11 minute read

Four Environmental Strategies

from Annual Report 2021 ｜Greenpeace

from Annual Report 2021 ｜Greenpeace, page 4

Greenpeace Sharing

Climate solutions: Worldwide actions, hope is in the air

As the UN called the latest IPCC climate report a “code red for humanity”, we pushed leaders to end their silence on fossil fuels.

Our combined determination to save the climate

At the COP26 global climate summit, world leaders disappointingly agreed to a “phasing down” of fossil fuels, not a “phase out”. Fortunately, we still witnessed some good signs – a Dutch court ruled that Shell was liable for climate damage and that it must reduce carbon emissions throughout its whole supply chain; Canadian firm TC Energy ended its controversial Keystone XL Pipeline project; while Greenland banned all new oil exploration on environmental grounds.

Climate is our priority

Greenpeace has been exposing big oil and corporate polluters for greenwashing, so companies are held accountable for their actual impact on people and the climate. As we entered 2022, we campaign in Europe against nuclear integration into green energy. The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that climate crisis impacts are already dire and that the world must act united now. We are using fact-based science to continue pushing countries and corporates to quit fossil energy faster and invest in renewables.

Climate justice for our planet

Greenpeace has long been advocating for environmental justice, supporting indigenous peoples, and people in climate-vulnerable areas to fight for their rights. Following our campaigning work, Germany’s supreme constitutional court ruled that the government’s Climate Protection Act did not go far enough to safeguard citizens. In Indonesia, the Central Jakarta District Court found seven officials negligent for allowing air pollution to get so bad, a milestone for local class actions and environmental lawsuits.

50 years on, we are still full of hope

Environmental campaigns aren’t won overnight. Greenpeace first set sail in 1971, and in those 50 years we have made amazing achievements. In the 1970s, we were a key part of the movement to ban leaded petrol. In 2021, the last country to use this toxic fuel abandoned it too. In 2011, Greenpeace began its campaign to detox fashion and push outdoor brands to eliminate hazardous PFCs. Last year, Gore Fabrics announced it was going 100% PFC-free!

Key to the climate fight East Asia shows its colours Climate roadmap Hong Kong plays catch up

Our green finance projects are seeing great results. China, Japan and Korea are the three biggest investors in overseas coal-fired power. In 2021, China said it would stop funding new overseas coal plants; Korea said public funds would no longer be spent on coal projects, and private firms in Japan said they would tighten restrictions on funding coal. Cutting off money from East Asia going into coal is a huge step in protecting our climate.

Following Fukushima, calling on carmakers

Greenpeace East Asia’s team of radiation specialists has been monitoring Fukushima for an unbroken 11 years. Last April, Japan said it would release contaminated water into the Pacific, so we swiftly released an in-depth scientific analysis of the consequences. Our new regional Car Decarbonisation campaign has pushed the world’s biggest carmakers – Japan’s Toyota and Korea’s Hyundai – to become more ambitious in moving towards electric vehicles.

Promoting corporate & government climate responsibility

Our Beijing office has successfully pushed China’s big tech firms, including Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, to announce carbon neutrality goals. A long-term campaign by our Seoul office got Korea’s National Assembly to revise its Electricity Law so that it will drive development in the local renewable energy sector. And in Taiwan, more than 50 SMEs pledged to go 10% renewable by 2025; Taiwan Mobile was the very first major telecom company to join. Climate crisis is impacting everyone

Greenpeace used science-based data to explain how the climate is impacting one of the most important things in everyone’s life – food. Our project is bringing home the urgency of the climate crisis to everyone.

We held tons of activities including a two-day largescale offline event, workshops and webinars, where local scientists and experts joined in to raise public awareness about climate impacts. Local artist Joey Leung made a viral video introducing how grains, seafood, coffee, wine and honey are affected by the climate crisis. More than 40 local coffee shops took part, with baristas and coffee shop owners calling on Hong Kong to wake up and smell the coffee!

Our long-running “Let’s Talk About Climate Change” series interviewed baristas and climate activists; and for the first time we collaborated with the Hong Kong French Film Festival to present the program, “Cinema for the Climate”. Encouraging Hong Kong to go carbon neutral

After Hong Kong said it aimed to become carbon neutral by 2050, Greenpeace responded instantly by joining 19 other groups to call on the government to urgently draw up a carbon neutrality roadmap. We also participated in the Policy Address online consultation session. In October 2021, the government announced its “Hong Kong Climate Action Plan 2050”, which we welcomed but we also pointed out the “emissions reduction” and “response” targets in the Plan are not ambitious enough to meet IPCC targets. The Plan also failed to detail how to use the $240 billion set aside for tackling climate change. Greenpeace will continue to keep a close eye on this issue. While many countries and cities are setting clear targets and timelines to phase down their carbon emissions, we should make sure Hong Kong is also living up to its climate commitments.

Forests and oceans: Protect nature in all its forms

Our planet’s natural landscapes have been under severe threat in the past year. Scientists say to save the climate we must protect at least 30% of our forests and oceans. In 2021, we built up resources to safeguard our natural world and pursue environmental justice. With your trust in us, Greenpeace was able to conduct on-the-ground surveys and connect local people to help protect precious forests around the world.

