Successes

Below are just some of the positive environmental changes that Greenpeace has directly helped bring about since we began campaigning in 1971.

Canada

2011s

July 2011 A new Greenpeace ranking report shows all eight of Canada’s major supermarket chains are making progress on implementing sustainability policies that will help reduce the burden on some of the most commercially popular – but unsustainably harvested – seafood species. The third annual report on seafood sustainability, “Emerging from the deep: Ranking supermarkets on seafood sustainability,” shows that three of the eight major chains have a passing grade and all eight have developed and begun implementing sustainable procurement policies, as Greenpeace has been urging. More

June 2011 Lubicon Territory Melina Laboucan-Massimo, a member of the Lubicon Cree First Nation and a Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner, visited her home to see the impact on the traditional Lubicon territory of oil and gas developments and an oil spill,
Watch photo essay

June 2011 A new Greenpeace report, issued to spark discussion during campaigning for the fall provincial election, shows the McGuinty government has mismanaged Ontario’s Boreal Forest, has let down northern communities and has failed to save threatened woodland caribou. More

June 2011 Christine Leclerc of Vancouver was one of 18 activists who braved freezing seas to scale the huge legs of the Cairn Energy oil-drilling rig the Leiv Eiriksson at 5 a.m. Greenland time. The action occurred about 180 kilometres off the Greenland coast. More

May 2011 Greenpeace today launched a campaign directed at Clover Leaf Seafoods through a parody website and by distributing fake tuna cans labeled “Just Tuna?” to highlight the ocean life that the company wastes in filling its cans. More

May 2011 A year after the signing and announcement of the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement (CBFA), there has been significant progress on implementation. Signed May 18, 2010, the historic agreement brought together Greenpeace and eight other environmental groups and 21 forest companies in the Forest Products Association of Canada and created a truce in the long-standing conflict between environmental groups and the forest industry. The CBFA commits both to protecting more of Canada’s Boreal Forest and reinvigorating the forest industry based on sustainable forest management. More

May 2011 Greenpeace Canada today urged the newly elected Harper government to learn from a new UN report on renewable energy and shift its policy from providing subsidies to the tar sands to investing in green energy.
Today in Abu Dhabi, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) released a Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources (SRREN) which found that just two per cent of viable renewable energy sources could provide up to 80 per cent of world energy demand by 2050 with currently available technologies. More

April 2011 Greenpeace activists are occupying Energy Minister Brad Duguid’s offices right now to highlight the McGuinty government’s repeated refusal to consider safer and cheaper green alternatives to building new reactors at the Darlington nuclear station. "We're occupying Minister Duguid's office because he insists on rushing ahead with new nuclear reactors instead of considering safe, green energy options," said Shawn-Patrick Stensil, a nuclear campaigner with Greenpeace. "Duguid and the McGuinty government have repeatedly neglected their responsibilities to protect Ontarians from accidents like the one happening in Fukushima." More

April 2011 Greenpeace and signatories to the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement (CBFA) announced today the creation of a new Boreal Business Forum to monitor progress of the agreement to protect the Boreal Forest and to ensure market recognition for sustainable forest products. “With this announcement we are achieving one of the milestones of the agreement under goal six.  This means the marketplace is watching and wants to see the agreement succeed,” said Melissa Filion, Greenpeace Boreal Forest Campaigner. More

April 2011 Climate change is one of the greatest threats facing humanity and the rest of nature this century. Yet, in Election 2011 climate change barely gets a mention from leaders on the campaign trail. To Greenpeace this is a mistake, one we hope to change. We have looked at the party records and party platforms to try to assess where they stand on solving the climate crisis. Climate change matters. More

April  2011 At 6:45 this morning, Greenpeace activists closed Hydro-Québec’s head office on René-Lévesque Boulevard in Montreal to call on Hydro-Québec to shut down its sole nuclear generating station, Gentilly-2, rather than rebuild it at a cost of $2 billion. The Greenpeace protest takes place as Hydro-Québec is set to ask the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) to renew the Gentilly-2 nuclear generating station’s operating licence at hearings in Bécancour. More

April 2011 A new report released by Greenpeace Canada debunks industry claims that in situ tar sands operations are less environmentally destructive than open-pit mining, while giving voice to those most affected by the operations.

