Feature article published in Sustainable Investor
Overview
Sustainable Investor is a specialist online media publication aimed at investment and finance professionals interested in sustainability, ESG and responsible investing.
The brief
I joined the writer roster for Sustainable Media Group earlier this year, which publishes both Sustainable Investor and Sustainable Times. I was commissioned by the editor to write a feature article ahead of COP30, exploring how sovereign debt investors are influencing climate and nature policy, in the context of high and rising public debt. They wanted the piece to be informed by interviewing several subject matter experts with original quotes and commentary.
Full article
Screenshot of the full article on the Sustainable Investor website, November 2025
My process
We kicked off with a briefing call between me and the editor, where we discussed the story angle, potential sources, style, timeline and requirements.
The editor confirmed the commission by email and shared contact details for several relevant sources to approach for an interview.
I sent emails to relevant organisations to set up interviews, including the three the editor suggested and two others I had in mind. I did interviews with all five of the organisations I reached out to.
I did extensive background reading to understand the topic, map out a draft outline and prepare thoughtful questions for my interviews.
Over the course of two weeks, I did five expert interviews, taking notes and recording our conversations. Some of the sources asked to check quotes, so I followed up with the quotes I wanted to use for them to sign off, or in some cases, to slightly amend their statements. This ensured accuracy in the final piece.
I mapped out the key themes from my conversations and created an outline to work from, to ensure I had a strong narrative structure.
I drafted the article, let it sit for a couple of days and then did my own editing for clarity, style and brevity. I cross-checked with the publication’s style guide while editing.
I submitted the first draft to the editor by the agreed deadline.
The editor provided high-level feedback. He was very pleased with the overall quality of the piece, but asked me to strengthen one of the points around investors leveraging high sovereign debt to strengthen climate and nature ambition. This hypothesis had been prominent in his synopsis, but didn’t come through strongly in my initial research interviews.
I sent a follow-up question to some of my sources and received responses about the potential of debt-for-nature swaps. I combined their quotes with additional research and examples and incorporated this into the second draft.
The editor accepted my second draft and made additional light copy edits before publishing.
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