OCRI at CIJSummer Conference, BBC World Service and CSSN Panel
The Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI) of the CIJ is expanding its impact by engaging in different ways this summer.
#CIJSummer Conference 2026
For the second year running, we hosted more than 20 participants this year during the Climate Investigations Masterclass on Wednesday 24 June as a pre-summer conference activity. Participants were taken through salient topics and case studies to jump start them into conducting climate investigations.
Hosting the masterclass was unique for us this year because it (and CIJ Summer) happened in the middle of a smelting heatwave across the UK and Europe. Though uncomfortable, it was the perfect reminder of sorts to once again bring forward salient issues needing attention and ask if stakeholders are doing enough. Also, the masterclass was recognised as a 2026 London Climate Action Week (LCAW) event. LCAW is one of the world’s largest independent climate events that was founded in 2019 and brought together more than 100,000 people across 1300+ events over nine days during the 2026 edition in June.
Continuing the tradition as has been the case since 2022, two environmental/climate change related sessions also featured at the conference proper. Aditi Tandon of Mongabay India took on the climate misinformation ecosystem on Thursday, while Scilla Alecci of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) was on hand to teach on investigating governments’ role in the climate crisis.
BBC World Service: Adeolu Adekola discusses OCRI and other climate-related issues
Adeolu, OCRI’s Project Manager was on the BBC World Service Radio Programme on Saturday 27 June serving as a co-panel discussant with Mei-Ling McNamara, who is the Editorial Director at Investigate Europe. He shared on OCRI’s impact (listen here) and other topics by bringing a climate change perspective:
Speaking on cocoa plants in West Africa (listen from 44.36)
Speaking on the rise of AI & data centres in Australia and globally (listen from 26:31)
Speaking on the heatwave in Europe (listen from 35:10)
Adeolu had previously featured on the BBC in February 2023 discussing OCRI, Nigeria’s 2023 elections and the relationship between both.
Climate Social Science Network (CSSN) climate obstruction working group webinar: The role of non-state actors
On Tuesday 7 July, Adeolu joined other scholars as a panellist during a webinar organised by the Climate Social Science Network working group on climate obstruction in authoritarian and non-democratic states. Adeolu drew on CIJ’s Climate Investigations Course (CIC) to share the non-state-actor industries that enable climate obstruction globally and the key trends shaping climate disinformation. He also shared salient contexts to consider from an African perspective (using Nigeria as a case study) for better understanding of the frameworks fueling climate obstruction leaning on OCRI’s footprint in 28 African and 30 other Global South countries. Read more.