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Jess Staufenberg

@jessstaufenberg.bsky.social
205 followers 452 following 26 posts

Journalist on corruption, climate, state of democracy @source-material.org. Former @schoolsweek.bsky.social @feweek.bsky.social, cofounder @pepforum.bsky.social. jess@source-material.org for stories or jhstaufenberg@gmail.com

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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Following a presentation, a panel will discuss and debate the findings, witH audience Q & A to follow. Book your ticket and come along! Thursday 26 Feb, 6pm, St Matthew's Conference Centre, 20 Great Peter Street, SW1P 2BU. www.eventbrite.com/e/state-expe...
eventbrite.com
State Expectations: The independent schools which switched sectors
A panel and audience Q&A discuss the history and experiences of English private schools that converted to academies and free schools.
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Co-authored by Tom Richmond (former DfE adviser and EDSK thintank founder) and Tilly Clough (Queen's University Belfast academic and specialist in schools and charity law), this report launches some meaty policy ideas for the Department for Education. Published by Private Education Policy Forum!
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Twenty-seven independent schools in England have moved into the state sector since 2000. What were their experiences? Did it go well, or turn out wrong? Should more schools do that same? What policy recommendations are there for government?
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Since the election, private schools have found themselves facing headwinds - from the introduction of VAT to increases in national insurance contributions. Noises on the ground suggest some private schools find the idea of becoming a state-funded academy increasingly appealing...
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Hello to the education nerds. I'm launching a report I'm excited about, on the experiences of English private schools that converted to academies! Come and join the panel chat and audience Q & A in Westminster, Thursday 26 Feb, 6pm onwards...🧵 www.eventbrite.com/e/state-expe...
eventbrite.com
State Expectations: The independent schools which switched sectors
A panel and audience Q&A discuss the history and experiences of English private schools that converted to academies and free schools.
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Reposted by Jess Staufenberg
Rosa Furneaux @rosafurneaux.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
A hard post to start the new year: due to organisational changes at their funder, I've been laid off from my role as senior investigative reporter at @source-material.org. It’s been a privilege to work with such a talented and dedicated team on award-winning exposés across the climate beat
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
I'm so grateful to belong to a newsroom that gives reporters time to investigate a story as complex and fascinating as this one by @marcusleroux.bsky.social Here's the story of Mr Mazzagatti, set to buy up North Sea gas fields & dogged by fraud accusations. www.source-material.org/mazzagatti-v...
source-material.org
North Sea Storm – SourceMaterial
Poised to take control of ‘the backbone of the UK’s energy production’, Franceso Mazzagatti is defending allegations bribery, forgery and fraud
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 22/09/2025
Click on this link to see all the winners of this year's Covering Climate Now awards: coveringclimatenow.org/projects/the...
coveringclimatenow.org
The 2025 CCNow Journalism Awards — Covering Climate Now
Covering Climate Now is thrilled to announce the winners of the 2025 CCNow Journalism Awards. Our awards program, now in its fifth year, honors excellent reporting on many critical dimensions of the c...
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 22/09/2025
And watch the documentary edited by Le Monde here: www.source-material.org/total-mozamb...
source-material.org
Total’s Mozambique gas project faces scrutiny over abuse claims
Governments are reviewing support $20 billion gas project after SourceMaterial revealed abuse allegations against troops defending Mozambique site
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 22/09/2025
We're delighted to have won in the 'Conflict & Climate Change' category at this year's Covering Climate Now awards with a project in partnership with our colleagues at Le Monde 🏆
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 29/09/2025
Many other excellent journalists and stories were nominated. You can see the full shortlist here: www.societyofeditors.org/events/media...
societyofeditors.org
Shortlist 2025 – Society of Editors
Society of Editors. Protecting the freedom of the news media
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Reposted by Jess Staufenberg
SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 29/09/2025
Our story investigated millions of used UK tyres being shipped to India to make dirty fuel, harming people and the environment in the process. Read more here: www.source-material.org/waste-tyre-p...
source-material.org
Burning Rubber – SourceMaterial
Millions of used UK tyres are being shipped to India to make dirty fuel harming people and the environment
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 29/09/2025
We're very pleased to have been shortlisted for the Society of Editors Media Freedom Awards 2025 for our story 'Burning Rubber: the poisonous afterlife of waste tyres', in partnership with the BBC.
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
With thanks to my top photographer colleague Costanzza Gambarini @source-material.org and our co-publishers Al Jazeera. You can read both stories below (AJ and SourceMaterial): www.source-material.org/game-of-gree... www.aljazeera.com/features/lon...
source-material.org
‘Game of greenwashing’ – SourceMaterial
The World Bank has picked Accra, Ghana, for a plastic credits scheme. For the city’s waste picker workers, it’s a false solution.
