What InsideClimate News does

Inside Climate News (legal entity: Lost Light Projects Inc. dba InsideClimate News) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning 501(c)(3) nonprofit newsroom founded in 2007 and headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. The organization self-describes as the oldest and largest dedicated climate newsroom in the United States, producing original investigative journalism on climate change, energy, environmental justice, and policy. Its editorial product spans a flagship website (insideclimatenews.org), a multi-bureau local reporting network (ICN Local covering 16 U.S. states plus regional groupings), six free email newsletters, a weekly video and podcast series (ICN Sunday Morning), long-form e-books, a source-document archive, and an Impact Channel documenting real-world policy outcomes of its reporting.

The underlying technology stack is a standard WordPress-based publishing platform (evidenced by wp-content paths and pixel.wp.com tracking) paired with an email newsletter distribution system; the organization has no public API, SDK, or mobile application, and offers no AI-driven products or features. Interactive public-information tools (notably the Chicago Lead Service Line Lookup Tool co-developed with WBEZ and Grist in August 2025) represent an emerging product surface translating public datasets into address-level citizen interfaces. The business model is philanthropic: operations are funded by grants from charitable foundations (the single disclosed instance being a $1,000,000 grant from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in January 2019) and tax-deductible individual reader donations. All journalism is offered free of charge with no paywall or subscription tiers; revenue is not derived from reader fees, and content syndication and republishing guidelines are published for media partners without disclosed economic terms.

Name

InsideClimate News

Legal name

Lost Light Projects Inc. dba InsideClimate News

Website

https://insideclimatenews.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Inside Climate News is a Pulitzer Prize-winning 501(c)(3) nonprofit newsroom founded in 2007 that produces free, nonpartisan investigative journalism on climate, energy, and environmental policy for U.S. readers, funded by philanthropic grants and individual donations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital News Publishing

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (513110), Newspaper Publishers (51311)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro primary industry

Investigative & Nonprofit News Organizations (MPAJADAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Local & Regional Newspapers (Print & Digital) (MPAJADAB)

Keywords

• Climate journalism
• Environmental news reporting
• Investigative climate journalism
• Nonprofit newsroom
• Energy policy reporting

Headquarters

HQ city

Brooklyn

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Philanthropic grants: Primary funding comes from grants for general support from charitable foundations. ICN is a 501(c)(3) public charity incorporated in New York (EIN 56-2451141).
2. Individual reader donations: Tax-deductible donations from individual readers; website prominently features "Donate" and "Ways to Give" calls to action to fund operations.
3. Content syndication and republishing:

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Core offering

Inside Climate News is a Pulitzer Prize-winning, nonpartisan digital newsroom that publishes original investigative reporting, multimedia features, newsletters, and podcasts on climate change, energy, the environment, and environmental justice. Its journalism is delivered free to readers through a WordPress-based website, email newsletters, a weekly video/podcast series, e-books, and an interactive public-information tool, with localized coverage provided through its ICN Local reporting network of regional bureaus.

Product overview

Inside Climate News (founded 2007) operates a single, unified journalism platform rather than a multi-module SaaS product. The core is the insideclimatenews.org website, which hosts news, projects, and the Impact Channel. Around this core sit several distinct offerings: the ICN Local reporting network (a network of regional bureaus and media partnerships); the Projects archive (multi-part investigations such as Trump 2.0: The Reckoning, Lead City, Wired for Profit, Forever War, and Upcharge); six free email newsletters (ICN Weekly, Inside Clean Energy, Today's Climate, Breaking News, ICN Sunday Morning, Justice & Health); the ICN Sunday Morning weekly video series; E-Books and a Documents archive; and a Fellowship Program for emerging environmental reporters. A standalone interactive tool, the Chicago Lead Service Line Lookup Tool, was co-built with WBEZ and Grist. The organization operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ICN Local: Inside Climate News' network of local reporting bureaus across the United States, with staff and contributors in 16 states and multiple regional groupings, producing local environmental journalism.
• ICN Sunday Morning
• Trump 2.0: The Reckoning

