Based in Toronto with Corporate Knights, Buck specializes in dissecting how businesses and governments operationalize climate commitments. Her reporting combines policy analysis with on-the-ground narratives from energy transition hotspots like Newfoundland’s hydrogen hub and Germany’s former coal regions.
Naomi Buck’s career embodies a fusion of academic rigor and narrative-driven journalism. After completing graduate studies in social anthropology, she spent 12 years in Berlin contributing to Canadian and German media before returning to Toronto. Her early work for outlets like Cottage Life and Toronto Life focused on cultural and human-interest stories, but by the mid-2010s, her bylines shifted decisively toward environmental policy and corporate accountability. This pivot coincided with her joining Corporate Knights in 2021, where she’s become a leading voice analyzing the intersection of business practices and climate action.
Buck’s investigation into fossil fuel influence at COP29 dissected the “shadow delegation” of 345 hydrocarbon industry representatives embedded in Azerbaijan’s official delegation. Through leaked emails and lobbying disclosures, she revealed how oil giants shaped agenda items around carbon capture technologies to delay fossil fuel phase-outs. The piece sparked debates about reforming UNFCCC participant criteria and was cited in a European Parliament resolution calling for conflict-of-interest policies at climate summits.
This 4,000-word feature combined court documents from 22 U.S. states’ lawsuits against social platforms with longitudinal studies on adolescent brain development. Buck juxtaposed TikTok’s algorithmic amplification of fight videos with historical data showing no correlation between violent content exposure and real-world aggression. Her conclusion—that platforms exacerbate but don’t cause violence—became a key reference in Canada’s Online Harms Act deliberations.
Profiling the former NDP leader’s work chairing Canada’s Sustainable Finance Action Council, Buck analyzed how Mulcair bridged partisan divides to establish standardized climate risk disclosures. The article’s centerpiece—a leaked draft of the CSA’s Scope 3 emissions reporting rules—showcased her ability to translate technical financial regulations into narratives about corporate accountability.
Buck prioritizes stories that dissect how systems change rather than why they should. Successful pitches highlight specific policy levers (e.g., SEC climate disclosure rules) or corporate governance structures (board accountability frameworks). Avoid generic calls for sustainability; instead, propose case studies like municipal green bond implementations or sector-specific just transition plans.
Her coverage of Newfoundland’s hydrogen hub (Corporate Knights, April 2024) exemplifies this beat. Pitches should trace capital flows: private equity’s role in lithium mining, pension fund divestment timelines, or the insurance industry’s climate risk modeling. Data-rich proposals about sustainable infrastructure financing models stand out.
From Toronto’s tree canopy initiatives to Berlin’s circular economy experiments, Buck examines cities as climate action laboratories. Pitch intersectional angles: how heat island mitigation affects immigrant communities, or the labor implications of building retrofits. Include municipal budget analysis and community engagement metrics.
Her exposé on BASF’s lobbying (Corporate Knights, January 2023) set the template. Offer access to internal documents contradicting public ESG statements, or comparative analyses of corporate net-zero plans. Fact-based critiques of greenwashing in specific sectors (e.g., aviation biofuels) align with her investigative approach.
While based in Canada, Buck frequently incorporates insights from her time in Nigeria and India. Pitch stories connecting domestic policies to Global South impacts: Canadian mining firms’ renewable energy projects in Africa, or how EU carbon border taxes affect developing economies. Avoid superficial “parachute journalism” angles.
At PressContact, we aim to help you discover the most relevant journalists for your PR efforts. If you're looking to pitch to more journalists who write on Climate, here are some other real estate journalist profiles you may find relevant:
