Help us Unveil the UK & Europe’s Hidden Toxic Legacy

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Hello, we are Laura Margottini, Maria Cristina Fraddosio and Vicky Gayle, a team of three independent, award-winning, investigative journalists joining forces for a bold and vital mission: to give every European and UK citizen the right to know whether they live on toxic land caused by the fossil fuel and steel industries.

️Our goal is to create the first public, interactive map of industrial contamination in Europe and the UK, focusing on those industries, with exclusive scientific data on thousands of plants and the damage that may have caused to air, water, soil and to residents' health.

By making this hidden and complex data public, we aim to provide an accessible tool to empower citizens, policymakers and civil society at-large to act against the hazards that industrial contaminated sites represent.

Alongside this, we are investigating the most polluted areas in Europe and the UK. Our reporting will also unveil how legislative gaps both at EU and national level exacerbate potential risks, as well as the imbalance between the power of industries to pollute and the power of citizens to protect themselves.

Maria Cristina - Laura - Vicky

❗How will our project impact you?

We reckon our investigation has the potential to kickstart concrete actions from European institutions and Member States for the benefit of the environment and people's health, such as:

Photo: Laura Margottini

️‍❗Our Investigation: “The Legacy of Industrial Contamination”

In 2016, the European Environmental Agency (EEA) estimated there were 2.8 million contaminated industrial sites across Europe. Millions of people live near fossil fuel, petrochemical and steel plants that have been silently poisoning the air, soil and water for decades — often in low-income communities left without a voice, where the industries have less opposition to build their plants.

The health toll could be devastating: higher cancer rates, infertility, respiratory diseases and more, according to major scientific publications. Yet, there is no central European register of industrial contaminated sites or comprehensive public data on remediation. In most countries, there is a lack of transparency on who is responsible for the pollution or to pay for the cleanup.

We want to fill that gap for the first time, by collecting and cross-referencing official and confidential data on pollution and health hazards in 28 countries.

In January 2025, we began the huge task of data analysis and on-the-ground reporting to reveal how this hidden legacy continues to harm people and the planet.

Now, we need your support to finish our ambitious investigation so to help protect the planet and millions citizens all over Europe and the UK.

Photo: Laura Margottini

❗Why it Matters

Pollution does not end at the factory gate.

The right to a clean and healthy environment should not depend on where you live or your income — or be dictated by powerful corporations. The data we are uncovering and processing, so far hidden in governments’ drawers, indicates the extent to which lives are being put at risk.

We want it to be publicly available in an accessible format for everyone. However, investigative, public interest journalism is costly and complex. As freelance journalists, we face even more barriers to tell these crucial stories. With this project we want to hold polluters and governments to account and empower citizens with tools they can easily use.

❗Why we Need You

Since May 2025, the three of us have had to work unpaid on this story due to a lack of funds. In January 2025, our project received a grant from JournalismFund Europe, one of the most respected institutions supporting cross-border, independent investigative journalism. In addition to part-time reporting between January - April, the grant has been used to partially cover specific legal expenses and website development to create the interactive map.

“The jury of JF concurred [that] the proposal has potential to significantly enhance public understanding of a major issue… If the team succeeds in mapping contaminated cities and identifying major polluters, the project could have immense value.”

— Jury of JournalismFund Europe

Photo: JournalismFund Europe

The complexity of the project and the hurdles we have faced in retrieving confidential scientific data has meant the work has continued for longer than anticipated. For that reason the grant we received has not been able to cover all our time — but we have continued because we believe the public has a right to this knowledge. However, we lack the necessary funds to complete this investigation, so we are turning to you to help us raise at least £25,000.

This money will fund:

Join us to shine a light on EU industrial contamination!

‍ ❗Who we are

We are international freelance journalists – Maria Cristina Fraddosio / Laura Margottini are from Italy and Vicky Gayle is from the UK.

Together we have more than 15 years' experience in investigative, environmental, global health and data journalism. Our journalism has led to tangible change in people's lives from laws being changed to dangerous medications being withdrawn from the market.

We have worked on national and cross-border stories for the likes of The Bureau of Investigative journalism (TBIJ), The Guardian and The Observer, BBC News, Science magazine, New Scientist, Investigative Desk, Die Welt, Politico, STAT, La Repubblica, ll Manifesto, Il Fatto Quotidiano, Il Manifesto, RAI TV (Italian National Broadcaster TV) and more.

Our work has been awarded multiple times, including: