LATAM Climate Culture Story Grant (CCSG)
The LATAM Climate Culture Story Grant (CCSG) open for applications
Overview
The LATAM Climate Culture Story Grant (CCSG) is a new initiative by climateXchange (cXc) in collaboration with regional partners Report for the World (RFW) to promote cross-border cultural climate journalism across Latin America (LATAM). With climate justice and impact-driven storytelling at its core, the initiative aims to foster impactful, collaborative, and revenue-diverse reporting projects that reflect the interconnected realities of the Latin American region.
This grant program will follow the 2025 UN Climate Change Conference (COP 30), in Brazil November 10-21, where CCSG pitches will be based on the themes of COP 30 and collaborators explore a culturally intersectional approach. Participating journalists, storytellers, and media organisations will pitch integrated story ideas that connect COP issues, stakeholders, and communities across multiple LATAM countries.
Apply now: Grant open for eligible participants 18 August – September 30, 2025. The LATAM CCSG Program will run from November 2025 to May 2026.
Successful teams will be awarded USD $5000 to develop and publish their stories. As well as the grant award, dedicated teams from cXc, RFW and external partners will support the awardees through a mentorship programme.
If you are interested in putting forward a pitch, read on for more information about the award, mentorship programme, eligibility criteria, and how to apply.
Grant Details
Grant Size: USD $5000 per award
Number of Grants: 4
Geographic Scope: Latin America (multi-country or organisational collaborations required-2-minimum, 4-maximum)
Support Provided: In addition to financial support, each LATAM CCSG awardee will receive a seven-month mentorship including:
- Mapping out the key stakeholders e.g. most affected communities, most vocal-allied policy makers, companies or officials to hold accountable, civil society organizations..
- Programmable product guidance
Program Design
Applications open: August 18, 2025 – September 29, 2025
Pitch Close: September 30 11:59BST, 2025
Award Announcements: November 3, 2025
COP: November 10- 21, 2025
1st story collaborations published with central COP themes: November 10 – December 8, 2025
Follow-on story publications and impact design process: January 12 – May 30, 2026
Impact measurement period begins: May 30, 2026
Eligibility
- Applications are open to journalists, media outlets and storytellers in Latin America who are Report For The World members.
- To foster the best cross-regional storytelling, pitches must be a collaboration between two to four media organisations from different countries within the LATAM region.
- Pitches must demonstrate programmatic or themed reporting based on COP30 policy initiatives.
- Pitches must be based on COP 30 conversations / outcomes and should show clear pathways to impact and/or audience engagement across LATAM.
- Pitches must demonstrate a form of revenue that is sustainable or scalable.
Expected Outcomes
- A portfolio of integrated climate stories highlighting regional connections and challenges inspired by COP 30.
- Strengthened regional journalism networks and cross-border newsroom collaborations.
- Measurable impact outcomes (e.g., policy engagement, community response, partnerships).
- Increased audience awareness and engagement with climate narratives across Latin America.
This grant is designed to support stories with a real-life impact based on key themes from COP 30. We are looking for deeply reported, collaborative stories or series in multimedia formats, with newsrooms working together within countries and across borders in Latin America with an intersectional culture lens on climate related themes.
The grant is open to Report for the World members in LATAM. The pitch must be a collaboration between two or more news organisations from different countries within the LATAM region.
No, you don’t need to be a cXc member. However, if you aren’t you will be screened for membership and this will be granted if your pitch is successful.
The selected pitches will be awarded U$D5000. Grants will be paid by Report For The World in an up-front lump sum. Distribution of monies among partner awardees is the responsibility of the lead organization.
All story production costs, including field reporting, data visualisation, photo and video production, design, audience research and impact planning and implementation.
We will ask for light-touch general and financial reporting at the end of the project – templates will be provided. We also want to see your commitment to demonstrating long term impact and we will ask for reporting beyond the end date of this project.
Submit an online application detailing applicant information, the overall pitch idea, the impact and relevance of the story series, budget breakdown, and anything additional you would like us to know.
You can preview the application form here.
You can also contact pnallu@reportfortheworld.org to discuss your application further.
Please note that due to the volume of applications cXc and RFW will not contact unsuccessful pitches and no direct feedback will be available.
Culture-first: The story pitch transforms COP 30 climate themes from a siloed topic into a cultural force that is part of daily life. Read cXc’s Climate as Culture: A Journalist’s Guide. [LINK to guide pdf]
Cross-border collaboration: The pitch is a collaboration between two or more news organisations from different countries within the LATAM region.
Multi-media: The pitch must demonstrate that the stories generated will be in multimedia formats, and leverage social platforms.
Impact: The story moves the climate conversation forward in the local market. There is a direct contribution made to changing the Climate Journalism ecosystem.
Distribution: Pitches with diverse distribution tied to concrete impact goals will be prioritised.
The applicant(s) will fully own the idea. cXc and RFW have no right over the intellectual property. We ask the methodology and learning to be open source; however, all copyright and IP of the story and research is yours.
We recognize that climate change is not just a scientific or political issue, it’s a cultural one. We encourage projects that shape climate culture by making climate news more relatable, inspiring action, or connecting with communities through storytelling, art, or innovative engagement strategies.
Successful awardees will be informed by November 3, 2025.
For any questions, please reach out to pnallu@reportfortheworld.org