Supported projects

QUINCHÍA – How sustainable are the sustainability certification programmes set up by the coffee producers themselves — can coffee lovers trust the Nespresso AAA label? 

BARAY - Billionaires, luxury tour operators and airlines legitimise their CO₂ emissions with carbon credits from the Hadzabe, a group of hunter-gatherers in Tanzania who hardly emit any CO₂ themselves.

VILNIUS / RIGA / TALINN – This investigation reveals a complex web of industry influence and political manoeuvring that threatens the future of the Baltic forests. Powerful timber lobbies, backed by industry-funded research and political connections, appear to be shaping the narrative around forest ...

CHIMOIO / SANTARÉM – The EU countries consume more cellulose than they produce, and this growing demand is creating new business opportunities for some while resulting in the loss of land for others. This cross-border investigation examines the land grabbing in Mozambique fuelled by the European ...

BODO - This investigation, led by a team of journalists with diverse backgrounds, delves into Shell’s divestment strategy in the Niger Delta and its far-reaching effects on communities.

OBERHAUSEN - Statistics for juvenile offenders with foreign citizenship in Germany show that the number of crimes is increasing. This reporting project analyses the number of kids and juveniles who appear in the statistics with Macedonian, Serbian, and Romanian citizenship. It also demonstrates that ...

BAKU - In September last year, violence came to a head in Nagorno Karabakh, the disputed area between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Just about all 120,000 Armenians were expelled from the region then. But the conflict has been going on for much longer.

TBILISI / YEREVAN / ODESA / KHERSON –  The Silent Threat of Untreated Wastewater investigates the growing public health and environmental crisis caused by untreated wastewater in Armenia, Georgia, and Ukraine.

BERLIN / LONDON - A team of journalists has uncovered extensive financial ties between the fossil fuel industry and medical research. Their data analysis of millions of research articles reveals that over 180 medical papers published between 2019 and 2024 acknowledged fossil fuel funding, with 1000 ...

MILAN / BOLOGNA / BARCELONA / DRESDEN – This investigation looked in the climate action plans of leading cities in Italy, Spain and Germany, scrutinising their use of EU funding, and identifying effective solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

DUBLIN / BARCELONA - AI has exploded but when its cutting edge software is stripped back, carbon intensive hardware is whirring busily behind, at a high cost to the environment. What exactly does it amount to for Europe?

ROTTERDAM - The Netherlands is a hub for Russian whitefish such as cod, and thus indirectly facilitates Russia's war chest. Millions of kilos of Russian fish arrive in the port of Velsen every year, but controls on illegal catches are seriously inadequate.

NUMAN – On land surrounding a huge sugar refinery in Nigeria, dangerously high concentrations of heavy metals appear to have had a devastating effect on people’s lives and farming output.

AMSTERDAM / ANTWERP / IMMINGHAM / LAGOS – International oil traders continue to dump toxic waste products into road fuels sold to African countries, polluting the environment, damaging engines and causing life-changing health problems for citizens, despite the efforts of the regulators and civil ...

THE HAGUE - Since the war in Ukraine, dozens of Russian ‘research vessels’ have been making suspicious movements near critical infrastructure in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. This has been revealed by research conducted by VRT NWS in collaboration with media outlets in the Netherlands, Germany ...

CHAMONIX / VIOLA / PRAGELATO / TEGLIO – "Who Owns Our Winter" is a cross-border investigation into the lead-up to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina and the 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps which explores the environmental, social, and economic implications of adopting a development model ...

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.

ROME - "Territori di inchiesta" project was created to empower young storytellers network in Italy to enhance climate investigative journalism and improve such coverage at the national level, as Italy is one of the places in the world that are most exposed to losses from extreme weather damage ...

PARIS / LONDON / STOCKHOLM – This investigation reveals how European countries have been spending the “climate finance” that they have pledged to help developing countries tackle climate change.

BAHIR DAR - For the past 19 months, Ethiopia’s Amhara region has been devastated by a conflict between federal forces and the Fano militia, which seeks full control of Amhara territory. 

HELSINKI / LIMA - This investigation shows into the supply chain of Diamond Green Diesel (DGD), a US green fuel producer and a joint venture between the fossil fuel company Valero and the multinational rendering company Darling Ingredients.

LECCE / THESSALONIKI / VLORA – This investigation uncovers critical regulatory and environmental issues surrounding the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), Europe’s largest fossil fuel project which spans Italy, Albania, and Greece. 

GDANSK / ONLINE – This training project focused on enhancing news and investigative climate reporting in Poland by strengthening climate literacy within the biggest editorial offices.

TIRANA - Albania is experiencing an unprecedented surge in tourism, with more than 7.5 million tourists last year and more than 10 million expected next year. This rapid growth is putting considerable pressure on the country's natural environment.

OSIJEK – Mura-Drava-Danube is a UNESCO-protected biosphere reserve. It spans over 300,000 ha and includes more than 700 km of connected rivers. This investigation reveals poor management practices, lack of cooperation between five national governments, and lack of conservation efforts.

MEXICO CITY - This investigation reveals the scary scale of industrial pollution in Mexico caused by the activities of Volkswagen, BASF, and Bayer, Germany-based companies. Legal loopholes and lax oversight allow their facilities to continue discharging toxic waste.

IZMIR / CATANIA – Forest wildfires have increased in size and impact. Every year, 375,000 hectares of land in Mediterranean countries are scorched. Journalists tried to identify the main factors that lead to these disasters, which treaten entire ecosystems.

VIENNA – A two-day intensive workshop featuring a unique program designed for investigative journalists with diverse backgrounds and varying levels of technical skills.

PALMA / ACI TREZZA / AGIA NAPA  – This investigation focuses on how the EU laws have promoted industrial fishing in the Mediterranean, to the detriment of Southern European small-scale fishermen.

ZURICH/ALTMULTHAL - Fossils of dinosaurs are the new Picassos and Van Goghs. Millions are often given for precious skeletons. Such is the case for Trinity, the skeleton of a T. rex that Antwerp entrepreneur Fernand Huts bought a year and a half ago.