Dr Emilio Costales, Senior Lecturer in Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Greenwich and King's Commonwealth Fellowship Programme Climate Resilience Fellowship trainer reflects on his time in Kingston, Jamaica for the inaugural in-person residential for the King's Fellows.
Dr Emilio Costales
Dr Emilio Costales is a Senior Lecturer in Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Greenwich and a trainer on the King's Commonwealth Fellowship Programme Climate Resilience Fellowship.
As a trainer on the King’s Commonwealth Fellowship Programme for Climate Resilience, I have had the privilege of working alongside professionals from across Commonwealth Small Island Developing States: these are individuals confronting some of the most urgent and complex challenges of our time. The Fellowship equips participants with practical skills in climate literacy, policy influence, climate finance, and cross-sector collaboration. Having helped shape and deliver parts of this programme, I have seen first-hand the value of that learning.
But the Fellowship's greatest achievement isn't its curriculum. It’s what is being built between people. Climate change doesn’t stop at customs checkpoints. It doesn’t respect national borders, political systems, or economic status. The rising tide that threatens a coastal village in the Caribbean is part of the same story as the drought affecting communities in the Pacific. The details differ but the consequences don’t. And that is why technical knowledge alone is not enough.
The solutions we need won’t emerge from a single discipline, a single institution, or a single country. They’ll emerge when people with different experiences, perspectives, and expertise come together to ask better questions and imagine better answers.
This is why the residential component of the Fellowship matters so profoundly. And I have had the great privilege of being part of this years residential, in Jamaica.
Recently, we’ve become increasingly convinced that everything can happen online. The pandemic accelerated that belief and technology reinforced it. The attention economy rewards speed, convenience, and efficiency. But the most important things humans do can’t be compressed into a video call.
Trust can’t.
Understanding can’t.
Solidarity can’t.
When gathered in Jamaica, we did more than attend workshops. We shared meals. We shared stories. We discovered common ground. We challenged one another's assumptions. And we built relationships that will continue long after the programme ends.
It is in these conversations that something remarkable happens. A challenge described by a Fellow from the Caribbean suddenly resonates with someone from the Pacific. The dynamics that govern social interaction in Trinidad sound remarkably similar to how we interact in Brooklyn. A solution developed in one context sparks an idea in another. We begin to see that while our circumstances may differ, our futures are deeply connected.
And perhaps more importantly, we begin to see that difference itself is an asset.
Too often, climate action is constrained by narrow assumptions about where expertise resides and whose voices matter. But the most innovative ideas frequently emerge from the intersection of perspectives. The Fellowship creates that intersection. It creates a space where local knowledge stands alongside technical expertise, where lived experience informs policy, and where diverse perspectives strengthen collective action.
Sustainability, at its heart, is an act of connection. It requires us to reach across borders, across sectors, and across lived realities to build a shared understanding of problems that no one community can solve alone.
The King’s Commonwealth Fellowship Programme was designed around this principle. Through its blended learning model, applied projects, mentoring, and community of practice, it develops more than climate professionals. It develops translators: people capable of moving between worlds, connecting knowledge to action, and empowering their communities. That is why this Fellowship deserves continued support. Because its impact extends far beyond a single cohort. It reaches into governments, businesses, civil society organisations, and local communities across and beyond the Commonwealth. It creates networks that endure. It cultivates leaders who carry what they learn back to the places that need it most.
In a world facing unprecedented climate uncertainty, we don’t just need more information. We need more people capable of bringing people together.
This Fellowship is creating those people and the question is whether we are willing to continue investing in them.
Learn more about the King's Commonwealth Fellowship Programme, including the King's Climate Resilience Fellows and their professional backgrounds and Fellowship projects.