Grants support the growing field of climate journalism as part of MacArthur’s Climate Solutions legacy commitment.
The MacArthur Foundation today announced more than $6 million in grants to support the growing field of climate journalism in the United States.
This funding for independent newsrooms and organizations that support environmental journalism will help inform the public about the complexities of climate change and the economic opportunities of the clean energy transition. Support for local environmental journalism and newsroom collaborations will strengthen investigative journalism, educate the public and stakeholders, and promote accountability.
The grants stem from a cross-program collaboration between MacArthur’s Climate Solutions, Journalism and Media, and Local News programs. As the Foundation prepares to wind down its Climate Solutions strategy after more than a decade of grantmaking, it is making these one-time strategic grants to help elevate a field needing more investment.
Climate journalism requires more philanthropic support, and MacArthur encourages peer funders to join in with similar commitments.
“One of the most important stories of our time centers on the existential crisis climate change poses to humanity, along with the positive health benefits and economic opportunities inherent in the clean energy transition,” said MacArthur President John Palfrey. “We need more independent journalism focused on climate and clean energy issues, a more diverse field of reporters covering the story from communities most impacted by climate change, and more cross-newsroom collaborations to reach wider audiences and leverage shared resources.”
These three-year general operating and flexible support grants are going to:
- Canary Media will receive $300,000 to support its general operations, including journalism covering the transition to clean energy and solutions to the climate crisis. The support comes as Canary merges with the Energy News Network and its reporting on energy issues in the Midwest and other U.S. regions.
- Capital & Main will receive $500,000 to support its general operations, including accountability reporting on climate change and the fossil fuel industry and their impacts on communities around the country.
- Circle of Blue will receive $300,000 to support its general operations, including investigative reporting about the relationship between water, food, migration, and climate.
- Covering Climate Now will be supported with $300,000, granted to the Fund for Constitutional Government, for its work convening and training journalists and newsrooms to produce rigorous climate coverage that engages audiences.
- The Current will receive $400,000 to support its general operations and in-depth watchdog journalism in Coastal Georgia, including climate, clean energy, and environmental justice issues of critical importance to the region.
- Drilled will be supported with $500,000, granted to Fractured Atlas, for its efforts to educate the public through global multimedia investigative journalism focused on the intersection of climate change and corporate influence.
- Floodlight will receive $500,000 to support its general operations, including cross-newsroom collaborations and investigative journalism into the corporations and political interests stalling climate action.
- Grist will receive $500,000 to support its general operations, including reporting on climate solutions and progress being made toward a just and sustainable future and its expansion of Indigenous-focused climate stories and local bureaus across the United States.
- High Country News will receive $500,000 to support its general operations, including reporting on climate, the environment, the ongoing energy transition, and intersecting Indigenous and rural issues across the Western United States.
- Inside Climate News will receive $500,000 to support its general operations, including reporting, investigations, and analysis about the climate crisis that counters misinformation, holds polluters responsible, exposes environmental injustice, and scrutinizes solutions.
- Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, housed at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, will receive $300,000 to support its publishing collaborative with local newsrooms to improve the quality and quantity of coverage that water, agriculture, and impacts of climate change receive.
- Planet Detroit will be supported with $500,000, granted to the Michigan Environmental Council, for its efforts to educate the public through reporting and informational resources about climate, environment, and public health in Detroit and Michigan that empower its readers with ways to connect and act.
- Society of Environmental Journalists will receive $500,000 to support its general operations, including work as the only North American association of professional journalists dedicated to strengthening the quality, reach, and visibility of journalism about climate and environmental issues that advance public understanding.
- The Rising Waters Lab at The Post & Courier will receive $400,000 for its reporting about how climate change-fueled flooding, rising seawater, and related issues impact South Carolina’s diverse communities.
- The Uproot Project will be supported with $300,000, granted to Grist, for its network of journalists of color and others who cover climate and environmental issues that provide resources, training, and peer networking.
