Year End Impact Report 2025

Year ended 31 March 2025

IMPACT REPORT

Charity number 1186683. Registered in England and Wales. Company number 11882899 Printed on 100% recycled 9Lives® paper from Red-Inc

TABLE OF CONTENTS Who we are 3

Welcome letter

Our approach 4

Why give to climate and nature?

5

Why give through the Global Returns Project?

6–7

Our selection process

8–9

Our charities

Your impact Success stories from our portfolio charities 10 – 11

Spotlight on: Africa

12 – 13

Impact stories: Africa

14 – 15

Spotlight on: Americas

16 – 17

Impact stories: Americas

18 – 19

Spotlight on: Asia and Oceania

20 – 21

Impact stories: Asia and Oceania

22 – 23

Spotlight on: Europe and Middle East

24 – 25

Impact stories: Europe and Middle East

Your community 26

Join our community

WELCOME LETTER Dear Friends, The data is daunting: 2024 was the hottest year on record. The signs of a planet in crisis are everywhere, and there are many reasons to feel overwhelmed. But there is also hope. Across the globe, individuals are taking meaningful action, and through the Global Returns Project, those actions are having a powerful impact.

This latest report draws together the extraordinary work of the climate and nature charities in our portfolio in a new format, placing more emphasis on the wide range of solutions being supported, the global scale of the work, and the people and wildlife benefitting directly.

restoring degraded land.

This is whilst funds through GRP also supported Blue Marine to protect and restore life in the ocean, ClientEarth to uphold environmental law, Global Canopy to target the market forces destroying nature, and Whale and Dolphin Conservation to protect marine biodiversity.

These are real, measurable outcomes, fuelled by donor generosity. In a year of record temperatures, your support is helping to secure ecosystems, protect biodiversity, and impact the lives and communities of those most affected.

Together, we made an impact in 2024. Let’s amplify it together in 2025.

Global Average Temperature Change

Two clear statistics highlight GRP’s impact in 2024/25: with GRP donations, Rainforest Trust protected 157,492 acres of threatened rainforest, locking in 41 million metric tonnes of CO₂e. At the same time, Trillion Trees used GRP funds to begin growing 21,921 native trees, The Global Returns Project Technical Advisory Board

Prof Joanna Haigh CBE FRS (Chair)

Prof Yadvinder Malhi CBE FRS

Dr Mamta Mehra

Prof Rosalind Rickaby FRS

3

WHY GIVE TO CLIMATE AND NATURE? Climate and nature underpin everything in our world. We rely upon them for the basic elements of our very survival: our health, our food and our water. Created in 2015 by the United Nations, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent a set of universal goals to meet the urgent environmental, political and economic challenges facing us today. The SDGs are often considered as a ‘pick and mix’ selection: if we satisfy some goals, then we fulfil our duties. In fact, scientists tell us that we should look at them differently.

Credit: Azote for Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University

The Stockholm Resilience Centre’s model below displays how the planet (biosphere) should be seen as the foundation of all the others, and that therefore a small number of SDGs should be understood as foundational.

Without addressing the climate and nature crises, we simply cannot address all the other Goals. This is how we think about philanthropy at GRP; all other aspects of a thriving world are contingent on the health of our planet.

WHY GIVE THROUGH THE GLOBAL RETURNS PROJECT?

GRP spans all types of climate and nature solutions, from nature-based carbon storage and sequestration to corporate accountability and systems change At GRP, we help you give to the most powerful charities protecting our planet. The experts on our team have identified the most immediate ways charities can fight the climate crisis, and created a ‘Total Opportunity Set’ of 44 actions necessary in the fight.

These range from protecting peatland and coral reefs to promoting a transition away from

fossil fuels. We use this set to identify the work that GRP should be funding, and it reminds us of the interconnectedness of the climate crisis. We select and assess the most effective charities across these actions, for free, with no fees deducted from donations. We then report on these charities, detailing the impact of the work across the globe.

Protecting the Amazon rainforest, preventing fossil fuel emissions, and restoring the oceans, to name just a few activities of GRP charities, all contribute to the same mission and are vital in reversing humans’ damage to climate and nature now.

