How this project was reported

This three-part series on the wood pellet industry and the different views on the role of North Carolina forests in combating climate change took six months to put together, but drew on years of experience and reporting.

Saul Elbein has spent close to a decade reporting on forests around the world for The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Justin Catanoso, a professor of journalism at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, has written about climate change and climate policy since 2013 and in December covered his sixth United Nations climate summit in Madrid. Richard Stradling has been a reporter and editor for The News & Observer for 20 years.

Between them, the three reporters visited forests and woodlots throughout Eastern North Carolina as well as in Estonia and Finland; interviewed climate, forest and air-quality scientists and policy experts, as well as timberland owners and brokers; toured the Drax power station in Northern England and the Enviva pellet plant in Northampton County; and spoke with residents and environmental activists across North Carolina. The series was produced in partnership with The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and edited by The N&O’s business editor, Dave Hendrickson.

This story was originally published January 3, 2020 at 10:15 AM.