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Climate Solutions Reporting Project

The Climate Solutions Reporting Project (CSRP) produces articles, podcasts, social media posts, investigations and newsletters about the environment and global warming and the impact on Canadian communities and the most promising solutions coming out of our country. It is a collaboration between the Institute for Sustainability, Education and Action and Canada's National Observer.

Species at risk. Oceans in peril. Poisons on the land and in the water. Unprecedented megafires. Millions of refugees in a life-and-death struggle to survive. At a time when the Earth faces such overwhelming challenges, the stories we tell have never been more important. Scientists warn us time is running out. But how can people take action if some of the most important stories about problems and their solutions are happening out of sight and out of mind?

CSRP mission statement: "A slow, silent calamity demands a daily response."

CNO believes that journalism has a key role to play in speeding the world’s transition to climate safety. At CNO we do this by empowering Canadians with accessible, reliable information through solutions journalism, investigative reporting, and visual analysis. Our goal is to inspire and empower Canadians to take strong action as consumers, voters, and citizens to protect all living beings, not in the distant future, but now. We believe good journalism can help move the dial in society beyond paralysis to action. It is our job to help people answer the question: what can I do? Every day, we focus our reporting on the escalation of global warming and its impacts, but also on the solutions to climate instability in cities, provinces and at the federal level.

The Climate Solutions Reporting Project is a dramatic series about the world's fight against the biggest threat to life on our planet — with a focus on Canada. Canada is the key supplier of energy to the United States and most of that comes from Alberta's oil patch. The seeds of the Climate Solutions Reporting Project were planted in 2012 with the Tar Sands Reporting Project, which documented regulatory dysfunctions and corporate malfeasance and investigated environmental and human rights violations by oil companies. Reports from the Energy Battlegrounds Kickstarter provided funding for documenting opposition to proposed pipeline projects and continued to expose dysfunctions in our federal oversight of pipelines. Reports from the Race Against Climate Change Kickstarter took our reporting to new levels with funding from readers for an intensified focus on Canada's carbon footprint, potential solutions, progress internationally, and the urgency of shifting to a clean economy.

Canada's National Observer (CNO) retains full editorial control over the Climate Solutions Reporting Project. The stories, investigations, podcasts, newsletters, videos, events and explainers in the project reveal problems and emphasize solutions. Thanks to the foundations and individuals listed below, these special reports, newsletters and podcasts are offered free of charge to the public.

Investing in the future by investing in journalism

The Climate Solutions Reporting Project has been supported since 2016 by thousands of CNO readers who have donated to our crowdfunding campaigns (online gifts). The project is produced in collaboration with The Institute for Sustainability, Education and Action (I-SEA) as well as the following foundations and philanthropists:

  • Ivey Foundation
  • North Family Foundation
  • Roadburg Foundation
  • Trottier Foundation
  • Dragonfly Fund
  • Endswell Foundation
  • Raffi Foundation for Child Honouring
  • Trace Foundation
  • Donner Foundation
  • McConnell Foundation
  • BC Real Estate Foundation
  • Vohra-Miller Foundation
  • Salal Foundation
  • Aqueduct Foundation
  • Koerner Foundation
  • Willow Grove Foundation
  • Illahie Foundation
  • Esther Chetner Family Fund
  • Ottawa Foundation
  • Climate Story Network
  • Echo Foundatioin

Special Reports under the Climate Solutions Reporting Project include:

Newsletters and podcasts:

We would like to give special mention and to express our gratitude to the North Family Foundation for establishing with I-SEA and CNO The North Family Climate Journalism Emergency Fund.

We also would like to mention with appreciation our ongoing relationship with the European Union's Delegation to Canada, which began in 2019. Through this partnership, and with additional support from Climate Solutions Reporting Project, CNO has produced panels with EU climate leadership and Canadian climate and environment ministers that explore the challenges, policy and progress in the race against climate change and Canada's role internationally.