Imelda Abano has seen the environmental coverage in the Philippines improve, albeit slowly. As President of the Philippine Network of Environmental Journalists, Abano founded the organization with the goal of increasing environmental reporting in her country. In her 12 years of environmental journalism work, she has been the first Filipino to receive the Developing Asia Journalist of the Year Award. Abano writes for both the BusinessMirror in the Philippines and the Society and Development Network in the United Kingdom.

Abano was a United Nations fellow covering the series of Climate Change negotiations from Bali, Indonesia in 2007 until the climate change talks in Durban, South Africa in 2011.