5

OUR SELECTION PROCESS Drawing on our Technical Advisory Board of world-class climate scientists, we have developed a proprietary methodology for selecting and assessing high-impact climate and nature charities.

IDENTIFYING A SECTOR We split the Total Opportunity Set into 5 sections, and our experts update it regularly. In May 2024, we added a ‘climate information and communication’ sector to further take into the account the need for widespread

Protecting and enhancing life below water

behavioural shifts in the fight against climate change.

This comes from altered individual behaviour, value sets, and culture, on which charities can have a vast impact.

Advancing climate information and communication

6%

Each section is broken down into more specific actions that relate to that area

27% 18% Reducing greenhouse gas emission sources

31%

Protecting and enhancing life on land

18%

Supporting carbon sinks

PORTFOLIO DIVERSITY Every six months, we calculate how many of the 44 actions GRP is fulfilling through the climate and nature charities in the portfolio. This guides any additions to the portfolio of charities, when we survey all the charities in a specific sector that is missing from the portfolio. As of April 2025, the portfolio diversity sits at:

55.7% April 2025

IDENTIFYING A CHARITY Once we have identified an area of intervention, we screen all the charities across the sector according to our own methodology. By doing this repeatedly, we arrive at six of the most effective climate and nature charities doing vital work across the globe.

This rigorous process forms the GRP portfolio.

However, we don’t stop there. Every six months, the

ALL

charities are rescored, ensuring the portfolio is rigorously selected and maintained. We use this process to create a holistic score for the entire portfolio of charities: the Global Returns Rate (GRR). This combines the Portfolio Diversity with the performance scores of each charity, and is updated every six months. As of April 2025, the GRR sits at 43.2. This is up from 43.1 in November 2024.

All climate mitigation charities globally

+20,000 charities screened to-date

THOUSANDS

Evaluated by annual revenue, number of employees, years in operation, charitable status, etc

Best charities scored with proprietary methodology Assessed by impact, scalability, networks, co-benefits

HUNDREDS

SIX

Further due diligence on operations, audited financial statements, governance policy documents, impact reports, etc

Highest-scoring charities in six sectors selected for GRP’s portfolio Rescored every six months Replaced if we identify stronger-performing charities Estimated 1-2 charities added annually

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OUR CHARITIES Blue Marine Foundation is a conservation charity that seeks to protect and restore life in the ocean. It continues to pioneer in marine protection, and in the past year has challenged governments in court, united international voices for safeguarding species, and continued to work in countries from Greece to the Dominican Republic to advocate for the UN’s 30x30 target for ocean protection.

Active in: 27 countries

33,000 km² ocean protected in 2024 42,235 hectares of ocean under active restoration

ClientEarth uses the law to protect life on earth and to build a future in which people and planet thrive together. They defend nature, hold polluters to account, and push governments towards climate solutions. They recently secured a mediation agreement with Danone on the plastic in their packaging, recognising it as a ‘salient risk’ and pushing ahead plastics accountability.

19 new legal cases launched in 2025 already Active in: 60 countries

70% litigation success rate

Global Canopy targets the market forces destroying nature by providing the data, metrics and insights that drive companies, financial institutions and governments to make better decisions for nature, forests and people. It co-founded the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and continues to launch new data sets, such as Floresta 250 – Cattle. This reveals the key companies and financial institutions linked to cattle-related deforestation in Brazil.

Active in: 17 countries

502 organisations are adopting TNFD’s recommendations Over 10,000 users of ENCORE, a free tool for organisations to identify their impacts on nature

Since 1988, Rainforest Trust has protected over 56 million acres of tropical habitat in partnership with local organisations and communities. 99% of the forest in their reserves is still intact today, safeguarding billions of tonnes of CO₂ equivalents and storing them naturally.

