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.
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 ...
(How) European Zinc Demand Deepens Peru's Climate Vulnerabilities
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.
Environmental Impact Assessments: Designed for the Environment, Protecting Fossil Fuel Businesses
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.
BERLIN - The new German Supply Chain Act requires all German companies to ensure that human rights are respected throughout their global supply chains. This means no child labour, no forced labour and no exploitation. But is this really the case?
BUCHAREST - EU residents are buying 40% more clothing than a few decades ago, with less than half being collected for reuse and only 1% recycled. The investigation focused on understanding whether the alternatives to fast fashion are sustainable from an economic, social, and environmental ...
Food, Water, and PFAS: Grassroot Solutions to Chemical Pollution
PRAGUE - PFAS, a family of extremely hazardous chemicals linked to severe health issues, have been found in drinking water and vegetables, among others all over Europe. Against all odds, local communities and researchers across Europe are acting to find solutions to PFAS contamination in their food ...
BONN / BUKAREST / BERN/AMSTERDAM / ATHENS – The future of our food supply is under threat as a high-stakes battle unfolds over seed control in the EU. This cross-border project investigated how companies exploit patent loopholes to demand and sometimes obtain patents from the EPO even on ...
White Gold in Europe. Is Environmentally Friendly Lithium Mining Possible?
ÚSTI NAD LABEM / LANDAU - The 'lithium fever' has devastated the landscape in Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, among others. Europe is trying to mine its own lithium deposits in an environmentally friendly way: using geothermal energy. Germany is already experimenting with it in the Upper Rhine Valley ...
How Forest Management is Failing to Protect Europe’s Carbon Sinks
COVILHÃ /LES LANDES / HARZ - Forests are essential in the global fight against climate change, through their role as carbon sinks. But what happens when management choices are not made in the forest’s best interest?
The logistics black hole: 'legally' exploited in Italy, threatened in India
LADNUN / PADUA — This investigation documents that at least 100 Indians paid up to €20,000 to reach northern Italy, living in overcrowded old houses, and being exploited as warehouse workers by cooperatives serving large retailers.
GAFSA – Phosphate rocks, rich in phosphorus, are the basis for most fertilisers. With growing demand for food worldwide and a growing need for fertilizers, phosphates are quickly becoming one of the most disputed minerals. One of the crucial phosphate basins is located in southern Tunisia, and the ...
BRUSSELS/AMSTERDAM - According to the European Commission, half of the sustainability claims on company websites are unproven, vague, unclear or downright deceptive. Clothing companies in particular use terms such as 'sustainable' more frequently than other companies without providing further ...
Europe's Climate Denial Industry And Its Impact on Policy and Elections
BRUSSELS - Conspiratorial groups and influencers that once focussed on Covid-19 are increasingly pivoting towards attacking the EU's climate policies and sowing disinformation. Ahead of the EU's parliamentary elections, climate disinformation is ramping up, with the far-right looking to benefit.
The Netherlands and Belgium Not Aligned in Fight Against Drugs
ANTWERP/ROTTERDAM - The ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam are the main European gateway for cocaine. Publicly, the Netherlands and Belgium proclaim their united commitment to breaking the backbone of the drug trade. But behind the scenes, differences in political culture are at play, and resentment and ...
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 ...
BRUSSELS / ACCRA – The EU wanted to prevent further deforestation around the world with a new regulation on supply chains in the timber trade. But in Ghana it has the opposite effect.
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.
ACCRA – Low-quality petrol and diesel are a major problem for air quality in West Africa. They contain toxic substances such as sulfur and the carcinogenic benzene. When they break down, cars emit even more toxic exhaust fumes over densely populated cities.
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.
Perenco System: Extracting Oil and Gas in Protected Areas
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.
From Colombia to Germany: The Impact of Coal Route
EL CERREJÓN — The largest open pit coal mine in the world lies in Colombia. Health damage caused both to its workers and the communities – silicosis disease among them – is peremptory and alarming.
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 ...
Carmakers strike back: How they lobbied down new EU emissions rules
BRUSSELS – A team of investigative journalists led by Voxeurop carried out a cross-border investigation into how the European automotive industry lobby managed to weaken the Euro 7 regulation on new motor vehicle emissions standards.
ALIAĞA – Asbestos, that is especially hard to track in ships, often causes lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis. The team investigated several shipbreaking yards, including Kılıçlar in Turkey, where workers are exposed to the deadly substance without adequate protection.
Mine Games: Europe’s Hunt for Critical Raw Materials
KIRUNA - This investigation sheds light on what lies beneath the EU’s ‘green mining’ ambitions, and offers a unique perspective on the continent’s quest for critical raw materials, such as lithium, nickel, copper and rare earth elements needed for the future.
A neocolonial oil pipeline through Uganda and Tanzania
KAMPALA/DAR ES SALAAM - In 2006, British company Tullow Oil discovered oil reserves in the Albertine region in northwestern Uganda. In early 2022, Total signed an agreement with Tanzania and Uganda and Chinese state-owned CNOOC to begin construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) ...