Steven Vanden Bussche (1979) is an investigative journalist at Apache.

Steven Vanden Bussche (1979) has been a journalist since 2005, after which he worked as a correspondent for the Belga news agency for six years. Since 2017, he has been working full time for Apache. 

Steven Vanden Bussche

Basic information

Name
Steven Vanden Bussche
Title
Investigative journalist
Expertise
Housing
Country
Belgium
City
Merelbeke
Website

Supported projects

The Future of Petro-cities

  • Climate
  • Energy

ROTTERDAM/ANTWERP — This first-of-its-kind shows how in the year 2050, the burning of fuels produced by the Dutch and Belgium oil refineries together will release at least 3.9 million kilotons of carbon into the atmosphere - emissions that correspond to hundreds of thousands of heat-related deaths due to the effects of climate change.

Yassmina Berrag

How West Africa Continues To Import Dirty Fuels

ACCRA – Low-quality petrol and diesel are a major problem for air quality in West Africa. They contain toxic substances such as sulfur and the carcinogenic benzene. When they break down, cars emit even more toxic exhaust fumes over densely populated cities.

Ground Control: Investigating Land ownership in European capitals

  • Corruption
  • Social affairs

EUROPE - Affordable housing is becoming scarce in European cities. 

Gaby Khazalová

The concealed pfas problem

  • Healthcare
  • Industry
  • Environment

BRUSSELS/AMSTERDAM — Scientific publications, leaked company data and government data suggest that industry is doing everything possible to deliberately put up a fog curtain around these ultra short PFAS.

Credits: Simon Clément

The new Nederbelg

  • Migration
  • Cities

ESSEN/HOOGSTRATEN/PUTTE - Belgian real estate agents are seeing more and more Dutch people moving across the border, in a desperate attempt to find an affordable house in the border region. What does that do to life in a border region. Apache and OC Spit traveled from Essen across Hoogstraten to Putte and spoke with owners.

The Port Project

ANTWERPEN/ROTTERDAM - The social damage of air pollution caused by the (petro)chemical sector in the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam runs into billions of euros. This is according to an investigation by Apache and Follow The Money based on official figures on emissions and transfer of pollutants from large industrial facilities.

Comparison of Antwerp-Bruges and Rotterdam Ports

  • Cities
  • Environment
  • Industry

ROTTERDAM/ANTWERP - What is the environmental and health impact of air pollution caused by the (petro)chemical industry in the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam?

Peter Lipton

Who are the beneficiaries of the Flemish cabinets?

  • Politics

BRUSSELS - Cabinets of Flemish ministers can make certain limited expenditures under the radar. But who are the beneficiaries?

Great Belgian hunger for Zeeland's farmland

  • Agriculture

ZEELAND - To whom does the Dutch province of Zeeland belong? Partly to Belgians, who own up to a fifth of the agricultural land in the southernmost part of the province. The Dutch research collective Spit and the Belgian platform Apache went in search of the large landowners and answered the question: why are they active there?

Leaky ports, competitors or partners in security?

  • Corruption
  • Organised crime

ROTTERDAM - In the fight against drugs crime in their ports, the mayors of Rotterdam (Aboutaleb) and Antwerp (De Wever), kicked off in 2019 a more intensive collaboration between their ports. The big meeting took place behind closed doors at the Feyenoord Stadium.

Prostitution premises

  • Data Journalism
  • Exploitation

BRUSSELS - As of Wednesday (9 June 2021), the rules for sex work are normalising. After months of vacancy, activity in the zones of tolerance for window prostitution is getting back on track. In the past, sex workers and bar owners have been much investigated, but the property owners are a blind spot. Who are those men and women who buy premises to install display windows where sex workers attract customers? Which companies specialise in real estate for the sex industry and do they have links to foreign countries?

More Dutch cattle farmers move to Belgium since nitrogen crisis

  • Agriculture
  • Cities
  • Environment

Since the start of the nitrogen crisis in 2018, more Dutch livestock farmers moved to Belgium than in previous years. This is evident from new research by Spit and Apache. Environmental organisations have been warning for some time that Belgium has become a 'nitrogen paradise' for large-scale polluters. An inventory of the available data supports this fear.

Who owns Flanders?

BRUSSELS - In the almost built-up Flanders (northern region of Belgium), land is a precious commodity. Who are the large landowners who own hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of hectares of land in Flanders? Who are the real estate investors who own whole streets in cities or have their eye on certain neighbourhoods? Why do they do it? What is the return?

30 million chickens, none to be seen

  • Agriculture
  • Environment
  • Healthcare

BRAKEN - The Belgian city Braken on the Dutch border, has 1.2 million chickens among its inhabitants. They divide the village: inhabitants are tired of the smell, fine dust and heavy transport in their village. In order to objectify the discussion, the local government ordered an air quality study.