3,335 critically endangered, endangered and vulnerable species protected

Active in: 50 countries

8.5 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalents stored

Trillion Trees, a partnership of BirdLife International, WCS and WWF, protects and restores forests for people, nature and the climate. In the past year, Trillion Trees has funded seven new projects through its restoration programme – the ReForest Fund – in Argentina, Bolivia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Tanzania and Uganda, and it continues to lead in restoring and growing forests.

Over 9,000 people benefitting from restoration activities

Active in: 60 countries

Over 526,000 trees grown through the ReForest Fund

Whale and Dolphin Conservation is the leading global NGO dedicated to the protection of cetaceans and their natural marine habitats. They advocate against international whaling and recently succeeded at COP, enshrining wild animals in the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. They also research and designate ‘Important Marine Mammal Areas’ (IMMAs) for international recognition.

1 million volunteer Shorewatch surveys recording whale Active in: 13 countries

and dolphin sightings around Scotland

201 fin whales not hunted in Iceland this year

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SPOTLIGHT ON: AFRICA Environmental law in Ghana

2.2 BILLION Editorial reach by Blue Marine’s #SaveAfricanPenguin social media campaign

ClientEarth have continued to work alongside local partners to combat the key threats to Ghana’s forests: unsustainable cocoa production and mining. They seek to strengthen forest laws and policies to support sustainable forest governance, better conserve protected areas (such as the biodiversity-rich Atewa forest) by challenging mining laws, improve cocoa production practices to reduce deforestation, and regulate carbon markets to ensure that they are equitable in their operation.

Tracing deforestation in Côte d’Ivoire Global Canopy’s joint tool with the SEI ‘Trase’ revealed which trading companies and consumer markets are most exposed to cocoa-related deforestation in cocoa Côte d’Ivoire. This open data is vital for enabling companies, financiers and governments to understand, measure and act on deforestation.

Ocean literacy in Namibia Blue Marine launched the first Blue Ocean Learning Toolkit (BOLT) in partnership with Namibia Nature Foundation to drive UNESCO’s ocean literacy principles in Nambian classrooms.

© Blue Marine

Ban on logging in Niger Delta The Nigerian State Government of Bayelsa imposed a total ban on logging operations on January 1st 2025, which will end massive deforestation in the Niger Delta – an incredible win for the local charity SW/Niger Delta Forest Project whose efforts are supported by Rainforest Trust.

Elephants protected in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Thanks to Rainforest Trust protection, in 2024, zero African Elephants were poached at the Djeke Triangle project site in the Republic of the Congo for the first time since records began.

© Rainforest Trust

Forest restoration in Kenya and Tanzania Trillion Trees planted 31,100 more trees in Kenya and Tanzania while providing opportunities for local communities through agroforestry and training.

126,312 Trees growing and consistently monitored in Kenya and Tanzania by Trillion Trees

© Jerry Mushala

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IMPACT STORIES: AFRICA #SAVEAFRICANPENGUINS CAMPAIGN Over the last century, the African Penguin population has plummeted by 97% due to overfishing. The species now faces extinction within the next decade, making it the first penguin species (of 18 globally) to meet the criteria for the IUCN’s ‘Critically Endangered’ list.

In response to this rapid decline, Blue Marine Foundation partnered with SANCCOB and Birds Life SA to mount their #SaveAfricanPenguins campaign – a media driven initiative aimed at raising public awareness and pushing for policy change to protect these charismatic creatures.

Using a ‘Save Our African Penguins’ film, a landmark event in Cape Town, and an ‘Only One’ petition that rapidly gained over 33,000 signatures, Blue Marine pushed ocean conservation into the public and political spotlight. They found that 82% of South Africans polled would vote for leaders that prioritised wildlife protection, and galvanised widespread attention through a campaign with 435 pieces of media coverage and a total editorial reach of 2.2 billion.

“…WIDESPREAD PUBLIC MOBILISATION FOR CONSERVATION MEASURES IS POSSIBLE…”

In March 2025, Blue Marine took to the streets outside Pretoria High Court. After months of action their efforts were rewarded with the South African government promising to implement commercial fishing closures around six major breeding colonies – a crucial step in safeguarding the future of African penguins.

