producer at Deutsche Welle’s environment desk. She’s reported on climate issues for over a decade, covering stories from Afghan agriculture to water scarcity in India. Her work has appeared in USA Today, El País, and more. An alumna of the IJP and a Gates Foundation grantee, she’s originally from Ireland and has lived in Berlin since 2008.

Jimeh Saleh is a journalist and former BBC Hausa Editor who gave the world its first glimpse of Boko Haram’s hideout in 2015. At the BBC, he led digital growth, launched a women’s short story contest, and commissioned climate reports in West Africa. He now leads Amana Inclusive Technology Initiative, making AI accessible in African languages. He holds an MA in Journalism.

Julia Sklar is the story editor at Sierra Magazine, shaping coverage of climate, health, and coastal issues. An award-winning science journalist, she has written for National Geographic, The Boston Globe, and Undark, and mentors fellows at the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk. She holds a master’s in science journalism from Boston University.

Maria Martinez is a Reuters correspondent in Berlin covering German economics and the ministry of finance. Maria previously worked at Dow Jones Newswires in Barcelona covering European economics and at Bloomberg, Debtwire and the New York Stock Exchange in New York City. She graduated with a Master of International Affairs at Columbia University as a Fulbright scholar.

Miacel Spotted Elk (Navajo/Northern Cheyenne) is the current Indigenous Affairs fellow at Grist, where she reports on the intersection between climate and Indigenous issues in the U.S. and worldwide. From Salt Lake City, UT, she has worked on related coverage at High Country News and freelanced as a fact-checker for podcasts. In 2023, she was a Periplus fellow.

Michael Sol Warren is a producer for NJ Spotlight News, where he works on the nightly newscast NJ Spotlight News with Briana Vannozzi. He also reports on climate and environmental issues, including producing multi platform projects exploring local impacts around New Jersey. Michael is a North Carolina native who graduated from the University of New Mexico and Boston University.

Nicolás Rivero is a climate solutions reporter at The Washington Post. He previously covered climate change for the Miami Herald and was the Knight Foundation innovator-in-residence at FIU’s journalism school. Earlier, he reported on tech and transportation at Quartz, where he also wrote newsletters and built news chatbots.

Pete Madden is a senior producer for ABC World News with David Muir and managing editor of First Amendment Watch at NYU. He has led investigations on national security, corruption, and human rights for ABC, ESPN, and FiveThirtyEight. A former Sports Illustrated senior producer, he’s won a Scripps Howard Award, two Murrow Awards, and taught journalism at SUNY New Paltz.

Pete covers climate, environment, and energy for Maine Public Radio. He previously spent over a decade reporting on business, transportation, and government for Maine newspapers. His work has been recognized by the Public Media Journalists Association and RTDNA. He holds degrees from Dalhousie University and Boston University.

Purple Romero is a digital verification editor at AFP Hong Kong, debunking climate misinformation in Asia-Pacific. She has also reported on climate mitigation and adaptation for outlets like Rappler, Climate Home, Eco-Business, and Reuters AlertNet. She has received journalism grants from Earth Journalism Network, Climate Tracker, and the International Women's Media Foundation.

Rebekah F. Ward is the Houston Chronicle's climate and environmental reporter. She focuses on industrial pollution, extreme weather impacts and environmental health. Ward is a trilingual journalist from Montreal who has worked for outlets including the Albany Times Union, Reuters, France 24 and The OCCRP who has reported from the U.S., Colombia, Mexico and her native Canada. 

Samantha Maldonado is a senior reporter at THE CITY, covering climate, housing, and politics in NYC. She also teaches at CUNY’s Newmark Graduate School of Journalism. Previously, she reported on energy and environmental politics for Politico, and her work has appeared in The New York Times, the AP, and on CNN.

Sarah Stodola is a journalist and author covering the intersections of travel, economies, and climate. Her work appears in The New York Times, Bloomberg, National Geographic, and Grist. She wrote The Last Resort, named a best book of 2022 by The New Yorker. Her Substack, Flung, explores travel’s evolving ties to climate and culture. She lives in New York City.

Tom Frank is deputy climate editor at Politico’s E&E News, where he writes and edits articles about climate change, natural disasters and the response of the federal government, property insurers and financial institutions. He previously worked at USA Today, Newsday and the Providence (R.I.) Journal and lives in Washington, D.C.

Veronica Penney is a graphics editor at Science Magazine, specializing in data reporting, climate coverage, and cartography. She previously reported for Colorado Public Radio, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Her climate reporting has won awards from Scripps Howard, the Association of Healthcare Journalists, and others.

Virginia Gewin is an independent journalist in Portland, Oregon, covering climate change, agriculture, and public health. Her work appears in Nature, Scientific American, Bloomberg, Vox, Grist, and more. She’s a fellow of the Alicia Patterson Foundation, MIT Knight Science Journalism Program, and Nova Institute for Health. Her recent work explores air pollution and climate health impacts.