Write for Us
Write for Toxic Bonds
Toxic Bonds tracks the money behind coal, oil and gas expansion: the bonds, the underwriters, the asset managers and the pension funds whose capital keeps new fossil fuel projects moving. Our readers are campaigners, analysts, journalists, investors and policymakers who want to understand debt markets without a finance degree. If you can explain how capital flows and why that matters for the climate, we want to hear from you. This page sets out how to write for us, what we publish and how to submit an article.
What we publish
We are interested in reporting and analysis that follows the debt. The topics below are where contributed pieces fit best, though a strong pitch outside them will still get a fair reading.
- Analysis of bond issuances, underwriting and refinancing by fossil fuel companies and utilities
- Investor accountability: pension funds, insurers, asset managers and their fixed income exposure
- Sustainable finance policy, green and transition bond standards, and greenwashing
- Campaign stories, divestment decisions and bondholder or shareholder engagement
- Explainers on how debt markets work, written for a non-specialist audience
- Regional reporting on coal, oil and gas finance in Asia, Europe, the Americas and Africa
Guest posts and sponsored articles
We accept two kinds of contributed content. A guest post is an editorial piece written by an outside contributor: a researcher, campaigner, finance professional or writer with a genuine point of view on climate finance. A sponsored post is a paid placement from an organisation whose work is relevant to our readers, such as a research house, data provider, sustainable investment platform, consultancy or non-profit.
Both are published as permanent, indexed pages on toxicbonds.org. Editorial links within a piece are dofollow, provided they point to a resource that adds something for the reader. Sponsored articles are labelled as sponsored where disclosure is required. Pricing for sponsored placements is available on request. Typical turnaround from acceptance to publication is three to five working days, and we confirm the publication date by email once a draft is approved.
Guidelines
Our contributor guidelines are short, and we apply them to every submission:
- Original work only. We do not publish articles that have appeared elsewhere, including on your own site, and we check.
- Aim for 800 words or more. Longer analytical pieces are welcome when the material justifies the length.
- One or two relevant outbound links per article. Links should support the argument; drafts stuffed with links are returned.
- Cite your sources. Figures on bond issuance, underwriting league tables and emissions should come from named datasets or published reports.
- No gambling, adult or pharmaceutical content, and no promotional copy for fossil fuel expansion, however it is framed.
- An author bio of up to 50 words is optional and may include one link.
- We edit for house style, length and clarity. Substantive changes are agreed with the author before publication.
How to pitch
Send a short pitch (two or three sentences on the angle and why it matters now) or a full draft to [email protected] with the subject line "Guest post: <topic>". Tell us whether you are proposing a guest post or a sponsored post, and list any links you would like to include. We reply to every pitch that fits the topics above, usually within two working days.
We look forward to reading your work. To submit an article, email [email protected].