Accomplishments in Canada and around the globe

April 3, 2006: After months of pressure, consumer actions, online activism and more than 100,000 emails from Ocean Defenders everywhere, seafood suppliers Gorton's, Sealord and parent company Nissui withdraw their active support for Japanese whaling.  Whalers announce that the 32 per cent share in whaling operations owned by these commercial corporations would be transferred to a "public interest entity."  The retreat isolates whaling economically and probably scuppers plans to find new markets for whale products.   More

March 9, 2006: Electronics giant Hewlett Packard commits to a phase out plan for a range of hazardous chemicals in its products. More

February 16, 2006: French President Chirac announced the dramatic recall of the asbestos-laden warship Clemenceau . It will be turning around and going back to France. Our actions, emails to Chirac and an embarrassing international scandal left France with little choice but to abandon the misguided attempt to dump its own toxic mess on India. More

February 14, 2006: An area twice the size of Belgium has been given greater protection in the Amazon after a Presidential decree. The decree by President Lula of Brazil to create the 6.4 million hectare (around 16 million acres) conservation area is a great victory for the people of the Amazon battling land grabbers, cattle ranchers and loggers. The decree calls for around 1.6 million hectares to be permanently protected and totally off limits to logging and deforestation. More

February 7, 2006: Take 10 years of difficult, dangerous, and at times, heartbreaking work. Add thousands of activists from around the world - some who sent emails, some who stood on the blockades, some who voted against destruction with their wallets,  some who were beaten, some who were sued, some who were arrested. But eventually common sense has prevailed and one of the world's treasures, the Great Bear Rainforest, is saved from destruction. More

January 13, 2006: Our Argentine Ocean Defenders hit Nissui in their pockets. Nissui owns about one third of Kyodo Senpaku, the people who run the Japanese whaling fleet. Our cyberactivists convinced a major Nissui client in Argentina not to buy from a corporation involved in the killing of whales. More

Noveber 28, 2005 - The Swiss vote no in a referendum to determine whether or not genetically engineered (GE) crops and animals can be grown in the alpine nation during the next five years. Their verdict in each and every one of the three main languages was the same - nein, non, no, to GE. More

November 24, 2005 -  The city of Buenos Aires announces plans to implement a zero waste policy after a campaign by Greenpeace in Argentina. The plan aims to reduce dramatically the 4-5000 tonnes of waste the city dumps every day. Buenos Aires is the largest city so far to announce a zero waste plan. More

October 27, 2005 - The intervention of some home-grown celebrities finally tips the balance in favour of protecting the forests of northern Argentina after a long fight by Greenpeace and the indigenous Wichi people. More

October 4, 2005- Electronics giant Motorola and health and body care companies L'Occitane, Melvitacosm and Alqvimia are the latest companies to drop the most toxic chemicals from their products. More

August 17, 2005- Electronics giant LG announces that it is committed to eliminating toxic chemicals from its entire consumer electronics range. More

July 5 , 2005- Bad Barbies, toxic Teletubbies and rotten rubber ducks could have been slowly poisoning small children. The very chemicals that made these toys so soft and tempting to teething toddlers have been shown to damage organs in animals. But the European Parliament has banned manufacturers from using six of these toxic chemicals, freeing Europe from many toxic toys for good. More

April 29, 2005: Sony Ericsson announces that it will be phasing toxic chemicals out of its products. This is the result of the thousands of participants in our online action to pressure electronics companies to come clean. Sony Ericsson joins Samsung, Nokia and Sony as electronics companies that are phasing toxic chemicals out of all their products. More.

March 22, 2005: Photocopy giant Xerox agrees to stop buying timber pulp from StoraEnso, the Finnish national logging company, which is cutting down one of Europe's last remaining ancient forests.  As a result of pressure exerted by Greenpeace cyberactivists, the company agrees to a new procurement policy that ensures that suppliers do not source timber from 'old growth forests, conservation areas or other protected areas. More

November 11, 2004: Following years of campaiging in the Amazon by Greenpeace and other environmental organisations, the Brazilian government stood up to the powerful forces of illegal loggers and greedy soya and beef barons by creating two massive protected reserves. The presidential decree protects two million hectares of the Amazon forest by creating the VerdePara Sempre and Riozinho do Anfrisio extractive reserves. More

