Announcing the five winners of the 2024 Climate Journalism Award

European Journalism Centre would like to extend a big thank you to everyone who applied for the Climate Journalism Award and to the jury for their time, effort, and expertise.

The five winning projects, chosen from the 14 shortlisted entries, were announced at the ceremony at the News Impact Summit: Fighting climate misinformation in Copenhagen. The Summit and Award are organised in partnership with the Google News Initiative.

The jury praised the winners for excelling at connecting complex climate issues to human experiences, making abstract concepts more urgent and relatable to audiences. From effective storytelling techniques to combining data visualisation and investigative research, as well as showing strong personal narratives, the winning projects revealed the far-reaching effects of climate change.

It is therefore with great pleasure that we introduce you to the 2024 Climate Journalism Awards winners

Data-driven visualisation category winner

Hot nights

Christoph von Eichhorn, Thomas Gröbner, Thomas Hahn, Sarah Unterhitzenberger, Dominik Wierl. Süddeutsche Zeitung

Temperatures typically drop as the sun sets, allowing for cooler nights. However, nighttime temperatures have recently risen, potentially having adverse implications: our bodies rely on cooler temperatures to regulate and promote restful, healthy sleep, and as nighttime temperatures rise, our bodies struggle to cool down properly, potentially disrupting sleep and affecting overall health.  This project tracks nighttime temperatures in six global cities, showing how heat disproportionately affects poorer neighbourhoods, bringing to light the concept of climate inequality.

Hot nights" harnesses data visualisation strategically and effectively to take audiences through an engrossing and informative geospatial tour of a spectrum of factors leading to the disproportionate exposure to urban heat island intensity faced by marginalised communities worldwide. The team made a clear investment in a visualisation that would allow them to delve into and make accessible the complex challenges faced by each city and evaluate whether proposed solutions will get anywhere close to addressing the problem. The effect is to slow down the audience's reading experience to take them on a journey from data, to information to insight.

-Eva Constantaras, member of the jury for the Climate Journalism Award

Fighting climate misinformation category winner

How big finance greenwashes climate crisis culprits

Stefano Valentino, Giorgio Michalopoulos. This article is part of the investigation coordinated by Voxeurop and European Investigative Collaborations with the support of the Bertha Challenge fellowship.

We have all heard of "greenwashing": it's a deceptive practice in which institutions promote investments or initiatives as environmentally friendly or sustainable but then fail to implement those policies and continue to support industries that contribute to the climate crisis. This in-depth article looks at financial institutions, including large asset managers like BlackRock and Vanguard, as well as major banks like JPMorgan Chase and HSBC, that continue to fund the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters despite their commitment to sustainability.

Reporters are at the forefront of a battle against a myriad of misleading climate claims. The creativity, persistence, and hard work put into exposing greenwashing and debunking climate myths are enormously inspiring. It is a difficult task to hold the most powerful financial institutions accountable for their green promises. This article not only does exactly that, but it adds a comprehensive and unrivalled searchable data set – thus making it relevant for any stakeholder on top of documenting the EU's catastrophic shortcomings in ensuring that investment funds do not end up in projects contributing to the destruction of our planet.

-Magnus Bredsdorff, member of the jury for the Climate Journalism Award

Pinpoint award for investigations category winner

Greenwashing made in Europe by Michelin and BNP Paribas in Indonesia

Stefano Valentino, Emanuela Barbiroglio, Gian-Paolo Accardo. Voxeurop. with the support of Investigative Journalism for Europe. The Environmental Reporting Collective, Journalismfund Europe, the GRID-Arendal Investigative Environmental Journalism Grants programme, and Mediabridge also supported the investigation.

Is it possible for financial aid intended to fund environmentally beneficial projects to be diverted for purposes with the opposite effect?

Michelin, in partnership with Indonesian company Barito Pacific, used green bonds marketed by BNP Paribas to fund rubber plantations in Indonesia. These bonds were promoted as environmentally friendly investments. However, the investigation conducted by Stefano Valentino for Voxeurop reveals that the project led to deforestation, raising concerns about greenwashing and the misuse of sustainable finance.

This entry emerged a winner by sifting through data, deforestation and deception to expose one of the most brazen and expensive-cases of institutionalised greenwashing. Its narrative, clarity and attention to detail revealed the cross-continental saboteurs of climate change mitigation measures and their weapons of choice: opaque paperwork, clueless investors, and inattentive regulators. The greatest impact of this entry is that informed citizens are seeking redress, while regulators are currently scrambling to retrace their steps.

-Ruona Meyer, member of the jury for the Climate Journalism Award

Storytelling & solutions category winner

In the Swedish Arctic, a battle for the climate rages

Isobel Cockerell, Frankie Mills, Barclay Bram, Gemma Newby. Coda & The Economist

As Sweden pursues green technologies to fight climate change, more Sami land is being mined and used for infrastructure projects. This "green transition" is frequently implemented without proper consultation, putting the Sami in a difficult situation. They must choose between accepting the loss of their land and being labelled as climate change deniers. This situation is part of a long history of displacement and marginalisation, as modern industrial interests threaten Sami culture, reindeer herding, and their deep connection to the natural world.

This reportage creates an immersive narrative through emotionally compelling photos and vivid storytelling, combining descriptive imagery, personal interviews, and historical context. It delves into the tensions between technological solutions and indigenous Sami wisdom, making the abstract climate crisis tangible and emotionally impactful.

Isobel Cockerell's exceptional storytelling and brilliant in-depth reporting shine light on the profound ethical dilemmas of modern environmentalism. Through powerful words and evocative imagery, she masterfully captures the tension in northern Sweden, where the pursuit of green energy starkly contrasts with the rights and ancestral lands of the Indigenous Sami people. Her work stands as an unparalleled example of journalistic excellence, profoundly illustrating the complexities of our time.

-Benedikt Heubl, member of the jury for the Climate Journalism Award

Emerging talent category winner

Santander arranged billion-dollar oil bond after making green pledge

Nimra Shahid, Robert Soutar, Ekaterina Pirnak, Alexander Abdelilah. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, in partnership with The Financial Times and Disclose. This reporting is funded by the Sunrise Project.

Santander's sustainability policies prohibit financing projects that endanger Ramsar-protected wetlands, which are critical for biodiversity. The bank pledges not to support oil and gas extraction projects that may harm these areas, which is in line with broader environmental commitments to limit activities contributing to ecological damage and climate change.

However, with a remarkable use of OSINT, Nimra Shahid uncovered that the Spanish bank facilitated a billion-dollar bond for PetroPeru, funding an oil refinery linked to the Norperuano pipeline, which crosses a Ramsar-protected Amazon wetland.

Corporate accountability journalism can be a thankless job. Digging through financial documents is tedious and painstaking, and global supply chain tracking can be frustrating and often feel unrewarding. Nimra Shahid and Robert Soutar's reporting demonstrates a passion and commitment to exposing greenwashing and reminding corporations that there is someone watching and documenting. The investigation is an important example of the forensic reporting required to keep up pressure to hold corporations accountable for their role in the climate crisis.

-Eva Constantaras, member of the jury for the Climate Journalism Award