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
...their frustration with international and national models of funding for plastic waste management. Investors + corporations have poured millions of dollars into a 'plastic credit' project in Ghana. But waste picker workers say they do all the hard work yet remain in poverty.
Fishing communities in Jamestown, southern Accra, face a beach smothered in plastic. (Credit: SourceMaterial)
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
This is the story of 51-year-old Lydia Bamfo, a waste picker worker for 25 years and head of Accra's tricycle waste workers' association, and 38-year-old Johnson Doe, a waste picker worker for 22 years and head of a landfill workers' association. It's an investigation into...
Lydia Bamfo, leader of the Accra Borla Tricycle Association (‘borla’ means rubbish in Twi, a regional language), representing 8,000 workers. (Credit: SourceMaterial)ohnson Doe, leader of the landfill waste pickers’ association in Tema landfill, east of Accra, represented Africa at UN negotiations last year (Credit: SourceMaterial)
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
After meeting the boss of a waste picker association in a cafe in South Korea, it took 6 months to follow him back to his home city of Accra and unpack what he had been saying to me over coffee at the UN's plastic treaty talks. Story published today with Al Jazeera. Quick 🧵
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
It's so not cool to read that financial aid for studying journalism (like the brilliant @nctj.bsky.social) could be removed by Dept of Education. Angry rebuttal from Society of Editors below. I 100% agree. Journalism needs to get less posh, not more... www.societyofeditors.org/soe_news/the...
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Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air @creacleanair.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
🇪🇺 📽️ Last year, the EU spent EUR 22 bn on Russian fossil fuels ⚠️ It is enabling President Putin to continue his war 🎤 The @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social‬ & @vicderbyshire.bsky.social‬ speak with @ec.europa.eu‬ Vice-President @kajakallas.bsky.social‬ www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHjp...
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Good to see that our investigation into waste tyres with my top colleague @atikarehman.bsky.social and our co-reporters at BBC File on 4 Investigates was debated in Westminster this week!
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 23/04/2025
Francis survived the attacks, going on to appoint 82 more cardinals before his death—many of whom will take part in the conclave to elect his successor. The voting will determine whether Francis was able to secure his reformist legacy, or if Burke’s conservative allies regain the Holy See.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 23/04/2025
Bannon courted conservative critics of Francis, like Cardinal Raymond Burke, and planned to build a Catholic institute to act as a ‘gladiator school’ for the populist right. SourceMaterial and others exposed irregularities surrounding the institute’s headquarters, sparking a legal spat.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 23/04/2025
Pope Francis was a pontiff in a new mould: an advocate for migrant rights and global action on climate change. Those positions won him powerful enemies. In 2019 our investigation The Heretic in the Vatican revealed the extent of the plot against him. www.source-material.org/the-heretic-...
source-material.org
How Pope Francis became a hate figure for the far right
On a mountain outside Rome, Steve Bannon’s anti-immigrant populism joins forces with Catholic extremists who say a “gay plague” has infected the Vatican.
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Women over 50 were 'markedly underrepresented' in journalism. Overall 50% of journalist respondents were women but this fell to 36% among the over-50s. Let's change that...☀️
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
We've won! Faster than I would have imagined possible. In response to the threat of court proceedings issued by @fightingdirty.bsky.social, the Environment Agency has promised to review its policy on waste tyres shipped to India. With big thanks to our supporters. fightingdirty.org/major-victor...
fightingdirty.org
News | Fighting Dirty
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 04/04/2025
The Carbon Offset Trap: BBC File on 4 has taken an in-depth look at the current state of carbon markets. Our reporter @lukewbarratt.bsky.social spoke to them about some of their findings. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
bbc.co.uk
BBC Radio 4 - File on 4 Investigates, The Carbon Offset Trap
Max de Haldevang investigates problems with carbon offset projects.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 27/03/2025
"The Environment Agency is undertaking an internal review of its approach to waste tyre shipments to India." Two days after our report with @bbcradio4.bsky.social on UK tyres being dangerously 'boiled' in India, the UK announces a review of the trade. www.source-material.org/waste-tyre-p...
source-material.org
Burning Rubber – SourceMaterial
Millions of used UK tyres are being shipped to India to make dirty fuel harming people and the environment
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Thanks very much to @annameisel.bsky.social @bbcradio4.bsky.social File on 4 Investigates for being a brilliant co-reporting partner.
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
And then Indian buyers pretend to recycle the tyres, but actually flog them onto illegal pyrolysis plants, so THEY can make a bigger profit. Then they reach the final destination: unsafe tyre pyrolysis plants. We spoke to people who know children who have died inside them.