As Jo Coumbe, Blue Marine Communications Director put it: “The recent settlement is a step in the right direction and these new, effective measures will help avert a catastrophe for the African Penguin. However, continued vigilance is essential. Now that an agreement has been reached, we must ensure these protections are upheld.”

This settlement marks a significant milestone in the protection of the African penguin and a hopeful step towards ensuring the species survival for generations to come, as well as showing that widespread public mobilisation for conservation measures is possible, and can lead to great success.

13 © Blue Marine Foundation

SPOTLIGHT ON: AMERICAS

Upholding the law in the United States of America ClientEarth know the courts are the most powerful venue for advancing climate action, especially when legislative and executive pathways are blocked. By holding corporations directly accountable, such as through their continued work on abandoned but toxic ‘zombie oil wells’ across the United States, they ensure that climate responsibilities cannot be ignored.

Protecting pristine Amazon rainforest in Guyana Rainforest Trust launched a project in Guyana in March 2025, working to protect an area of over 2 million acres and prevent deforestation associated with gold mining that ruins the ancestral lands of the Wapichan Indigenous Peoples and the habitat of threatened species such as the Giant Otter.

Training South American banks in Peru, Bolivia and Colombia Global Canopy ran an implementation support programme with South American banks including Santander Peru, Banco Bolivariano and Banco de Bogotá to help them get started with the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures’ (TNFD) recommendations for integrating nature into decision-making.

250

© Instituto Araguaia

Assessments of the key players driving cattlerelated deforestation in Brazil by Global Canopy’s Floresta 250 – Cattle data set, with vital recommendations for action

Alternative livelihoods for local communities in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico Trillion Trees began growing 31,530 trees across South America in the past six months whilst working with Argentinian Yerba mate farmers and providing seedlings to farmers in Mexico to support ecosystem services and community benefits. (Pictured below, volunteers and Indigenous authorities at a tree planting event in Pajalton Alto, Mexico)

Locally led conservation in the Dutch Caribbean Blue Marine continues to support thriving, locally led marine conservation through its ‘small grants’ programme. Highlights include: acoustic wildlife tracking of 21 species in Bonaire, marine reserve demarcation in St Eustatius, and seagrass monitoring in St Maarten to inform marine spatial planning.

© Diego Alvarez

© Max Bello

2.2 MILLION Acres of Guyanese Amazonian rainforest that a new Rainforest Trust project is working to protect

Lahille Bottlenose Dolphin conservation in Argentina Whale and Dolphin Conservation continued working with local communities in Argentina to strengthen the reserves where the Vulnerable Lahille Bottlenose dolphins live through a comprehensive management plan.

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IMPACT STORIES: AMERICAS MAURICIO’S STORY Mauricio Coca is a dedicated member of the Laphia community in Bolivia. Below, he shares his story of environmental stewardship and community collaboration with Trillion Trees’ local partner Asociación Armonía, having worked tirelessly to restore the forest ecosystem after a devastating fire.

“My name is Mauricio Coca. I am a proud member of the Laphia community, located in the Quillacollo province of the Cochabamba department in Bolivia.

I hold a position on the board of directors of my community as secretary of the irrigation board. I have been working for and with my community for quite some time. I have always connected closely with nature, and I believe that a tree is a life we are planting for future generations.

One experience made me realise the tremendous importance of preserving nature. Back in 2016, a huge and devastating fire broke out near my community. This fire caused great pain in the families of our community; we lost a large amount of our forests, animals, crops, irrigation materials, and tools, and, in some cases, the fire reached the homes where some of our friends lived.

After the fire, we started intensive and more frequent reforestation and protection actions to recover the forest that we had before. Back in 2020, an assembly was held in our community, and we learned about the work Armonia was carrying out in

All images this page © Asosciación Armonía

Cochabamba. This meeting was decisive since it brought us together. We established lasting ties of friendship and cooperation.

After starting to work with Armonia, I started seeing our forest recover as it had been before. That was an incredible joy for me and my community peers.

The organisation provides us with plants (to sow), gives us support and knowledge on what reforestation is, and how to implement it; they lead the way but always keep our opinions and needs in mind.

