The best environmental journalism of 2024

The hidden cost of your supermarket salmon, The FT, Alexandra Heal, Lucy Rodgers, Justine Williams, Irene de la Torre Arenas, Dan Clark, Jack Thompson and Ely Cheikh Mohamed Vadel

Salmon sold in UK supermarkets is contributing to a growing food crisis in north-west Africa, as shown by this creative investigation by the FT. Fish meal and fish oil factories, used to feed salmon in European aquaculture, have proliferated on the north-west African coast in recent years, driving down fish stocks locals depend on. “If this is not addressed we’re going to have a food crisis in the next 10 years in the whole region,” said Béatrice Gorez, co-ordinator at the Brussels-based Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements. 

Threatened by rising seas, the first of Panama’s Indigenous islanders are forced to leave, CNN, Rachel Ramirez and Edu Ponce

The Indigenous Guna community on the island of Gardi Sugdub have long relied on the ocean for their livelihoods. Now as sea levels rise as a result of global warming, the ocean threatens their existence. CNN travelled to Panama to tell the story of this community forced to leave their homes as the climate changes. 

The unseen dangers of lead contamination in the UK, The FT, Laura Hughes

There are around 8,500 old metal mines across the UK that “continue to disperse toxic metals including lead into the environment every year”, wrote Laura Hughes in the FT back in June. During heavy rains and floods, material from these former mines is deposited at sites across the country, polluting farmland and rivers. Hughes met with farmers who have seen livestock killed by lead poisoning and spoke with scientists that worry that heavy metal contamination is under-investigated in the UK. A powerful piece of public interest science journalism.

Undercover in Project 2025, Centre for Climate Reporting, Tom Costello and Lawrence Carter

What will President Trump’s second term look like? “Eighty percent of my time is working on the plans of what’s necessary to take control of these bureaucracies,” Russel Vought, a key architect of Project 2025, a conservative manifesto, told an undercover reporter from CCR earlier this year. “And we are working doggedly on that.” Project 2025 looks to increase the powers of the presidency and reduce the independence of bodies like the Department of Justice and FBI, while also making it more difficult to regulate fossil fuels. Trump spent much of the 2024 campaign distancing himself from the controversial plans but since the election has filled his team with Project 2025 authors. As for Vought, he has been nominated to be director of the US Office of Management and Budget.

Here’s the oil & gas industry’s plan for Trump 2.0, FieldNotes, Julia Kane

In October, the FieldNotes obtained internal documents showing how the oil industry was preparing to roll back a series of climate laws if Trump won the presidency, including dismantling Joe Biden’s landmark climate legislation. The story, published with the Washington Post, showed how members of the American Exploration and Production Council, or AXPC, plan to tackle a Biden tax on methane emissions and repeal several executive orders aimed at tackling climate change. 

Formaldehyde causes more cancer than any other toxic air pollutant. Little is being done to cut the risk, ProPublica, Al Shaw and Sharon Lerner

“As the backbone of American commerce, formaldehyde is a workhorse in major sectors of the economy, preserving bodies in funeral homes, binding particleboards in furniture and serving as a building block in plastic… It is everywhere.” ProPublica’s investigation found that US regulators failed to adequately regulate the chemical for decades despite concern about its health impacts. The sweeping investigation included original scientific testing and an interactive tool that allowed Americans to check formaldehyde levels in their own neighbourhoods, as well as tips for readers to reduce exposure to the chemical.  

COP29 is for oil deals, Global Witness

COP29 began with Elnur Soltanov, chief executive of host country Azerbaijan’s team, telling an undercover reporter that he wanted to use the UN climate conference as a chance to do more oil and gas deals. “We have a lot of gas fields that are to be developed,” he told the journalist, who was posing as a prospective investor. The investigation was published with the BBC and helped cut through the greenwashing of this year’s conference. 

The great COP co-opting, Drilled, Amy Westervelt and Royce Kurmelovs

As COP29 descended into farce, Drilled released a piece of longform journalism showing how big oil has always been present at the UN climate conference. Internal documents seen by Drilled show that as far back as 1972, big oil “moved quickly to decisively counter any progress” made at international climate conferences. 

The Turkish terminal helping disguised Russian oil reach Europe, The FT, Tom Wilson and Adam Samson 

In January, the FT revealed how a Turkish oil terminal plays a key role in getting Russian oil into the European market, despite sanctions imposed by the EU. The forensic investigation contributed to the UK imposing sanctions on Dutch oil trader Niels Troost and his Swiss-based operation Paramount Energy & Commodities SA. In March, Dortyol, the oil terminal at the centre of the story, announced it would no longer accept Russian imports. 

Mapped: How climate change affects extreme weather around the world, Carbon Brief, Robert McSweeney and Ayesha Tandon

How is climate change impacting extreme weather? To help answer this question, Carbon Brief “mapped every published study on how climate change has influenced extreme weather”, looking at over 600 studies and almost 750 extreme weather events and trends. Exhaustive, public interest science journalism.

Poison PR, Lighthouse Reports 

In this complex investigation, reporters from Lighthouse Reports uncovered how a PR firm built a database of profiles on scientists, campaigners and journalists around the world who had been identified as critics of the pesticide industry. The work was funded in part by the US government, and the profiles – many of which included highly personal info – were shared on a private social network whose members included pesticide industry executives, US government officials and high-profile policymakers. A methodologically impressive investigation with a series of great collaborations to maximise impact, including the Guardian, Le Monde, Africa Uncensored and ABC News Australia. 

The ‘green’ solution poisoning Delhi, The New York Times, Maria Abi-Habib and Bryan Denton

India’s rubbish problem is clearly visible in Delhi, where 200-ft high heaps of trash punctuate the skyline. The mountains of waste are dangerous, as well as unsanitary – flammable, and prone to collapses that can crush passersby and waste-pickers. The government promised a neat solution to the problem: it would safely burn the waste, and transform it into a source for green energy. But this investigation found that over a five-year period the incineration programme exposed as many as one million people to dangerous levels of toxic smoke and ash. With all the excellent visual bells and whistles we’ve come to expect from the New York Times investigative team, this is a rigorous exposé into a serious public health scandal.