To mark World Environment Day on 5 June, the International Press Institute (IPI) today highlights the findings of recent collaborative reports and case studies which document increasing threats to journalists reporting on the climate crisis and the environment in Europe.
As part of its project Decoding the Disinformation Playbook, IPI worked with journalists in countries across Europe to document an alarming pattern of threats, smear campaigns, harassment and intimidation facing journalists who report on environmental issues.
Case studies and podcasts focused on these issues in Italy, Croatia and Spain, where disinformation campaigns have been used to smear journalists and media outlets covering the climate crisis.
Last month, IPI partners Marta Frigerio and Gianluca Liva released a landmark case study titled “A Bad Climate: Untold Threats to Environmental Journalists in Italy. The report identifies 114 different threats against journalists covering environmental issues between 2011 and 2025, including online smears, intimidation and SLAPP lawsuits.
According to the data, most of the incidents happened while journalists were investigating environmental crimes or reporting on major energy companies, and the largest number of journalists targeted were freelancers with weaker institutional protections. The project was the first comprehensive investigation of its kind in Italy, combining hard data with firsthand accounts.
Since the report was launched, the report has garnered major media attention in Italy, including being featured on the front page of national newspaper La Stampa on 3 May. Police officials have confirmed that the data and findings of the report have been incorporated into ongoing investigations.
The case study combines data from Ossigeno per l’Informazione and the Mapping Media Freedom (MMF) platform, Europe’s largest database for tracking and documenting violations of press freedom and journalist safety, to which IPI contributes alerts on Italy.
As part of the same project, IPI also worked with Croatian independent media outlet Faktograf to document attacks on the Climate Portal. The fact-checking platform, established by Faktograf, faced a campaign of trolling, defamation, and attacks targeting its editorial staff for its work in verifying information about climate change in policy in Croatia.
More information:
- Untold threats against environmental journalists in Italy revealed in new case study
- A perfect storm: Climate journalism under attack in Croatia
- Climate journalism and disinformation: The floods in Valencia
- IPI’s Climate Journalism project