Washington Post hires FT’s Kommenda

Washington Post climate and environment editor Zachary Goldfarb, climate and environment deputy editor Juliet Eilperin and climate and environment visual enterprise editor Monica Ulmanu:

We are thrilled to announce that Niko Kommenda is joining the Climate & Environment department as a graphics reporter.

Niko comes to the Post from the Financial Times, where he worked as a reporter on the visual stories team. His interactive features include a visualization of the logistics and hurdles the European Union needs to overcome to wean itself off Russian gas and a data analysis of nearly 100 million flights that shows the airline industry recovering after the coronavirus crisis.

Before his stint at the FT, Niko worked at the Guardian for five years. There, he developed a passion for reporting on climate and pitched environmental stories often. In 2019, he built an interactive page live-tracking the use of coal for power generation in the United Kingdom. Other stories included a visual database of melting glaciers and a look at the megacities that could be drowned by sea level rise.

Niko has experience analyzing and mapping large datasets and searches for stories that highlight how social and economic inequalities exacerbate the impacts of a changing climate. In 2019, he was shortlisted as young data journalist of the year in the Sigma Awards for his climate portfolio.

Originally from Austria, Niko moved to Britain to study computational journalism in Cardiff University’s pioneering joint honors course, which blends journalism and computer science. In his free time, he enjoys cooking and surfing the beaches of southwest England.

Please join us in welcoming Niko to the Post. His first day is Nov. 21.