Since our connection and joint work with Armonia the main difference has been that we do not stop once planting is complete. We now also focus on what happens afterwards, other protection of the reforested areas, and all the conservation measures needed to preserve them.

The time of the fires was tough, and something I will never forget, but if we stay focused on regenerating our forest we will hear the sounds of the animals and birds again. My dream is to see Mother Earth thriving and filled with biodiversity.”

PROTECTING MILLIONS OF ACRES OF THE AMAZON The Amazon region of eastern Bolivia is home to the Black-faced Black Spider Monkey, Amazon River Dolphin and Lowland Tapir, amongst many other threatened species. The intact expanse of rainforest serves the traditionalist communities living here, who depend on harvesting Brazil nuts, açaí berries and wild cacao for their livelihoods.

Alarmingly, Bolivia had the second-highest rate of primary forest loss in 2023 (after Brazil) of all the Amazon countries, and deforestation here is increasing. Industrial agriculture aims to transform this biodiverse Amazon rainforest into lucrative cattle pastures and soy farms to feed the cattle — releasing large amounts of carbon and mirroring the tragedy taking place in Brazil.

However, in the state of Pando, over 92% of the land is still forested. By December 2024, Rainforest Trust and local partner Conservación Amazónica had supported the establishment of two Municipal Protected Areas: the Lakes of San Pedro and the Hidden Forest of Ingavi.

These two areas cover 1,633,016 acres, and two additional protected areas are planned, which will bring the total to 2 million acres. Indigenous and rural communities, including La Candelaria and El Carmen, were deeply involved in the creation of the areas, ensuring their traditions and livelihoods remain intertwined with the natural landscape. These achievements represent the commitment of the Indigenous communities to conserve vital ecosystems essential for biodiversity and the survival of endangered and vulnerable species such as the Tapir, as well as ecological balance and the wellbeing of the communities.

South American Tapir

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SPOTLIGHT ON: ASIA AND OCEANIA Protecting the ocean and livelihoods in the Maldives

170 Scientists signed an open letter with Blue Marine to prevent longline tuna fishing in the Maldives

Less than a month after forming, a Blue Marineled alliance prevented plans to reopen longline tuna fishing in the Maldives. The #AgainstLonglining campaign, backed by a 30,000-signature strong petition and an open letter signed by 170 scientists, helped preserve the country’s unique pole-and-line tuna fishing tradition.

© Jason Boswell

252,678

Acres of rare and fragile rainforest on Peling Island, Indonesia, formally designated with Rainforest Trust’s support in March 2025 - 5 times more than originally planned

Fishing improvements in Sri Lanka Whale and Dolphin Conservation are helping local Sri Lankan fishers test sound and light deterrents to find the best ways to keep dolphins, sharks, and sea turtles safe from being entangled in fishing nets.

Communities reversing landscape degradation in Indonesia, Laos and Papua New Guinea Trillion Trees has continued its work with communities across Indonesia, Laos and Papua New Guinea, planting and regrowing over 33,000 trees and training community rangers to monitor sites.

Safeguarding biodiversity in New Guinea Rainforest Trust is working with local partner EcoNusa to safeguard spectacular biodiversity in the Crown Jewel of Papua, on the Indonesian island of New Guinea. The carbon stored in this wilderness is equivalent to 25 million tonnes of coal burned, and it hosts spectacular biodiversity in 13 distinct rainforest ecosystems – from high mountains to lowlands, savannah, peatlands, and mangroves.

© Burung Indonesia, Maximus Abun

Nature in finance in Indonesia Global Canopy’s workshops held with partners (including WWF Indonesia and IKBI) and Indonesian commercial and central banks this year were a crucial first steps in getting the finance sector in Indonesia to better understand and identify their nature-related dependencies.

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IMPACT STORIES: ASIA USING DATA TO UNDERSTAND IMPACTS ON NATURE ENCORE is a free online tool, jointly developed by Global Canopy, UNEP FI and UNEP-WCMC, which provides organisations with data that enables them to identify the nature-related impacts and dependencies they are exposed to through their business activities.