The report, Deep Trouble: The Reality of In Situ Tar Sands Operations, examines the misleading claims made by the oil industry with respect to in situ tar sands operations. The report cites industry data, government documents (including briefing notes obtained under the Access to Information Act) and peer-reviewed scientific literature. More

March 2011 Ten-year-old Ta’Kaiya Blaney from North Vancouver, B.C., has a message for Canadian MPs on the 22nd anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill: don’t let our shores meet a similar disastrous fate. The video plea, written by Ta’Kaiya and filmed at the Greenpeace office in Vancouver, comes just days before the second reading and debate of a federal private members bill to legally ban oil tankers on B.C.’s north coast, and encourages MP’s to support it. The video plea introduces the music video for an original song Ta’Kaiya recently wrote with her singing teacher, called “Shallow Waters.” More

March 2011 Greenpeace activists today shut down environmental assessment hearings on a proposal to build new reactors at Darlington in response to the Joint Review Panel’s refusal to suspend the hearings until lessons are learned from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. Four Greenpeace activists, with a banner reading “No nukes are safe Stop Darlington,”are locked down at the front of the hearing preventing the Panel from continuing. Other activists are in the audience with a similar banner and wearing tape on their lips, symbolically bearing witness to a flawed hearing process. More

March 2011 Greenpeace and the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) today called on Premier Dalton McGuinty, PC leader Tim Hudak, and NDP leader Andrea Horwath to reject building new nuclear reactors in light of the tragic disaster unfolding in Japan. “There has been no public assessment of the cost-effectiveness of new reactors and the environmental and safety reviews ignore the potential for accidents like we’re seeing in Japan,” said Shawn-Patrick Stensil, nuclear analyst with Greenpeace. More

February 2011 Greenpeace Canada today released its first sustainability ranking of 14 major tuna brands sold in Canada, as industry representatives convene at the annual Seafood Summit in Vancouver. Greenpeace’s report, Lifting the lid on the major canned tuna brands in Canada: Ranking the sustainability and equitability of tuna sourcing, reveals that most canned tuna lining supermarket shelves comes from destructive and socially irresponsible fisheries. More

February 2011: Costco Canada has officially released an updated sustainable seafood policy and removed various Redlist species from sale in the U.S. and in Canada. This marks the last of Canada's major supermarket chains to commit to moving away from selling seafood out of stock and instead helping to ensure greener seafood choices for their customers. More

2010s

December 2010 Greenpeace today released its 2010 Boreal Marketplace review of the performance of 23 major forest-products customers on their commitments and concrete actions to protect the Boreal Forest and the endangered woodland caribou. Well-known companies that purchase forest products that are in the “true leaders” list in the Boreal marketplace review are: Axel Springer, Cascades, Indigo Books, Kimberly-Clark, Office Depot and RONA. Companies that are in the “failing our forests” category are: Best Buy, Harlequin, Home Depot, Sears and Toys R Us. More 

December 2010 Tides Canada has recognized Greenpeace and the historic Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement (CBFA) as one of its “top ten” initiatives for 2010. The top ten list includes “Canada’s most innovative and forward-thinking initiatives. They inspire people to take action, to think in new ways and to make the world a better place.” More

November 2010 Greenpeace praised home renovation giant RONA today for the significant progress on using sustainable and responsible sources of supply for its wood products. The company announced today that 25 per cent of the lumber sold in its stores is certified to the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council, surpassing its 2012 target two years ahead of time. More

November 2010 Greenpeace and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) held a joint news conference today to release a new report with recommendations for stimulating northern Ontario’s forest industry and creating green forestry jobs while preserving the ecological value of Canada’s Boreal Forest. More 