Products and services

• Inside Climate News Website Flagship free, no-paywall digital newsroom providing Pulitzer Prize-winning, nonpartisan investigative reporting on climate, energy, environment, and justice for general readers.
• Inside Climate News Email Newsletters Suite of free email newsletters (weekly Saturday ICN Weekly, Thursday Inside Clean Energy, Tuesday Today's Climate, daily Breaking News, and Justice & Health digest) delivering original climate and energy stories to subscribed readers.
• ICN Sunday Morning Weekly video/podcast series featuring conversations between executive editor Vernon Loeb and ICN reporters discussing a top climate story of the week.
• ICN Local Reporting Network Network of local reporting bureaus in 16 U.S. states plus 7 regional groupings, staffed by ICN reporters, freelancers, and fellows, producing localized environmental journalism and filling gaps left by shrinking local newsrooms.
• Investigative Projects Series Multi-part investigative series on climate, energy, environment, and justice topics, including projects such as Trump 2.0: The Reckoning, Lead City, Wired for Profit, Forever War, Upcharge, Heat Kills, After the Fires, Cashing Out, and Hazardous.
• Inside Climate News E-Books Long-form e-book publications from Inside Climate News covering climate, energy, and environmental topics.
• Reporting Fellowship Program Hands-on newsroom fellowship and freelance program for emerging journalists seeking to specialize in climate, environment, and justice reporting.
• Chicago Lead Service Line Lookup Tool Interactive web-based tool, co-developed with WBEZ and Grist, that lets Chicago residents look up whether their homes have lead service lines using the city's public inventory, classifying lines as Lead, Galvanized Requiring Replacement, Suspected Lead, or Non-Lead.
• Impact Channel Editorial module that documents case studies of how Inside Climate News's journalism has driven real-world policy, regulatory, and legal outcomes.

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Grist: Grist is a nonprofit, nonpartisan environmental media outlet founded in 1999 covering climate, energy, and environmental justice — directly comparable to ICN in mission, nonprofit funding model, and beat coverage, and a recurring collaboration partner (e.g., the Chicago lead service-line lookup tool).
• ProPublica: ProPublica is a Pulitzer-winning, nonprofit investigative newsroom funded primarily by philanthropic grants; comparable to ICN in nonprofit structure, investigative depth, and reliance on foundation capital, though covering a much broader beat beyond climate.
• The Intercept: The Intercept is an investigative nonprofit news outlet with significant climate, environmental, and corporate-accountability coverage; comparable to ICN in nonprofit model, adversarial investigative posture, and donor-supported funding base.
• Mother Jones: Mother Jones is a nonprofit investigative magazine with a long-running environment and climate beat; comparable to ICN as a donor-funded investigative outlet that produces award-winning accountability journalism, though broader in topical scope.
• High Country News: High Country News is a nonprofit news organization covering the Western U.S. with deep environmental and climate reporting; comparable to ICN's nonprofit model and to the ICN Local regional-bureau concept, though with a narrower geographic lens.

Emerging players

• Mongabay: Mongabay is a nonprofit environmental science and conservation news platform with global coverage; comparable to ICN in nonprofit funding model and environmental beat, but primarily focused on biodiversity and tropical forests rather than U.S. climate and energy policy.

Broad incumbents

• The New York Times Climate Desk: The NYT Climate desk is a large, well-resourced climate and environment team inside a major commercial newsroom; comparable to ICN in subject matter but with materially larger reporting staff, subscription revenue, and global distribution.
• Bloomberg Green: Bloomberg Green is Bloomberg's dedicated climate and energy vertical; comparable to ICN in subject focus (energy transition, fossil-fuel accountability, climate finance) but funded by a large commercial parent with global reach.
• Reuters Climate: Reuters' climate and energy coverage is a globally distributed desk covering climate policy, fossil fuels, and the energy transition; comparable in topical breadth to ICN but operated by a large commercial wire with subscription and licensing revenue.
• The Guardian Climate: The Guardian's climate-crisis desk is one of the largest English-language climate reporting teams and produces investigative work overlapping ICN's beats; comparable in editorial ambition and non-paywall access, but with substantially larger staff and international distribution.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/insideclimate
• Facebookfacebook.com/insideclimatenews
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/3327329

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about InsideClimate News