Abrahm Lustgarten
I report on climate change and how people, companies and governments are adapting to it.
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I’m discreet and handle confidential communications and sources with extreme care.
What I Cover
I investigate the social and political consequences of our rapidly warming environment, focusing on how money and power influence policy. My reporting is science driven, and I embrace nuance and complexity, telling the stories that are most difficult to tell.
My Background
I have been reporting on environmental harm and the warming planet for ProPublica since its inception in 2008 and before that as a writer covering the global oil industry at Fortune. I’ve reported from around the world, including Iran, Russia, Indonesia and China. Throughout, my work has focused on the social and economic consequences of warming and the conflicting business interests that often drive them.
My most recent reporting has focused on global migration, finance and conflict associated with climate change. In 2024, I wrote about how climate pressures are driving far-right extremism and violence in the United States, especially around fears of immigration. In 2022, I investigated how the International Monetary Fund and global banks have paralyzed small climate-vulnerable nations with debt that makes it impossible for them to address their own climate risks. That work followed a three-part 2020 investigation into the potential displacement of billions of people and global climate-driven migration, both outside and inside the United States, which is also the subject of my third book, called “On The Move.”
This work — beginning with my early investigation into fracking in 2008 — has been recognized with honors, including a George Polk Award; a Scripps Howard Award; the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s communications award; and consecutive Whitman Bassow prizes from the Overseas Press Club. My 2015 series about water scarcity in the American West, “Killing the Colorado,” was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Killing the Colorado: Explore the River
How the Colorado was turned into a giant plumbing system.
Holy Crop: How Federal Dollars Are Financing the Water Crisis in the West
The federal subsidies that prop up cotton farming in Arizona are just one of myriad ways policymakers have refused to reshape laws to reflect water shortages throughout the Colorado River Basin states.
Holy Crop: How Federal Dollars Are Financing the Water Crisis in the West
The federal subsidies that prop up cotton farming in Arizona are just one of myriad ways policymakers have refused to reshape laws to reflect water shortages throughout the Colorado River Basin states.
What You Need to Know About the Water Crisis in the West
What led to the West's historic water crisis? What can be done to preserve the Colorado River? ProPublica explores the situation, at a glance.
Progress and Controversy Arrive With New Rules for Fracking on Public Lands
An initial review of rules issued by the Interior Department shows the federal government has taken important steps to protect drinking water resources, while not adopting the strictest regulations in place in some states.
New York State Bans Fracking
After years of delays and debate, Gov. Andrew Cuomo decides risks outweigh rewards.
Chesapeake Energy Faces Subpoena on Royalty Payment Practices
The Justice Department's inquiry comes after a ProPublica investigation and years of complaints from landowners who say they have been underpaid for leasing land to the energy giant for drilling.
California Halts Injection of Fracking Waste, Warning it May Be Contaminating Aquifers
State’s drought has forced farmers to rely on groundwater, even as California aquifers have been intentionally polluted due to exemptions for oil industry.
Chesapeake Energy’s $5 Billion Shuffle
The energy giant raised the cash it needed to survive by slashing royalties it paid property owners to drill on their land.