Implementing OCRI 3 Years On: CIJ Commences Climate Investigations Course
The Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) London has commenced its new Climate Investigations Course (CIC) launched in January 2025 after months of curriculum development and at the end of the third anniversary of the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI) implementation.
The first cohort of participants for the CIC which started March 27 and will run on 14 specific days until 6 June, hail from 14 countries across Europe, North & South America and Asia. The CIC training is a 23-hour long immersive course that teaches various aspects of deep investigative research into climate change and its causes; how to use data and open-source intelligence tools for holistic climate reporting; and how to interrogate climate financing by following the money and actors.
OCRI’s impact continues to grow through the provision of tools and resources to aid the understanding of what reporting climate change really mean towards facilitating real world actions and breaking new ground.
The CIC fulfils OCRI’s objective of raising the standard of environmental investigations to enable thoroughly researched public interest reporting and evidence-based advocacy through training and skill-sharing with target audiences. It builds on OCRIs global footprint since April 2022 that has taught practical investigative skills to nearly 750 journalists across 58 countries leading to the publication of more than 145 investigative projects to date. Following a successful pilot in Nepal, three regions were covered for Year 1 (April 2022 to March 2023) of OCRI. They are Latin America (excluding Brazil), Anglophone Africa and Francophone Africa. Brazil & Lusophone Africa, South Asia and the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) were the Year 2 regions (April 2023 to March 2024). The successes recorded have built on the back of 20 esteemed partner organisations driving implementation across the regions.
The relevance of the course is evidenced not only in the available places for the first run being booked up just a few weeks after the launch but in bringing on board a global perspective on how to report the climate crisis. The programme blends the expertise of 12 world-class practitioners from across the CIJ training network who have spent much of 2024 working on the curriculum, plus the contribution of another 19 CIJ trainers who delivered region-tailored versions of the CIC during 4 OCRI story-lab workshops in Nigeria, Colombia (in Spanish), Côte d’Ivoire (in French) and Sri Lanka last year as part of activities for OCRI Year 3’s implementation. The 2nd run of the highly sought after CIC will be held during July and September while the final run for 2025 is scheduled for October, November and December.
Look out for an announcement of bookings opening for that in the very near future. If you want to ensure you don’t miss them, sign up for our newsletter.