It’s 16 March and the Guardian has launched an international climate change campaign calling on the world’s two largest charitable foundations to move their money out of fossil fuels. Slick, black oil drips down the front page and covers the news headlines on the website.
So how does a team of journalists, used to doing journalism, go about campaigning?
The biggest story in the world is the audio documentary that goes behind the scenes of the Guardian’s Keep it in the Ground campaign. You can download it every week here.
In this week’s episode, the campaign goes live. The team gathers after the launch.
It’s time to talk about the risks. Once the general election campaign is in full swing, Keep it in the Ground could get left behind. The Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust have responded and the ball is back in our court. Ricken Patel, founder of the global campaigning organisation Avaaz tells the team why his organisation haven’t campaigned on divestment.
Alan raises what is perhaps the biggest risk of all: what if the Guardian Media Group (GMG) doesn’t divest its own funds? What if readers decide to start their own campaign against the business? Where would that leave the journalists?
The editor-in-chief is getting mixed messages from the commercial board. Finally, he is able to meet Neil Berkett and hear the news of their decision – will the company that owns the Guardian move out of fossil fuels?
If you haven’t been following the inside story of the campaign, as told on the podcast, it’s not too late to start from the beginning. Episode one starts at Christmas with an email from the editor-in-chief. The team gathers in the new year and reaches a consensus: fossil fuels must be kept in the ground.
In episode two, tensions appear. In the red corner, environmental columnist George Monbiot says we should we focus on the global climate change summit in Paris at the end of the year. In the blue corner, news editor James Randerson believes in the power of a campaign targeting corporations.
In episode three, the Guardian became a campaigning organisation. The campaign will be on fossil fuel divestment. We pick our targets: the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust.
In the latest episode published today, we finally go public.
Follow all the campaign updates here.
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