November 2010 Greenpeace activists unfurled a large banner from 16-metre flagpoles in front of Ontario Power Generation (OPG) calling on Premier Dalton McGuinty and PC leader Tim Hudak to “Stop Darlington: Protect Consumers” while dozens of activists dumped $36 billion bills on the front steps to represent the money McGuinty and Hudak would spend on reactors at the Darlington nuclear station. More

November 2010 Greenpeace and the Cree Nation of Waswanipi have erected a symbolic blockade in the heart of Quebec’s Boreal Forest to protest against the construction of logging roads that will open the Broadback Valley Forest to industrial exploitation. More

October 2010 The Greenpeace caribou caravan migrated from Thunder Bay to the Brampton office of Natural Resources Minister Linda Jeffrey to release a new report today on the status of the province’s last wilderness areas and measures to save the threatened woodland caribou. Fewer than 20,000 caribou remain in Ontario and their forest habitat continues to disappear. This was the fourth stop on Greenpeace’s province-wide tour. More

October  2010 Greenpeace has released a new report, titled “Oceans Advocates,” showing how consumer pressure is driving retailers to adopt responsible seafood sourcing practices. In recent years this pressure has brought about encouraging changes in the seafood industry. The report is another call-to-action for politicians, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Fisheries and Oceans Minister Gail Shea, many of whom are gathered at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Nagoya, Japan, to follow the lead of industry and market players who have implemented cutting-edge sustainability initiatives and take action to restore our oceans to health. More

October 2010 Solar panels can deliver clean power where we need it, when we need it most, and will soon be cost-competitive with electricity from the grid. That’s the conclusion of the Solar Generation report released in India by the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) and Greenpeace International. More

October 26, 2010 More than 80 boats and thousands of citizens gathered in Vancouver’s Stanley Park on October 17 to rally against oil tanker traffic on B.C. coast. They called on the federal government to enact a legislated oil tanker ban along the coast of B.C. and to stop any further expansion of Kinder Morgan’s oil tanker traffic. More

September 2010 Greenpeace applauds the announcement today by Metro that it will remove seven overfished species from sale in its supermarkets. Metro’s move comes three months after the company committed to a sustainable seafood policy after placing fifth in Greenpeace’s 2010 ranking of the eight major supermarket chains in Canada. More

September 2010 Longtime Greenpeace campaigner Janos Maté is being honoured today with the 2010 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Montreal Protocol Award for his work with Greenpeace to protect the ozone layer and climate over the past 18 years. The award ceremony is taking place today, September 23rd, at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C More 

September 2010 Greenpeace today released a comprehensive analysis of Canada’s energy potential that challenges the need for dirty oil from the tar sands and shows that Canada can create tens of thousands of green jobs, while providing over 90 per cent of the country’s electricity and heating needs from renewable sources by 2050. More

August 2010 Choosing to scale up green energy to replace the retiring Pickering nuclear station is more affordable for Ontarians than buying expensive replacement reactors, says a report released today by Renewable is Doable, an alliance of organizations including the Pembina Institute, the Canadian Environmental Law Association and Greenpeace. Last summer, Ontario suspended its purchase of two new replacement reactors when their cost reportedly topped $26 billion - $20 billion more than expected in 2007. More 

August 2010 Greenpeace has filed a submission with Ontario’s Advisory Panel on Anti-SLAPP Legislation calling for strong protection of the right of citizens to engage in public debate, including peaceful public protests. More

August 2010 Greenpeace drove a message home to the heart of Canada’s oil industry today, hanging a huge banner from the Calgary Tower that says “Separate Oil and State” to highlight the need to sever the cozy relationship between the toxic tar sands oil industry and the federal and provincial governments. More

July 2010 Greenpeace activists are occupying Enbridge’s office in downtown Vancouver, demanding the pipeline giant withdraw its Northern Gateway Pipelines application. The action comes two days after an Enbridge pipeline running from Griffith, Ind. to Sarnia, Ont. spilled more than three million litres of crude oil into a creek leading to the Kalamazoo River in southwest Michigan. More

