Comprehensive coverage of the COP26 climate summit is elevated by all-formats global enterprise reporting showing what’s at stake across the planet.
Extraordinary contributions from writers, photographers, video journalists, data journalists and others worldwide made AP’s coverage of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, stand out, combining strong spot coverage of the talks with global enterprise that illustrated why the talks are vitally important to the planet’s future.
The coverage brought together a diverse package of international stories, complemented by planning and communications that ensured these stories would resonate with audiences of AP customers and on AP platforms. Dozens of staffers across regions and departments worked together starting this summer, all focused on making this sprawling, complex news event accessible and understandable to readers and viewers.
The AP, with its international footprint and its commitment to climate coverage, was uniquely positioned to deliver stunning storytelling and explanatory journalism in text, photos, video and data visualizations. The work helped clients and readers connect with the negotiations in Glasgow conference rooms and amplified that coverage by showing what’s at stake for people and places across the world.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, center, is greeted by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, left, and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, Nov. 1, 2021.
AP Photo / Alastair Grant
A man climbs a steep ridge with a basket of coal scavenged from a mine near Dhanbad, in Jharkhand state, eastern India, Sept. 24, 2021. Efforts to fight climate change are being held back in part because coal, the biggest single source of climate-changing gases, provides cheap electricity and supports millions of jobs. It’s one of the dilemmas facing world leaders trying to stave off the worst effects of global warming.
AP Photo / Altaf Qadri
Raju, far left, chats with a fellow laborer as they take a break from pushing his bicycle, loaded with sacks of coal that will be sold to traders in Dhanbad, in Jharkhand state, eastern India, Sept. 25, 2021. Every day, Raju straps up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds) of coal to the bicycle. Working mostly at night to avoid the police and oppressive heat, he transports the coal 16 kilometers (10 miles) to traders who pay him $2. Thousands of others do the same. This has been Raju’s life since he arrived in Dhanbad five years ago; annual floods in his home region decimated traditional farm jobs. Coal is all he has.
AP Photo / Altaf Qadri
An open-pit coal mine operates near Dhanbad, in Jharkhand state, eastern India, Sept. 24, 2021. An Indian government study found that Jharkhand state — among the poorest in India and the state with the nation’s largest coal reserves — is also the Indian state most vulnerable to climate change.
AP Photo / Altaf Qadri
Smoke rises from a coal-powered steel plant in the background as young women dress after bathing in a stream at Hehal village near Ranchi, in India’s eastern state of Jharkhand, Sept. 26, 2021.
AP Photo / Altaf Qadri
Murti Devi, who scavenges coal for living, prepares a hearth fueled by coal at a village near Dhanbad, in Jharkhand state, eastern India, Sept. 24, 2021. The 32-year-old single mother of four lost the job she had all her life when the mine she worked for closed four years ago. Like so many others, she turned to scavenging coal. On good days, she’ll make a dollar. On other days, she relies on neighbors for help. “If there is coal, then we live. If there isn’t any coal, then we don’t live,” she said.
AP Photo / Altaf Qadri
U.S. President Joe Biden leaves the stage after speaking during an event on the “Global Methane Pledge” at the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit, in Glasgow, Scotland, Nov. 2, 2021. John Kerry, U.S. special presidential envoy for climate, is shown on the screen, taking the podium.
AP Photo / Evan Vucci
Demonstrators from the Ocean Rebellion environment group wear fish masks during a protest against the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), on the outskirts of the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, Nov. 4, 2021.
AP Photo / Alastair Grant
Extension Rebellion activists protest outside J.P. Morgan premises near the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, Nov. 3, 2021, during a demonstration against “greenwashing” — an attempt by a company or government to appear to be doing more to protect the environment than it really is.
AP Photo / Alastair Grant
Climate activists hold up illuminated placards with climate messages outside the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, Scotland, Nov. 3, 2021, during the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit.
AP Photo / Alastair Grant
Activists near the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, protest Japan’s support of the coal industry, Nov. 4, 2021.
AP Photo / Alberto Pezzali
Amazon tribal leader and climate activist Kreta Kaingang speaks during a demonstration in Glasgow, Scotland, Nov. 5, 2021, during the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit.
AP Photo / Jon Super
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, attends the opening ceremony of the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit, in Glasgow, Scotland, Nov. 1, 2021.
AP Photo / Alberto Pezzali
Cows gather near the coal-fired power station in Niederaussem, Germany, Oct. 24, 2021. Global carbon pollution this year has bounced back to almost 2019 levels after a drop during pandemic lockdowns.
AP Photo / Michael Probst
A road winds through a wooded area in Germany’s Taunus region, near Frankfurt, Oct. 2, 2021. More than 100 countries are pledging to end deforestation, which scientists say is a major driver of climate change. Britain hailed the commitment as the first big achievement of the United Nations COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow.
AP Photo / Michael Probst
Mountains deforested for massive limestone quarries are seen in Ipoh, in the Malaysian state Perak state Malaysia, Nov. 5, 2021.
AP Photo / Vincent Thian
Tourists look out over the Perito Moreno Glacier at Los Glaciares National Park, near El Calafate, Argentina, Nov. 1, 2021. Experts warn that global warming could melt much of the planet’s ice, raising sea levels and increasing extreme weather events.
AP Photo / Natacha Pisarenko
Tourists walk on the Perito Moreno Glacier at Los Glaciares National Park, near El Calafate, Argentina, Nov. 2, 2021.
AP Photo / Natacha Pisarenko
Houses sit on a strip of land between the Senegal River, top, and the Atlantic Ocean, in Saint Louis, Senegal, Nov. 3, 2021. Homes have been damaged or destroyed along the shoreline by wave action and erosion as climate change threatens to raise sea levels and increase weather extremes.
AP Photo / Leo Correa
A drop of water falls from an iceberg delivered near the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, Nov. 5, 2021. The 4-ton block of ice, originally part of a larger glacier, was brought from Greenland to Glasgow by climate scientists of Arctic Basecamp as a statement to world leaders of the scale of the climate crisis and a visible reminder of what Arctic warming means for the planet.
AP Photo / Alastair Grant
From left, AP South Asia health and science correspondent Aniruddha Ghosal, photojournalist Altaf Qadri and video journalist Shonal Ganguly pose on assignment in Dhanbad, in the eastern state of Jharkhand — India’s “coal capital.”
AP Photo
In the first week alone, AP had all-formats enterprise stories from India, China, Bangladesh, the U.S., Mexico and the Arctic. There was a series of four video explainers to help people understand emissions, heat waves, storms and sea level rise, and an immersive data visualization explained how changes in sea ice affect the species often associated with climate change, the polar bear. And AP's outstanding photojournalism was collected in galleries showing the changes the Earth is enduring.
For comprehensive and engaging all-formats coverage around a major conference that might otherwise seem distant and arcane, the AP staff dedicated to this coverage earns Best of the Week — Second Winner.
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