Earth Investigations Programme
Grant recipient Journalism Fund Europe
Total awarded $13,685,000
Years 2021-2027
Funding area Conserving and restoring nature
Priority Governance
Programme site www.journalismfund.eu/environmental-investigative-journalism
The Earth Investigations Programme, hosted by Journalismfund Europe, awards grants to support environmental investigative journalism on European affairs inside and outside Europe.
Environmental investigative journalism exposes injustices, creates pressure on those in power and mobilizes action to protect the climate, nature and people. Environmental crime is frequently transnational, but news organisations often operate nationally. The programme fosters cross-border investigative cooperation, providing several types of grants and enabling activities to support journalists, newsrooms and journalistic organisations.
Since it started in 2022 it has awarded 201 grants.
The programme has multiple funding streams. Details and deadline can be found on Journalismfund’s website.
Project examples
Researcher Sara Valsecchi collects wastewater from the Solvay plant in Spinetta Marengo in order to determine the concentration of PFAS. 2022. Courtesy of Elisabetta Zavoli.
The ‘forever chemicals’ poisoning Europe
The Earth Investigations Programme funded a joint investigation by 18 European newsrooms to reveal the extent of ‘forever chemicals’ pollution across Europe. The investigation discovered over 17,000 sites known to be contaminated by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances which do not degrade, and a further 22,000 sites that are likely to be affected. Le Monde, Süddeutsche Zeitung and The Guardian were among the media outlets that published the results.
At Bipaga beach, South Cameroon, a container labelled Perenco welcomes visitors to the Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures gas processing plant. November 2023. Courtesy of Jeannot Ema’a, InfoCongo.
Perenco extracting oil and gas in protected areas
An international investigation coordinated by the Environmental Investigative Forum in partnership with Mediapart, InfoCongo, InfoAmazonia and Convoca revealed the worldwide ecological impact of the Franco-British oil company Perenco. The team used data analysis and geolocation to identify sites owned by the company in protected areas in at least nine countries, including Cameroon, Gabon and Peru. They also ahowed that oil extraction by Perenco has led to more than a hundred cases of pollution impacting protected ecosystems.
The Earth Investigations Programme is one of our five nature grant programmes. Grant programmes are hosted by trusted partners. Our partners help us to determine where our support is most needed and distribute grants to individuals and organizations.
Top banner image: Map of PFAs (man-made chemicals that do not break down) in Europe. Courtesy of Thomas Steffen.