Stefano Vergine

CHIATURA –  Georgia is a key supplier of manganese, an essential raw material for Europe’s transition to renewable energy which is used in wind turbines and electric cars. This investigation  shows how the EU's rush to secure critical raw materials for its green transition is colliding with weak environmental oversight, opaque corporate networks, and a dramatically shrinking civic space in Georgia.

ROME / SOFIA / BUCHAREST – Proper recycling of PV panels can generate large quantities of raw materials crucial for the energy transition. Yet, due to the presence of harmful and toxic substances, solar waste can become extremely dangerous when it ends up in the wrong hands.

NUUK — This cross-border investigation focuses on how the increasing interest in the Arctic area – especially in Greenland and in the Russian northern shores – is re-shaping the economic and political equilibrium and is impacting the environment on a global level.

EU / AFRICA / MENA – Five European oil and gas majors rank among the top 10 largest polluters in Africa and the Middle East when it comes to gas flaring, reveals this investigative series. These companies include Shell, BP, ENI, TotalEnergies and Perenco, as revealed by the Environmental Investigative Forum (EIF) and the media network European Investigative Collaborations (EIC), Daraj Media, SourceMaterial and Oxpeckers Investigative Environmental Journalism.

MILAN/SOFIA/ARAD – Tens of thousands of tonnes of textile waste arrive in Romania and Bulgaria every year, mainly from Italy and Germany. Despite the fact the EU had acknowledged the extent of the textile waste smuggling across the continent, no strategy so far proved to be efficient in preventing it.

BUCHAREST - Dozens of people definitively convicted in Romania live today in Italy.

ROME - An investigation for Byline Times by the Citizens and il Fatto Quotidiano can exclusively reveal how a Catholic charity is being run by a former National Front member who has promoted a number of conspiracy theories and fundraised for a far-right Italian politician who was arrested and imprisoned for his part in violence which erupted at anti-Green Pass protests in 2021.