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
UK buyers without a proper permit then flog the tyres onto ships bound for India, so THEY make a bigger profit. (Instead of actually recycling them, which would cost a lot more.) So this undercuts the UK tyre recyling sector, which is on the brink of going bust, according to sources.
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
The graphic here explains the journey of the tyre (courtesy of my fab co-reporter @atikarehman.bsky.social). Basically, garages are charging you an 'environmental disposal fee' for your tyre, but then flog it on extremely cheap to buyers so they make a bigger profit. (thread)
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Ever heard of a 'pyrolysis' plant? It's almost certainly where your car tyres will end up, sent by UK exporters to be 'boiled' into a toxic oil. The same plants are killing people. I've seen footage of kids, who lived on site, covered in burns. Read on: www.source-material.org/waste-tyre-p...
source-material.org
Burning Rubber – SourceMaterial
Millions of used UK tyres are being shipped to India to make dirty fuel harming people and the environment
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
And thank you to those brilliant actors who seem to deeply understand the darkest places of our hearts. Right I'll go away and calm down now! Thank you ❤️
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
I would like to write to you James the old school way to say thank you for your work and your heart, how kindly and fiercely you view this country. Anyway, on here for now: Thank you @mrjamesgraham.bsky.social
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
It feels when you watch a @mrjamesgraham.bsky.social script like the deepest love song to Britain, an old marriage that can hurt, and which could do with collective therapy--forgiveness and bravery towards one another amidst deep anger of the kind James' mum shows Jacob.
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Private Education Policy Forum @pepforum.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
“Taxpayers will rightly want to know why the SEND budget is lining the pockets of private equity firms” Private equity-owned special schools which charge councils fees of up to £131k p.a. have failed Ofsted checks @rosafurneaux.bsky.social @schoolsweek.bsky.social schoolsweek.co.uk/private-spec...
schoolsweek.co.uk
£100k fees, but special private schools fail standards check
The Labour government plans new powers to intervene more quickly when private schools fail. Schools Week investigates
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Our story found oil shipments with characteristics of the toxic fuel trade moving through Spain and Latvia after the bans elsewhere. Full story - including the devastating impacts on people's health - here: www.source-material.org/toxic-fuel-u...
source-material.org
Toxic Trade – SourceMaterial
African cities are choking as UK refineries export high-sulphur fuels banned in Europe
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Politicians are calling on other EU countries to stop exporting toxic gasoline to West Africa, following our story. The joint investigation showed Belgian and Dutch export bans risk being ineffective without a wider ban. (support @journalismfund.bsky.social) nos.nl/artikel/2556...
nos.nl
Benelux: stop met de export van vuile benzine naar West-Afrika
Goedkope brandstof die te slecht is voor Europeanen, wordt gedumpt in West-Afrika.
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Schools Week @schoolsweek.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
❗ Exclusive: Private equity-owned independent special schools which charge councils fees of up to £131,000 a year are among hundreds that have failed Ofsted standards checks Full story ⬇️ buff.ly/41g3uEq
buff.ly
£100k fees, but special private schools fail standards check
The Labour government plans new powers to intervene more quickly when private schools fail. Schools Week investigates
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 13/02/2025
🧵Twice a day, sirens sound in the shadow of Touk Meas Mountain in Kampot province, Cambodia. "We're often coughing," said Pheara, who lives nearby. Here, a cement kiln producing hazardous emissions is supposedly at the heart of the global fight against plastic pollution.
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Luke Barratt @lukewbarratt.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
Great to see @luciemheath.bsky.social nominated for environment journalist of the year at the Press Awards! Congratulations, well-deserved www.thepressawards.com/finalists/lu...
thepressawards.com
Lucie Heath
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
Here's the factory in Cambodia, near a village. Plastic burned here generates 'credits' so companies can claim they clean up waste. But locals say children have been coughing ever since. Experts say burning plastic is worse than coal due to the chemicals. (Picture credit @afpnews.bsky.social)
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
Some brilliant images and graphics in the story. First, an explainer of how plastic credits 'work'... ...courtesy of the great team @afpnews.bsky.social:
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Jess Staufenberg @jessstaufenberg.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
We've published another top story on plastic credits @lukewbarratt.bsky.social + @afpnews.bsky.social Plastic burned as fuel gives companies 'plastic neutral' status but pumps out toxins and dust. Graph shows the firms selling credits,% of plastic burned: source-material.org/plastic-cred...
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 12/02/2025
NEW: A cement kiln in Cambodia, burning plastic, is supposedly at the heart of the global fight against plastic pollution. Locals say they've been getting sick ever since it was built, as have their children. www.source-material.org/plastic-cred...
source-material.org
Burning plastic and emitting toxic gases central to ‘plastic offsetting’
Plastic offsetting sector’s preferred solution puts the climate and people’s health at risk, without curbing production.
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