[5] Established in 2007, the Brooklyn, New York–based organization won a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting on the Kalamazoo River oil spill in Michigan in 2013.

[2] Originally called SolveClimate News, it adopted its current name "to counter the perception that it was an environmental advocacy organization.

"[10][3][11] In April 2016, Inside Climate News was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, for the 2015 Exxon: The Road Not Taken series.

[12][13] Inside Climate News was awarded a 2015 Sigma Delta Chi Award for excellence in journalism by the Society of Professional Journalists for the informational graphics in the Exxon: The Road Not Taken series, which "provide a visual timeline of Exxon's views and efforts on climate change since the 1970s, and evidence of its uncertainty campaigns in the 1990s and 2000s.

[16][17] In 2017, Inside Climate News journalist Marianne Lavelle was recognized with a SEAL Environmental Journalism Award for consistent excellence in investigation and reporting.