“Deforestation Inc” wins Oakes Award

“Deforestation Inc.” by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has won the 2024 John B. Oakes Award for Distinguished Environmental Journalism.

The in-depth investigative series exposed how a lightly regulated sustainability industry overlooks forest destruction and human rights violations, all while granting green certifications that provide false assurances to consumers, governments and investors.

Led by reporter Scilla Alecci, journalists working with ICIJ in 28 countries followed loggers’ footprints from harvested protected woodlands in Finland, to clear-cut areas of South Korea, and to British Columbia’s pock-marked forestlands. The reporters talked to Indigenous community members, forest-preservation advocates, forestry auditors and industry insiders; journalists examined hundreds of court filings, violation data and leaked documents in more than a dozen languages.

ICIJ’s findings reveal how some companies misrepresent their commitment to ending the global climate crisis while exploiting precious natural resources under the “sustainability” banner. Meanwhile, forested areas that combined are larger than the European Union have disappeared since 1990.

More and more forests keep vanishing to provide dubiously labeled products. The series re-energized the global debate about greenwashing and deforestation and has alerted readers all around the world to the urgency of the crisis.

The 2024 Oakes Award winners and finalists will be honored on Monday, Sept. 23, at Columbia Journalism School. The “Deforestation, Inc.” team will receive a $5,000 prize, each finalist will receive a $1,500 prize, and the honorable mention recipient will receive $500.