June 2010 Greenpeace hung a giant longline laden with replicas of at-risk marine species from the roof of Costco in downtown Vancouver today to send a message to the company to stop selling seafood that is destructively fished or farmed. A banner attached to longline hooks transformed the Costco sign to read “Costco Wholesale Ocean Destruction.” More

June 2010 Greenpeace today released an updated study on sustainable energy that outlines a blueprint for developing a 100 per cent renewable energy supply for the world.
The report, Energy [R]evolution: A Sustainable World Energy Outlook, also shows global CO² emissions can be brought under control and peak by 2015 and help put the world on a path to avoiding catastrophic climate change. More

June 2010 Canada’s major supermarket chains have begun to rid their shelves of Redlist species and adopt sustainable seafood procurement policies, but need to do much more to help protect the oceans, according to a new Greenpeace report. The report, Taking Stock: Ranking supermarkets on seafood sustainability, ranks Canada’s eight major grocery chains on their efforts to help improve the sustainability of the seafood they buy and sell. More

May 2010 A Greenpeace report shows that newly designed reactors Ontario proposes to build at the Darlington nuclear facility would produce long-lived waste two to 158 times more radioactive than waste from existing reactors in Canada, increasing costs and dangers to health and the environment. More

May 2010 Greenpeace today released a new report on exports of tar sands oil to the United Kingdom and Europe as part of a campaign to put pressure on European politicians to adopt tough fuel standards that could ban imports of Alberta's dirty oil.
The report, "Tar Sands in your tank; Exposing Europe's role in Canada's dirty oil trade," exposes for the first time the corporate trail that takes dirty tar sands oil by pipeline from Alberta to refineries on the Gulf Coast of Texas and from there by tanker to ports in Britain and Europe. More

May 2010: Nestlé finally announced a break for the orang-utan - as well as Indonesian rainforests and peatlands - by committing to stop using products that come from rainforest destruction. More
Read the success story

May 2010: The biggest, most ambitious forest conservation deal ever is announced: The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement. After more than seven years of hard-fought campaigning to end the on-going destruction of Canada's Boreal Forest, Greenpeace and eight other non-governmental organisations have agreed to a truce with the logging industry. More 

April 2010 Greenpeace’s campaign to convince Canada’s supermarket chains to remove Redlist fish from their shelves is having results. Last spring, Greenpeace released the second report ranking supermarket chains on removing Redlist species, seafood that comes from operations that use harmful fishing and fish farming practices. All the chains did poorly. Since then, several chains have improved. This creates hope there will be more improvement before the next ranking report comes out later this spring. More

February 2010 Greenpeace sees today's announcement by Loblaw that it will stop selling some “at risk” seafood species as another sign that the Canadian supermarket industry is following through on commitments to protect Redlist fish. More

February 2010: Loblaw, Canada’s largest retailer, stops selling four Redlist species: sharks, skates, orange roughy and Patagonian toothfish (Chilean sea bass). This comes eight months after announcing a sustainable seafood policy. Loblaw emphasizes the need to protect the oceans by putting out empty seafood trays for the species it no longer sells with signs explaining they are at risk.

January 2010: The Forest Stewardship Council certifies nearly one million hectares of B.C.’s Great Bear Rainforest. More

2000s

November 2009: Safeway Canada cuts the number of species on the Redlist it sells in half, removing six of 12: Arctic surf clams, orange roughy, Patagonian toothfish (Chilean sea bass), shark, skates and rays and swordfish.

August 2009 Canada's precious Boreal Forest is better conserved today. So are ancient forests around the world. At a joint news conference in Washington DC, Greenpeace and the Kimberly-Clark Corporation, the world’s largest tissue-product manufacturer, announced an historic agreement that will ensure greater protection and sustainable management of Canada's Boreal Forest. The agreement also will stand out as a model for forest-products companies worldwide. More

June 2009: Overwaitea Food Group removes Redlist species from sale. The grocery chain no longer sells shark, orange roughy, yellowfin tuna and swordfish. This delisting coincides with Overwaitea’s release of a sustainable seafood policy to eliminate Redlist species as a crucial element in sustainable seafood procurement.

