Supported projects

ÚSTI NAD LABEM / LANDAU - The 'lithium fever' has devastated the landscape in Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, among others. Europe is trying to mine its own lithium deposits in an environmentally friendly way: using geothermal energy. Germany is already experimenting with it in the Upper Rhine Valley. 

BRUSSELS/AMSTERDAM - Half of the sustainability claims on company websites are unproven, vague, unclear or downright deceptive, according to the European Commission. Clothing companies in particular jump on terms like ‘sustainable’ above average without explaining themselves in more detail. Since 2021, both Dutch and Belgian government agencies have therefore been scouring the internet for misleading sustainability claims.

ANTWERP/ROTTERDAM - The ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam are the main European gateway for cocaine. Publicly, the Netherlands and Belgium proclaim their united commitment to breaking the backbone of the drug trade. But behind the scenes, differences in political culture are at play, and resentment and gloom reign.

BRUSSELS/AMSTERDAM — Scientific publications, leaked company data and government data suggest that industry is doing everything possible to deliberately put up a fog curtain around these ultra short PFAS.

BRUSSELS - A good 15 percent of all spending within research and development in Flemish higher education comes from companies. Private companies finance research projects and doctorates and purchase licenses. But the line between close cooperation and conflict of interest between university and company is sometimes wafer-thin.

ROTTERDAM - The Port of Rotterdam claims to champion sustainability but is the reality matching its marketing?

KABWE - One of the largest lead mines in the world closes in 1994. Local people in Kabwe, a metropolis in Zambia, see jobs disappear. They are left uninvited with a mountain of harmful mining waste and residential areas polluted by lead.

BRUSSELS - Belgian firm GSR, subsidiary of dredging group DEME, is dying to go to the deep sea to mine for metal nodules. Ten years ago, GSR applied for an initial licence to do so.

BRUSSELS - The pollution around the 3M plant has been known for years. Yet the PFOS scandal did not erupt in Flanders until the spring of 2021.