People throughout the world are using ENCORE to support nature-related assessments for their organisations and clients. Ash Welch, Biodiversity Lead at AECOM, one of the world’s largest infrastructure consulting firms, spoke with Global Canopy about how AECOM is deploying ENCORE on infrastructure projects across Asia, and shared his top tips for others using this powerful tool.

What are some of the challenges you have encountered and overcome, undertaking naturerelated assessments?

Ash Welch: “There can be some challenges obtaining data – it’s variable depending on the location of the work. In Singapore it’s standard procedure to do survey work. Clients know they have to do it so they build it into their scope. But with other projects you don’t have the luxury of

doing that and are confined by readily available datasets for the location or wider region.”

How has ENCORE helped support you with assessments related to the TNFD? Ash Welch: “A lot! Particularly the ‘locate’ phase of the TNFD LEAP approach (Locate, Evaluate, Assess, Prepare). In that phase, one of the key things to do is identify the sites that a client, or that we, would be operating in, and get high level data on the potential dependencies and impacts associated with that industry, and then correlate that with the location. For example, if there is a dependency on water, do we have any rivers in the nearby catchment? And then you can use those insights to start prioritising. This is what ENCORE is great for, and it’s the key area we see it being used for at the moment.”

A longer interview about Ash’s journey with ENCORE is on Global Canopy’s website.

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SPOTLIGHT ON: EUROPE AND MIDDLE EAST Campaigning in Norway and Iceland

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Whale and Dolphin Conservation have continued to campaign against whaling in Norway (the deadliest whale hunt in the world) and Iceland. In April 2025, WDC announced that Iceland’s largest whaling company cancelled the 2025 hunt (see page 25).

Cases against national governments in the EU led

by ClientEarth for failing to prevent bottomtrawling in MPAs

Critical Evidence to the European Parliament in Brussels Through their ‘Trase’ programme, Global Canopy have been providing critical evidence to protect the integrity of the EUDR, a groundbreaking law that aims to prevent deforestation-linked products from entering the EU market.

© Whale and Dolphin Conservation

Trawling Ban in Jersey Blue Marine announced that 23% of Jersey’s waters are set to become protected areas with a ban on dredging and trawling. This follows unanimous government support for a Marine Spatial Plan (MSP), which Blue Marine has pushed for since 2018.

Volunteer Surveys in Scotland

Groundbreaking MPA expansion in Greece

Whale and Dolphin Conservation’s Shorewatch volunteers continued providing data on cetacean sightings at 52 sites across Scotland to help the Scottish government’s marine conservation strategy.

Blue Marine led efforts to secure an unprecedented government commitment to expand Greece’s MPA network from 20% to 32%, as well as the first gradual ban on bottom trawling in Europe.

© Whale and Dolphin Conservation © Blue Marine Foundation

1 MILLION

Volunteer WDC Shorewatch surveys recording whale and dolphin sightings around Scotland

Legal action on Marine Protected Areas in Spain, France and Germany ClientEarth are taking the national governments of Spain, France and Netherlands to court for failing to prevent bottom trawling in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), and hoping to create a systemic shift across the EU through advocating for a binding ‘European Ocean Pact’.

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Factsheets produced by Global Canopy’s tool Trase detailing the deforestation exposure of all EU member states

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IMPACT STORIES: EUROPE AND MIDDLE EAST A WIN IN COURT AGAINST THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT The Po Delta in Italy lies adjacent to the North Venetian Adriatic Marine Protected Area (MPA), which was appointed to create a safe haven for some of Europe’s most important marine mammals.

Marine life such as loggerhead sea turtles and Venice’s iconic bottlenose dolphins, as well as other protected species, make this fragile ecosystem their home. It has already experienced significant degradation from past gas extraction, including coastal erosion and land subsidence.

In 2021, ClientEarth took urgent legal action against the Italian government, alongside their partners, as the Teodorico gas platform drilling site was planned near the Po Delta. The project would have pumped out 300,000m³ of gas from the seabed each day.

