COP30 and Journalism for Social Change

Pulitzer Center Aims for Breakthrough Journalism at COP30

This week, the Pulitzer Center announced the launch of its new Impact Initiative, which will support journalists who want to extend the reach and influence of their Center-supported reporting beyond publication.

Impact is a pillar of the Pulitzer Center’s model, and now we’re extending this approach to our global network. It builds on the idea of breakthrough journalism: when quality reporting meets engagement strategy to seek impact by design.

Breakthrough journalism will guide our participation at COP30, the 30th U.N. Climate Change Conference, which will be held in November in Belém, Brazil—the first COP hosted in a rainforest city. For the Pulitzer Center, this is both a global and regional milestone. Since 2018, we have supported more than 300 rainforest reporting projects across the Amazon, Congo Basin, and Southeast Asia, and are ready to bring those stories to COP.

Through a series of dialogues, workshops, and exhibitions, our presence at COP30 will highlight how investigative journalism and community engagement can strengthen accountability, connect local realities to global decision-making, and inspire action toward resilience, transparency, and governance for climate action.

Together with partners including UNESCO, Mídia NINJA, and the Global Landscapes Forum, Pulitzer Center staff, grantees, and Fellows will convene discussions on the links between organized crime and deforestation in the Amazon, cross-regional collaboration among Global South journalists, and the power of visual storytelling to drive public understanding and engagement of urgent climate issues.

We will also host film screenings and photo exhibitions that bring local and Indigenous perspectives to the forefront, with a special focus on the Brazilian Amazon.

Explore our just-released COP30 schedule, with more events to be announced, and visit our COP30 hub for reporting, resources, and conversations with journalists covering the climate crisis. Follow along on Instagram and LinkedIn for live updates from Belém.

Best,

Impact

Anti-corruption organizations in Brazil have petitioned the Federal Supreme Court to open an investigation into allegations of illegal deforestation tied to public funds, an action prompted by reporting from the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network (RIN).

The inquiry request cites the Pulitzer Center-supported Folha de S.Paulo series Poder e Devastação, or The Impact of Parliamentary Amendments on the Degradation of the Brazilian Rainforest, by RIN Fellow Flávio Ferreira, which alleges that parliamentary amendments financed heavy machinery linked to illegal road construction, environmental degradation, and invasions of Indigenous land in Acre, Brazil. The petition—filed by Transparency International in Brazil, Transparência Brasil, and Contas Abertas—encourages authorities to scrutinize these amendments and establish socio-environmental safeguards for future public spending.

Read the reporting project that inspired the inquiry request.