Apply for Fossil Fuel Grant Programme

News media and newsrooms still predominantly operate nationally. However, the climate crisis and power structures that hinder the transition away from fossil fuels markedly transcend national boundaries.

The Fossil Fuel Grant Programme is therefore aimed at cross-border teams of professional journalists and/or newsrooms to investigate and document unreported and unregulated wrongdoing by European fossil fuel companies and their proxies within and beyond the continent.

Program Details

• Next to investigations of fossil fuel industry activities that transcend borders, this programme can also support investigations that compare local industry activities or policies between two or more regions.
• The resulting stories must be published in at least two outlets in two different countries, at least one must be a European media.
• The grants can also offer support to preliminary work in the development of new investigative projects.
• It can cover working time and expenses such as logistics, travel, insurance, access to legal support, translations, access to technology and data sets, etc.
• Next to financial support, teams can also apply for an experienced mentor to provide assistance with the focus of the investigation or a specific skill or competency.
• This grant is supported by the Meliore Foundation and housed under a larger programme: The Earth Investigations Programme supported by Arcadia.

Funding Information

• The total available amount to be distributed among all supported investigations will be €50,000.

Eligibility Criteria

• Cross-border teams of at least two journalists and/or news outlets can submit a proposal for a journalistic investigation about an issue that concerns the environment. Only applicants who are legally residing in at least two different countries are permitted to receive funding.
• The applicants must be professional freelance journalists or news outlets. Personal references and/or references to earlier work are essential in that respect.
• News outlets must be legal entities officially incorporated at least one year before the application deadline of the grant call.
• The investigation proposal must concern cross-border environmental investigative journalism on European affairs — in or outside Europe. This means that the investigation has (also) to be of relevance for Europe. Next to investigations into environmental issues that transcend borders, this grant can also support e.g. comparative investigations into local environmental issues and policies between two or more countries, regions, cities, etc.
• The result of the investigation must be published by at least two professional news outlets in at least two different countries, one of which must be in Europe. Letters of intent for publication from at least two professional news outlets are required.
• Investigative journalism published by professional media in any form is eligible, whether print, online, broadcast or cross-media. Your investigation can be published as newspaper and magazine articles, radio and television documentaries and series, photo-reportages and books, podcasts and journalistic non-fiction books.

For more information, visit Journalismfund Europe.