Supported projects

BRUSSELS – Asbestos is now banned in 69 countries, but it is still found in our drinking water. Water pipes are made of asbestos cement release fibres that can be lethal when inhaled. Experts have warned about this problem for decades, but the issue persists. 

PARAMARIBO - The dream of gold is driving tens of thousands of Brazilians into the rainforest on the EU border between Suriname and French Guiana. They leave behind contaminated rivers and shattered illusions. Almost no one wins.

SIEGBURG — It is now four years since the EU's Clean Energy for All Europeans package had been adopted. How much progress has been made since then on the national levels? This project looks at Croatia, Germany, Poland, Greece, and Bulgaria.

CHACO – A cross-border investigation conducted by Voxeurop and Periodistas por el Planeta reveals that livestock farms in Italy and Spain, two major meat exporters across Europe, as well as iconic food brands are indirectly linked to deforestation in the Chaco province in Argentina.

ELSDORF – 2030 marks the end of lignite mining in the Rhenish mining area. But what happens to the Garzweiler, Hambach and Inden opencast mines once the excavators have been dismantled? Turning the brown coal holes into a lake district sounds easier than it is.

BERLIN / BRAZZAVILLE / LA PAZ -  The German Federal Development Ministry's Legacy Landscapes Fund appears to be linked to human rights abuses and toleration of environmental destruction. Conservation areas across Africa, Asia, and South America are allegedly subjected to community maltreatment and ...

BERLIN / NAIROBI - Why and how dangerous pesticide products produced in the EU, and Germany in particular, are continued to be sold in other countries? The investigation looks at how agrochemical companies try to maintain an unregulated pesticide market, despite tightening regulations in Europe. 

ALMERIA – The environmental crisis in southern Spain is hitting hard: even drinking water is becoming scarce. A 40-year free-for-all on the “Garden of Europe”, a thriving agricultural industry, has led Almeria to the brink of catastrophe. 

SARAJEVO - This investigation explores the damages caused to nature and small rural communities by the construction of the small hydropower plants and their access roads, and what drove investors, especially foreign ones, to seek opportunities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

ODESA - In February 2022, when Russia launched the full-scale invasion into Ukraine, the Black Sea was one of its focal points. As a result, thousands of cetaceans died. This investigation looks into the faith of dolphins that became victims of the war.

ITALY/SPAIN - Both countries are considered to be under high water stress, but while a recent drought that hit Italy has mostly subsided, water scarcity is ravaging Catalonia, in northeastern Spain, laying bare the unpreparedness of water infrastructure to deal with such a traumatic manifestation of ...

BRUSSELS - Night trains are by far the most environmentally-friendly option for travels within the European continent. Why are there so few connections, and how can the system be scaled up?

KYIV - How environmental war crimes of Russians in Ukraine affect the environment of European countries? We have established that Russia is committing ecocide in Ukraine.

CANAL BISTROE – Ukraine needs to defend itself using any means at its disposal. At the same time, the Danube Delta ecosystem must remain protected. Are these two demands mutually exclusive?

TRIPOLI - The investigation looks into the issues that are preventing the expensive wastewater treatment facility in Lebanon from functioning properly.

PARIS - The "Perenco System" international investigation coordinated by the Environmental Investigative Forum (EIF) in partnership with Mediapart, InfoCongo, InfoAmazonia and Convoca documents the systemic ecological impact of Perenco worldwide.

YANGAMBI - In the middle of Congo's tropical rainforest lies Yangambi, a nature reserve where scientists study climate change. To do so, they need an intact piece of forest. But that causes tensions with the local inhabitants, because they use the forest to survive.

BRUSSELS - Paradoxical plastics: Why are bioplastics not necessarily as good as a solution to plastic waste as the had been proclaimed?

KEBILI - This projects looked into the significant social and environmental consequences Tunisia bears due to extractive industries of Serinus Energy.

SOTK/KVESHI - This project exposes the pressing water challenges in the neighboring South Caucasian countries - post-war Armenia, and conflict-impacted Georgia.

BELGRADE - Serbia is a graveyard for old and polluting cars from Western Europe. Last year alone, countries in the European Union (EU) exported around 150,000 used cars to the Balkan country. Experts say that this number will increase in the coming years, as the EU is facing out cars using internal ...

WINDHOEK - This investigation shows that Namibia will be soon becoming a major green hydrogen supplier to Europe, with about $37 million of the EU commission's funding — but the potential damage to biodiversity is high. Also the projects are being led by executives with a questionable track record.

EXTREMADURA/LEIRIA – The Fuelling a Megafire report is intended to help build a new understanding of mega fires and the structural causes accommodating them.

TACLOBAN - Almost a decade after typhoon Yolanda devastated parts of the Philippines in 2023, no less than Tacloban City’s own mayor has said that 70% of the houses given to Yolanda survivors by the government are “substandard.”

TYROL - As a result of climate change, droughts are on the rise in Europe and local and national governments are preparing for increasingly dry years. 

ST JOHN'S - Barbuda is paradise on earth: a small Caribbean island with beautiful beaches and clear waters full of fish and lobster. Worth noting: on Barbuda, land is not for sale. There is a system of communal land ownership. But cracks are appearing in that, now that property developers have their ...

MODENA — Some EU members states are still allowed to apply high levels of nitrogen to grassland, despite the long-adopted EU’s Water Framework Directive. The investigation contrasts the status of surface water in Ireland, where it is the case, and Italy, and reveals the impact of intensive dairy ...

GOZO – A year-long collaborative investigation by The Shift and environmental journalist Thomas Krumenacker has established a pattern of vote-buying politics favouring the Maltese hunting lobby and directly leading to the degradation of endangered and at-risk bird species hunted in Malta both ...

SKOPJE / TIRANA - Forests and rivers of Albania and North Macedonia have been exploited for years. These two countries, located in the Western Balkans, have amazing ecosystems and biodiversity, with plenty of endemic tree species and rivers with abundance of water. But natural resources in the ...

COPSA MICA - It is December 1990, the days are short, dark and foggy. Beside the road in Copsa Mica, 2 men are slaughtering a pig. A Romanian Christmas tradition I later learn.