November 4, 2004: In a letter sent by Aloke V. Pradhan, head of corporate communications in India, Bayer conceded to Greenpeace India that ALL its projects on genetically engineered (GE) crops have been "discontinued". This announcement followed earlier actions by Greenpeace outside Bayer's head office in Mumbai. More

October 29, 2004: MQ Publications (MQP) in the UK becomes the first UK publisher to publicly announce its collaboration with the Greenpeace Book Campaign. MQP has committed to phasing out paper that is not 'ancient forest friendly'. Its next five books, including, The Armchair Environmentalist, will be printed on 100 per cent recycled paper. The company has also publicly challenged all UK publishers to follow suit. More

October 29, 2004: Greenpeace's efforts to achieve tighter controls on the notorious shipbreaking industry resulted in an international agreement to treat obsolete ships as waste. Treaty commitments by 163 nations can be expected to increase demands for decontamination of ships prior to export to the principle shipbreaking countries of India, Bangladesh, and Turkey. It will also create new demand for the development of"green" ship recycling capacity in developed countries. More

October 22, 2004: A decade of lobbying, scientific research, and direct non-violent action by Greenpeace and environmental groups around the world comes to fruition as Russia ratifies the Kyoto Protocol, bringing to force the world's sole global effort to address the dangers of global warming. More

September 30, 2004: Cyberactivists in Japan halt introduction of recycling unfriendly and unreturnable plastic bottles when beer manufacturer Asahi bows to citizen pressure. More

September 1, 2004: Ford Europe announce a reversal of the decision to scrap its fleet of fuel efficient electric Th!nK City cars, and instead investigate sending them to eager customers in Norway. Pressure applied by Greenpeace and web-based cyberactivists convinced Ford to Th!nk Again.When charged by electricity from renewable sources, these cars help fight the biggest threat to our planet: climate change. More

July 20, 2004: Queensland Energy Resources announces an end to the Stuart Shale Oil Project in Australia. Since 1998, Greenpeace has campaigned against the project, which would have produced oil with four times the greenhouse impact as oil from the ground. The project cost millions of dollars in government subsidies, which should have been spent on renewable energy. More

June 22, 2004: Unilever, Coca Cola and McDonalds promise to phase out climate killing chemicals in their refrigeration equipment. In 1992, Greenpeace launched Greenfreeze with the help of two scientists who pointed out how to avoid HFC's altogether. We found an old fridge factory, appealed to our supporters to pre-order enough units to finance a refit, helped build the market and Greenfreeze was born. Today there are over 100 million Greenfreeze refrigerators in the world produced by all the major European, Chinese, Japanese and Indian manufacturers. More

June 17, 2004: Consumer power scored a victory following the announcement from electronics giant Samsung that it plans to phase out hazardous chemicals in its products. Seeing its brand name products graded red for containing hazardous chemicals on the Greenpeace database prompted the company to do the right thing about dangerous chemicals. More

June 1, 2004: Iceland steps back from plans to kill 500 minke, sei, and fin whales over two years, announcing a quota of only 25 minkes for the year. Greenpeace web activists fueled domestic opposition by gathering 50,000 worldwide signatures of people who pledged to visit Iceland if the government would stop whaling. With a potential value of more than US$ 60 million in tourist spending against a whaling programme, which generated $3-4 million in profits, the pledge dramatically illustrated that whales are worth more to Iceland alive than dead. More

May 11, 2004*: Thanks to years of pressure from environmental groups,  consumers, our cyberactivists and Greenpeace,  Monsanto announces that it would suspend further development or open field trials of its genetically engineered Roundup Ready wheat. Monsanto stated that it was deferring all further efforts to introduce the crop, and that it was discontinuing breeding and research in the field of wheat. More

April 2, 2004: The UN International Maritime Organisation (IMO) designate the Baltic Sea as a "Particularly Sensitive Sea Area," something which Greenpeace has advocated for years. The IMO regulates shipping worldwide, and the new designation means tougher restrictions on oil tankers and other dangerous cargo vessels. The move was vehemently opposed by the shipping and oil companies. More

