Supported projects

ANTWERP / ROTTERDAM - The social damage of air pollution caused by the (petro)chemical sector in the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam runs into billions of euros. This is according to an investigation by Apache and Follow The Money based on official figures on emissions and transfer of pollutants from ...

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN - The Zugspitze, Germany's highest mountain, is home to three of the five glaciers within the country. At least it was.

ROTTERDAM / ANTWERP - What is the environmental and health impact of air pollution caused by the (petro)chemical industry in the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam?

UKRAINE - Is there room for healing and recovery in the midst of wartime? With that question, photographer Emiel Petrovitch and writer Johannes Decat traveled to Ukraine. Their answers are contained in a series of articles.

BORTIANOR - This investigation brings into the spotlight the export of endangered small pelagic fish from Ghana to the EU. The EC still maintains a yellow card warning for Ghana, while allowing access to the EU market to certain industrial vessels and companies involved in IUU activities within ...

BRUSSELS - Forced sterilisation of women with disabilities is criminalised in only nine EU countries. This investigation in Spain, France, Hungary and Sweden proves that the eugenics-based practice is still going on in Europe at a time when the European Parliament is debating its outlawing.  

MADRID - Amazon boasts about having 15 photovoltaic solar plants in Spain to supply energy to its workplaces.

KYIV - "Spektr.Press" presents a Project 'Private War', which is combined of a series of publications about foreigners who decided to participate in the military conflict in Ukraine.

BRUSSELS - A team of reporters have investigated the impact of the first-ever application of the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) by the EU to Ukrainian refugees.

KYIV - Ukraine's war against Russia strengthens Ukrainian national identity and reduces the influence of Russian language and culture in society.

BRUSSELS - A good 15 percent of all spending within research and development in Flemish higher education comes from companies. Private companies finance research projects and doctorates and purchase licenses. But the line between close cooperation and conflict of interest between university and ...

TOUVRE - This project investigates how the drive for lithium is causing conflict and crop destruction in rural communities across West Africa. 

ROTTERDAM - The Port of Rotterdam claims to champion sustainability but is the reality matching its marketing?

MANILA / AMSTERDAM - There is an invisible workforce keeping homes in the Netherlands spotless. Filipino cleaners run about Dutch cities each day, their packs filled with dozens of jingling keys. They are part of a community of thousands of undocumented migrants who clean homes in the Netherlands ...

GOUDA/VENICE - Sinking Cities is a long-term multimedia project exploring what it means to live in sinking cities, and what is the impact of subsidence on the inhabitants of Gouda and Venice. 

ROME / BUCHAREST - With the EU set to boost organic farmland, how can it maintain consumer confidence in an agricultural sector tainted by fraud? 

GEORGETOWN - On behalf of US oil giant ExxonMobil, Belgian company Jan de Nul (together with partners) is building an artificial island off the coast of Guyana, South America.

OLKILUOTO - The world’s first deep geological storage facility is being built in Finland. France and Germany are the second most advanced countries in geological storage but have different strategies, with methods and sites still hotly debated.

AMSTERDAM – Shell knows how to navigate the highest circles and the shortcuts through political swamps. The oil and gas giant operates in 70 countries. Most of these are not democratic constitutional states. Until recently known as Royal Dutch Shell, Shell has to deal daily with weak or autocratic ...

BUDAPEST - In our articles, we were able to map the institutional background of how the sexual violence committed against a 15-year-old former foster child was covered up at a church-run institution.

ISTANBUL / BELGRADE - This investigation uncovers that young Turkish citizens are increasingly using the Balkan route as a transit point to enter the EU illegally. The growing trend is due to crumbling purchasing power, high unemployment, and tense political environment in the country.

EUROPE - Schools are crucial integration hubs. This investigation is about teaching migrant students in the schools of Europe.

GITEGA / BELGRADO - The Burundi Balkan Route offered several thousand Burundians a way out of their homeland in crisis in 2022.

BRUSSELS - As European citizens, we are told to separate our household waste, and many of us do dutifully. The ketchup bottle you rinsed and threw in the right bin at home might disappear from your life with the local waste truck.

OGONILAND - This investigation exposed the negative effects of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria – a subsidiary of Shell Plc, oil pipeline pollution in Ogoniland in the Niger Delta, which has resulted in the loss of several aquatic species and the deterioration of the ecosystem.

BELGIUM - The mythical wolf is back in Belgium. So are the eagle owl and the raven. The seal and the beaver. The tropical tree frog. Even the mysterious lynx. And who knows, soon the iconic brown bear? The list is impressive.

ACCRA - This investigation puts the spotlight on the use of banned pesticides from Europe in rubber farms in Ghana and other regions across the world, while European development banks, the main funder of such projects turn a blind eye to the environmental, health and safety concerns.

ERBIL / ISTANBUL / ATHENS - The increased complexity and dangers of migration routes to Europe, including the risk of being swindled by traffickers or robbed by security forces, have led to an increased reliance on an informal banking system based on the traditional money transfer system of 'hawala' ...

BASRA - In Iraq, one of the world’s driest and poorest countries, Western oil companies are exacerbating water shortages as they make record profits exporting alternatives to Russian oil in the wake of the war in Ukraine.