May 2009: Loblaw releases a sustainable seafood policy.
 

May 20, 2009: The salvage operation of the wreckage in Robson Bight Ecological Reserve is completed, almost two years after a barge carrying logging equipment tipped its load into the ocean releasing diesel fuel into the reserve. More

March 31, 2009: The Great Bear Rainforest protection agreement comes into force, capping one of Greenpeace’s longest running campaigns by protecting an area half the size of Switzerland from logging. More

June 2008: The U.S. Conference of Mayors adopts a resolution aimed at avoiding the use of high carbon fuels. The mayors’ resolution discourages the more than 850 participating U.S. cities from purchasing oil derived from the tar sands operations in Alberta.

Feb. 7, 2006: The B.C. government announces an agreement that ensures the protection of the Great Bear Rainforest.
Read the success story

2001: A historic agreement related to Canada’s remaining coastal rainforest is reached with logging companies. It includes deferrals in logging of over 100 pristine valleys, protection of rainforest areas, and an ongoing process to reform logging practices according to the principles of ecosystem-based management. This agreement is endorsed by the government of B.C.

1990s

1998: Logging giant MacMillan Bloedel announces it will phase out clearcut logging activities in B.C.

1980s

1982: European Council bans import of seal pup skins in response to public criticism triggered by Greenpeace actions in Canada.

Below are just some of the positive environmental changes that Greenpeace has directly helped bring about since we began campaigning in 1971.

International

2011s

July 2011 Berne-Motzen, Germany — A revolutionary mast system was raised today on the new Greenpeace flagship ship Rainbow Warrior III, at the Fassmer shipyard near Bremen. The mast raising marks a key milestone in the ship’s construction and coincides with 26th anniversary of the sinking of first Rainbow Warrior in New Zealand. The French secret service bombed the first Rainbow Warrior, killing one person, in Auckland, New Zealand on July 10 1985. Greenpeace acquired the second Rainbow Warrior in 1987 and it has been in operation since 1989. More

July 2011 Greenpeace has released a report in Australia on a controversy surrounding trials across that country of genetically modified wheat that will lead to testing on humans. The national science body in Australia, CSIRO, has approved the world’s first human feeding trials of genetically modified (GM) wheat, despite serious health, economic and environmental risks. More

July 2011 Lego has become the first major toy company to announce plans to remove deforestation from its supply chain. This move is a result of the Greenpeace campaign to persuade the toy industry to stop using rainforest destruction in its packaging. Greenpeace launched the campaign last month with an action at the California headquarters of toy company Mattel. More

June 2011 The German parliament has voted overwhelmingly to phase out all nuclear plants by 2022. The vote calls for the immediate shutting down of eight nuclear power stations and a gradual shut down of the remaining nine reactors. More

June 2011 The toy sector is responding to Greenpeace’s Indonesia forest campaign. It’s been a busy few days since the latest phase of our campaign to stop deforestation in Indonesia got underway. There are now signs that both Mattel and Lego are preparing to make changes in the way they buy their packaging. More

June 2011 People Have the Power! Italy says YES to a nuclear energy free future! Berlusconi's Italy is a strange place and amidst the madness today comes a little no nukes sanity. The people were asked and the people have spoken: Italy should have a nuclear power free future. This is great news and I cannot help singing the old Patty Smith's song: this is a great day and it's time to celebrate. More

June 2011 In less than 72 hours more than 700,000 people have viewed an online spoof video featuring the moment Ken discovers that Barbie is involved in rainforest destruction, and almost 200,000 have swamped Mattel’s offices with emails complaining about the company’s use of products from Indonesian rainforests to package toys like Barbie. More

May 2011 Major European investment funds and banks today spoke out against Statoil’s contentious presence in the Alberta tar sands by supporting a motion at the company’s AGM in Norway and citing economic and sustainability concerns. More

March 2011 Greenpeace Argentina recently took on Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold to challenge the company on its efforts to block application of a new law to protect glaciers in Argentina. The action against Barrick Gold came just weeks before the annual convention in Toronto of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada—being held this year from March 6 to 9. The mining types will talk about mineral outlook, exploration tax incentives and China’s spree of buying up commodities. More 