March 31, 2004: Following the controversial UK government approval of genetically engineered (GE) maize for commercial planting, the only company authorized to grow GE maize withdraws its application. In a victory for activists and consumers across Europe who lobbied for tougher legislation and boycotted GE products, Bayer CropScience, a German company authorised to plant an herbicide resistant variety of maize known as Chardon LL, said regulations on how and where the crop could be planted would make it "economically non-viable." Chardon LL was the owner of the crop pulled up by Greenpeace UK activists in 1999. The activists were acquitted of charges of criminal damage when the court agreed they were acting in the interest of protecting the environment. More

February 18, 2004: The Stockholm Convention comes into force following years of lobbying by Greenpeace and other environmental organisations. A key feature of the Convention calls for the elimination of all persistent organic pollutants. They include intentionally produced chemicals, such as pesticides and PCBs, as well as by-products such as cancer causing dioxins that are released from industries that use chlorine and from waste incinerators.More

November 2003: Thanks to intensive lobbying by cyberactivists around the world, Greenpeace prevails against an attempt by Fag of Convenience States to remove the organisation from the International Maritime Organisation, the UN body charged with regulating shipping worldwide. Greenpeace action against unsafe oil tankers, such as the Prestige, had led to the ouster attempt on purported "safety" grounds. More

August 2003: The Deni, indigenous peoples of the Amazon, celebrate the end of an 18-year campaign to mark their land as protected from logging. Thirteen Greenpeace volunteers, including a member of the cyberactivist community, used GPS technology and a helicopter for a month to create an "eco-corridor" around 3.6 million hectares of land. More

May 2003: Intense lobbying efforts by Greenpeace and Global Witness results in UN sanctions against Liberia for illegal logging. More

February 15, 2003: Thirty million people worldwide hold the largest anti-war protest in the history of humankind. More

February 7, 2003: McDonalds in Denmark bows to pressure and takes a leadership position by opening its first restaurants that use no climate killing checmicals for refrigeration. A campaign by Greenpeace cyberactivists three years ago led to a similar decision by Coca Cola to phase out HFC/HCFCs and adopt Greenpeace's innovative "Greenfreeze" technology.  More

2002: Brazil declares a moratorium on export of mahogany following revelations of the extent of illegal logging and timber trade. Greenpeace actions around the world help enforce the ban. More

2002: The European Union, followed by Japan, ratifies the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. Intensive Greenpeace lobbying continues because, for the protocol to enter into force, 55 parties to the convention must ratify it.

2002: Greenpeace helps defeat a major drive by pro-whaling nation Japan and its supporters to re-introduce commercial whaling through the International Whaling Commission. The re-introduction would have been disastrous for whales, which are now protected under the 1982 commercial whaling ban.

2001: Greenpeace turns 30 years old in September. The environmental group has grown from a small band of inspired volunteers to an international environmental organisation with offices in 30 countries. As always, Greenpeace thrives on committed activism and widespread, growing public support.

2001: After years of negotiations and pressure from Greenpeace, a global agreement for the elimination of a group of highly toxic and persistent man-made chemicals (Persistent Organic Pollutants or POPs) becomes a reality in May 2001 when a UN treaty banning them is adopted.

2001*: A historic agreement with logging companies is reached on the conservation of Canada's remaining coastal rainforest and approved by the government of British Columbia. This follows years of campaigning by Greenpeace, most recently targeting the trade and investments of companies involved in logging the endangered Great Bear Rainforest.

2001: Greenpeace lobbying, and earlier expeditions to the southern and Atlantic oceans to expose flag of convenience (FOC or "pirate") vessels are instrumental in the adoption of an "international plan of action" to combat illegal fishing in international waters.

2000-2001: As a result of consumer pressure, an ever increasing and significant number of European retailers, food producers, and subsidiaries of multinational companies promise to keep genetically engineered ingredients out of their products . Thanks to its consumer networks in 15 countries, Greenpeace tests products, collects information about food products and policies and exposes cases of contamination.

2000: Further to Greenpeace's April-May expedition exposing pirate fishing in the Atlantic, an import ban is adopted on all big eye tuna caught by FOC vessels in the Atlantic.

2000: Turkey's plans to build its first nuclear reactors at Akkuyu as part of a larger project to construct 10 reactors by the year 2020, is finally cancelled in July after eight years of campaigning by Greenpeace and others. The only remaining market for all major western nuclear companies is China.

