The investigation was carried out by Leopold Salzenstein and Eli Moskowitz of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), together with Andrei Ciurcanu and Roxana Jipa of RISE Project Romania. The jury speicifcally highlighted this article for the award.
The reporters found that Romania’s state-owned Complexul Energetic Oltenia, which operates three major lignite-fired power plants, had reported unusually low carbon dioxide emissions over an eight-year period. Their analysis indicated that the company may have underreported its emissions, potentially avoiding more than €250 million in EU carbon taxes.
The investigation also examined the reliability of the emissions data, finding that the laboratory analysing the coal plants’ fuel was owned by Oltenia itself. The findings raised wider questions about oversight and safeguards within the EU Emissions Trading System.
This cross-border project was supported via Journalismfund's Fossil Fuels grant programme and Environmental Investigative journalism grant programme.