Environmental groups warned that approving a new gas platform could increase risks and threaten the stability of the coastline further.

In December 2024 ClientEarth and partners successfully stopped the approval of the project.

The primary legal argument proposed by ClientEarth was that the Italian government failed to carry out a proper environmental impact assessment, as required under EU and national law.

The Italian court agreed, ruling that the project breached environmental protection obligations. The court annulled the government's decision to greenlight the project, effectively halting its development. The ruling is a major environmental victory, not only for the Po Delta’s biodiversity but also for broader efforts to combat climate change and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

The case highlights the critical role that legal interventions can play in protecting nature and enforcing environmental laws, and reinforces the importance of transitioning away from fossil fuel infrastructure, particularly in climate-sensitive and ecologically valuable areas.

ClientEarth lawyer Francesco Maletto said:

“Approving this project sacrificed wildlife for oil and gas. It was a lesson in how not to fight climate change and a clear breach of EU and Italian laws – but this crucial win reverses that.

It is another victory in a patchwork of fights to restore our ocean and rebuild wildlife populations.”

© Christopher Swann

SAVING FIN WHALES IN ICELAND Fin whales are the second biggest mammals in the world, and are generally found alone or in pairs, recognisable by their long, slender bodies and ‘asymmetrical pigmentation’ of white and black, only found on one other whale species. They can be found all over the world’s oceans, but prefer cooler waters and are thought to migrate between feeding and breeding grounds. They are classified by the IUCN as ‘Vulnerable’, and their numbers are annually threatened further by the Icelandic whaling season.

For years, whaling in Iceland has divided opinions within the country and drawn international criticism.

Despite evidence of its negative impact on marine ecosystems, violations of Iceland’s own animal welfare laws, and the fact that the majority of Icelandic people oppose the hunts, the slaughter has continued.

In 2023, Whale and Dolphin Conservation’s efforts helped delay Iceland’s hunting season, and no fin whales were killed. However, this was threatened in 2024 when Iceland’s caretaker government granted two whaling licences.

Amid this, the good news was that it sparked a broader conversation about Iceland’s future, and more Icelanders woke up to the environmental and ethical implications of whaling. Whale and Dolphin Conservation continued to advocate for the end of whaling, countering misinformation and propaganda by pro-whaling advocates, and highlighting that fin whales play crucial roles in marine ecosystems.

In April 2025, Icelandic news outlets reported that Hvalur hf, the company responsible for fin whale hunting in the country, cancelled its summer whaling plans. This was a monumental moment for fin whales.

“The decision could signal the beginning of the end for whaling in the country,” says WDC's hunting campaigner, Luke McMillan.

“Iceland has long stood apart as one of the few remaining nations to hunt vulnerable whales, but this development suggests the industry may finally be losing its grip. We urge the Icelandic government to take this opportunity to make this pause in whaling permanent and to show the world that the era of whaling in Iceland is truly over.”

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JOIN OUR COMMUNITY Community-building plays a vital role in tackling the crises we face as a planet. To keep up momentum for our work – and bring our supporters together – we host regular inperson and virtual events, such as panels and networking opportunities in London.

Recent events include:

5 YEARS TO 2030: WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR THE PLANET?

ONLINE WEBINAR: CAN WE DO BETTER THAN OFFSETS?

February 2025

March 2025

Zac Goldsmith introduced the evening, followed by a panel of experts from Rebalance Earth, Rainforest Alliance and Blue Marine Foundation.

Carbon offsets have long been the default for climate-conscious individuals and businesses — but is there a more impactful way to drive change?

Contact us to learn more about joining our community: info@globalreturnsproject.earth Stay up to date through our newsletter: https://globalreturnsproject.earth/our-newsletter/

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THE GLOBAL RETURNS PROJECT info@globalreturnsproject.earth 020 3488 5985 The Global Returns Project is a UK-registered charity that helps individuals and businesses give to powerful charities protecting our planet – for free. With experts on our team, we

research thousands of charities to find the fastest paths to global impact for all the planet’s biggest problems. Then we prove it, again and again, with impact reports like these.