The forests are in grave danger Your support gives them a chance

The area of Amazon rainforest felled hit a 15-year high in 2021. A Greenpeace report revealed huge areas had been burned to make way for soy plantations, pasture for beef cattle and mines. Such land grabbing has impinged on the rights and livelihoods of local indigenous peoples. Since Europe is the main market for Brazilian meat, Greenpeace connected offices around the world and worked with more than 160 green groups and millions of people to push the European Commission into drafting an antideforestation law.

Exposing corruption to protect Indonesia’s rainforests

Nearly 1 million hectares of forest in the Indonesian province of West Papua has been razed in the past 20 years by the palm oil industry. Our report showed that politicalcorporate collusion was responsible for recent fires, and with local indigenous groups we lobbied the government to successfully revoke 14 permits issued to palm oil firms. We also worked with the research group Forensic Architecture to reveal that Korindo had burnt huge areas of forest, leading the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to cut ties with the Korean palm oil giant.

Scrapping permits for African logging concessions

In 2021, Greenpeace Africa along with dozens of green groups helped push the Democratic Republic of Congo to pass a bill to protect the rights of indigenous peoples living in the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest, the Congo Basin. The president also announced he was suspending all dubious logging concessions.

Saving nature reserves in Russia

In 2021, Stavropol Territory in Russia proposed a new draft law to change boundaries that would have meant an end to as much as 80% of the country’s nature reserves. Greenpeace launched a petition that got more than 95,000 signatures and succeeded in reversing the plan.

Oceans: The power of wide-ranging action

In February 2022, a UN climate report warned building climate resilience required protecting at the very least 30% of the world’s natural ecosystems. Like forests, oceans provide us with unlimited resources, but are increasingly facing crises: industrial fishing, deep-sea mining, climate change and plastic pollution. Your support is helping us to protect oceans around the globe.

Mobilising support worldwide for a strong Global Ocean Treaty

Greenpeace has long fought for a Global Ocean Treaty to protect at least 30% of the oceans by 2030 (30x30). The fourth round of negotiations at the UN was held in March 2022, and Greenpeace won support from Pacific Island nations, Africa, Caribbean countries and several EU states for a strong deal, backed by 5 million supporters from around the world. So far, more than 100 countries and regions have signed up to 30x30.

Victory for the ocean: New Zealand says no to deep sea mining

New Zealand’s South Taranaki Bight teems with life – whales, penguins and corals all live here. Over the last decade, Greenpeace and local indigenous groups have campaigned against opening the Bight to mining. In September 2021, the Supreme Court ruled that “environmental protection is the bottom line,” closing the area off to deep sea mining.

Great news for Africa! Oil exploration blocked and whales protected

South Africa’s Wild Coast is a key habitat for whales. Shell had originally planned to explore for oil here last December. Greenpeace campaigned against the firm’s seismic blasting, rallying the support of more than 80,000 people in just a few weeks. Local communities brought a lawsuit that ended with the court ordering Shell to stop blasting and pay costs immediately.

Voyages for the planet: Our 4 ships at sea

Greenpeace’s four vessels went to four different oceans to witness and record environmental damage. Using science and direct actions, we worked with the world’s top experts to come up with detailed and workable solutions to the most immediate problems.

Pacific Ocean: blasting the threat from deep-sea mining

While touring the Pacific, the Rainbow Warrior crew linked up with activists in the Pacific Island countries to campaign against mining company Global Sea Mineral Resources (GSR) from destroying the marine environment. Greenpeace is the only organisation that is conducting independent investigations of this issue. The ship was bearing witness to equipment tests carried out at approximately 4.5 km deep in the ocean and exposed there were several days that GSR lost control of their mining gear.

Indian Ocean: exposing the ‘Wall of Death’

The Arctic Sunrise set off in March 2021 to conduct an environmental study of the species-rich Indian Ocean. Our crew exposed how fishing vessels were using banned drift nets stretching 39km across, creating a ‘Wall of Death’ that caused indiscriminate and terrifying destruction of marine life. Strong enforcement of safe environmental standards is urgently needed for these industrial fishing fleets.

Antarctic Ocean: counting penguins, recording climate shocks

In January 2022, the Arctic Sunrise arrived in the Antarctic Peninsula to conduct a penguin survey and collect evidence to support establishing marine reserves here. Scientists on board discovered a new gentoo penguin colony never before recorded at Andersson Island, showing that climate change is changing species distribution. In March, they made the southernmost scientific submarine dive in history, at 65 degrees south, and found an “incredible abundance of life, including corals and other vulnerable species”.

The Mediterranean: Witness makes its first voyage

For 20 years, the Esperanza journeyed from the Poles to West Africa, uncovering illegal fishing and whaling and conducting ground-breaking research. In 2021, she finally retired with great honour. Please welcome her successor, our new ship Witness, refitted from a donated sailboat. She made her maiden voyage in April 2022 to conduct sperm whale research in the Mediterranean. Watch out for her latest updates!