Inside Climate News

Background

Inside Climate News was founded in 2007 and claims to be the “oldest dedicated climate and environment newsroom in the nation.” ² The organization is a left-of-center media outlet reporting on environmental and climate issues. ² The organization covers several categories of environmentalist news including scientific knowledge related to climate change, ³ environmental policy decisions, ⁴ and the impact of climate change on social groups. ⁵ News coverage also includes highlighting industries that contribute to climate change ⁶ as well as environmentalist technology and innovations. ⁷

Inside Climate News has local media partners across the country, with over 40 media partners in Texas alone, as well as national media partners such as ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, and National Public Radio. ⁸

Inside Climate News was named as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2016 for a series on ExxonMobil. In 2013, Inside Climate News won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for its work on “The Dilbit Disaster.” ⁹

Financials

In 2022, Inside Climate News reported total revenue of just over $3 million, expenses of about $2.9 million, and net assets of about $2.6 million. ¹⁰ Financials for the previous year were similar, reporting about $3.4 million in total revenue, about $2.3 million in total expenses, and net assets of just under $2.6 million. ¹⁰

In 2024, Inside Climate News received a $457,500 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to fund a New York City-based reporter for three years. The organization also received a $100,000 grant from the Meadows Foundation to fund a clean energy reporter in Texas. It was also granted $725,000 earlier in the year from the MacArthur Foundation and the Jacob and Terese Hershey Foundation. ¹¹

Left-of-center funders of the organization include the Educational Foundation of America, the Ford Foundation, the George B. Storer Foundation, the Grantham Foundation, the Hearst Foundations, the Heinz Endowments, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, the Peace Development Fund, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Rockefeller Family Fund, and the Scripps Howard Foundation. ¹

Leadership

David Sassoon founded Inside Climate News in 2007 and has 30 years of experience as a writer, editor, and publisher. He earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. ¹²

Vernon Loeb is the executive editor of Inside Climate News. Before joining Inside Climate News, he was a politics editor at The Atlantic. Earlier in his career, he was an editor at the Los Angeles Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Washington Post, and the Houston Chronicle. ¹³

Marianne Lavelle is Inside Climate News’ Washington, D.C. bureau chief. Earlier in her career, she was an online energy news editor and writer at National Geographic, and she also worked at U.S. News and World Report and National Law Journal. She is a graduate of Villanova University and earned her master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. ¹⁴