2000*: The Biosafety Protocol is adopted in Montreal, Canada. It aims to protect the environment and human health from risks of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) by controlling international trade of GMOs. Greenpeace has campaigned to stop the irreversible release of GMOs into the environment and to protect biodiversity from genetic pollution since1995. More

1999: Nine countries ban the use of harmful phthalates in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) toys for children under three and the EU introduces an "emergency" ban on soft PVC teething toys.

1999: Japan is ordered to stop "experimental" fishing of southern bluefin tuna by the International Law of the Sea Tribunal.

1998: The Environmental Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty comes into force. More

1998: A historic accord, the OSPAR Convention, bans the dumping of offshore installations at sea in the north-east Atlantic. The Convention also agrees to phase out radioactive and toxic discharges, as proposed by Greenpeace. More

1998: The oil company Shell finally agrees to bring its infamous offshore installation, the Brent Spar, to land for recycling. Greenpeace has campaigned since 1995 to persuade the oil company not to dump disused installations in the ocean. More

1998: After 15 years of campaigning by Greenpeace, the EU finally agrees to phase out driftnet fishing by its fleets in EU and international waters by the end of 2001. France, Italy, the UK and Ireland continued driftnetting in the north-east Atlantic and Mediterranean after Japan,Taiwan and Korea stopped driftnet fishing on the high seas when the worldwide ban came into force at the end of 1992.

1998: Logging giant MacMillan Bloedel announces it will phase out clearcut logging activities in British Columbia, Canada.

1997: After campaigning for urgent action to protect the climate since 1988 by Greenpeace and others, ministers from industrialised nations adopt the Kyoto Protocol agreeing to set legally binding reduction targets on greenhouse gases.

1997: Greenpeace collects the UNEP Ozone Award for the development of Greenfreeze, a domestic refrigerator free of ozone depleting and significant global warming chemicals.

1996: The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty is adopted at the United Nations. More

1995: Following a high profile action by Greenpeace and public pressure, Shell UK reverses its decision to dump the Brent Spar oil platform in the Atlantic Ocean.

1995: Greenpeace actions to stop French nuclear testing receive wide international attention. Over seven million people sign petitions calling for a stop to testing. France, UK, US, Russia and China commit to signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

1995 Following a submission made with Greenpeace support, UNESCO designates Russia's Komi Forest as a World Heritage Site.

1994 After years of Greenpeace actions against whaling, the Antarctic whale sanctuary, proposed by France and supported by Greenpeace, is approved by the International Whaling Commission.

1994 Greenpeace actions exposing toxic waste trade from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to non-OECD countries culminate in government negotiation of the Basel Convention banning this practice.

1993 The London Dumping Convention permanently bans the dumping at sea of radioactive and industrial waste worldwide. More

1992 France cancels this year's nuclear tests at Moruroa Atoll following the Rainbow Warrior's visit to the test zone, and vows to halt tests altogether if other nuclear nations follow suit.

1992 Worldwide ban on high seas large scale driftnets comes into force.

1991 The 39 signatories to the Antarctic Treaty agree to a 50 year minimum prohibition of all mineral exploitation, in effect preserving the continent for peaceful, scientific purposes.

1991 Major German publishers go chlorine-free after Greenpeace produces chlorine-free edition of Der Spiegel as part of campaign against chlorine bleaching.

1989 A UN moratorium on high seas, large scale driftnets is passed in response to public outrage at indiscriminate fishing practices exposed by Greenpeace.

1988 Following sea actions and submissions by Greenpeace, a worldwide ban on incinerating organochlorine waste at sea is agreed by the London Dumping Convention.

1985 French nuclear testing in the South Pacific again becomes the subject of international controversy, particularly following the sinking of Greenpeace's ship, the Rainbow Warrior, by the French Secret Services.

1983 The Parties to the London Dumping Convention call for a moratorium on dumping radioactive waste at sea. As a result of Greenpeace's repeated actions against ocean dumping, this is the first year since the end of the second world war when officially no radioactive waste is dumped at sea.

1982 After actions at sea against whalers, a whaling moratorium is adopted by the International Whaling Commission.

1978 Greenpeace actions halt the slaughter of grey seal on the Orkney Islands, Scotland.

1975 France ends atmospheric tests in the South Pacific after Greenpeace protests at the test site.

1972 After the first Greenpeace action in 1971, the US abandons nuclear testing grounds at Amchitka Island, Alaska.