February 2011 Greenpeace is demanding that Japan’s government finally end its commercial whaling program and re-open an investigation into corruption scandals inside the industry, following today’s announcement by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries that it has recalled its Antarctic whaling fleet from the Southern Ocean. The recall marks the fleet’s shortest season ever. The whale hunt started in early December and ended today. Normally the Japanese whaling fleet is at sea from November until April. More

January 2011 Kaoshiung, Taiwan - A blacklisted tuna factory ship was blocked from leaving port today by Greenpeace climbers from the Rainbow Warrior. They locked themselves to the anchor chain while campaigners called on Taiwan's Fisheries Agency to investigate the ship’s owners, who are in apparent breach of Taiwan’s laws.More

2010s

December 2010: 80,000 Hectares of Finnish Forest protected in Landmark deal. More

October 2010 Our oceans are an absolute marvel - but they are also in a deep, deep crisis. If we don’t act fast, our oceans will continue to deteriorate and vital food sources and essential functions provided to our planet and its people by the oceans could be lost forever. Since healthy oceans underpin our very survival, Greenpeace is today releasing an “Emergency Oceans Rescue Plan” aimed at world leaders, which sets out the best way to save our oceans- something that can and should be done at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which takes place later this month in Japan. More

August 2010 Our activists are suspended 15 meters above the frigid Arctic waters of Baffin Bay. They have taken up position on the drilling rig Stena Don to call for a ban on deep sea oil drilling in the Arctic, and demand that ‘wild cat’ oil company Cairn energy stop drilling, pack up and go home. The banner? “Hands off the Arctic, go beyond oil!” More

July 2010: Following a ten-year Greenpeace campaign, Europe bans the trade in illegal timber - a great leap forward in the struggle to protect the world's forests and climate. More

February 2010: Indian computer manufacturer Wipro announces the launch of a PVC- and BFR-free computer after several years of pressure by Greenpeace on tech companies to provide toxics-free electronics.

2000s

November 2009: Household chemical giant Clorox announces a phase-out of the use and transport of dangerous chlorine gas in the U.S., bowing to years of pressure on the industry from Greenpeace. More

Oct. 21, 2009: Apple clears the last hurdle to removing toxic PVC plastic in its MacBook and iMac computers, capping Greenpeace’s Green my Apple campaign with a win. More

Oct. 7, 2009: Plans to build the Kingsnorth coal power plant, what would have been the first new plant in the U.K. in 20 years, are shelved following a three-year campaign by Greenpeace. More

Aug. 5, 2009: In a tremendous victory for ancient forests, Kimberly-Clark announces a policy that places it among the industry leaders in sustainability. The announcement brings the five-year Greenpeace Kleercut campaign to a successful completion.

Aug. 25, 2009: After seven years of Greenpeace pressure, Finnish government-owned logging company Metsähallitus agrees to leave the tall trees of the old-growth forests of northern Lapland standing, sustaining the livelihood of the Sámi people.

April 15, 2009: Germany announces it will become the sixth EU country to ban the cultivation of Monsanto’s genetically engineered corn — the only GE crop that can be commercially grown in the region.

March 12, 2009: The construction of an open-pit coal mine in Poland, where Greenpeace set up a Climate Rescue Station in December 2008, is suspended, stopping around 50 million tonnes of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere.

February 2009: Following a six-month Quit Coal campaign by Greenpeace, the Greek minister of development states the government is not considering coal or nuclear power as part of Greece’s energy future. Instead, it will promote renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Feb. 26 2009: Electronics giant Philips bows to pressure from Greenpeace and consumers and becomes a leader in environmentally friendly take-back policies for electronic waste.

Sept. 10, 2008: Six Greenpeace U.K. volunteers are acquitted of criminal damage by a Crown Court jury in a landmark case that centred on the contribution made to climate change by burning coal. The charges arose after the six attempted to shut down the Kingsnorth coal-fired power station in Kent in 2007 by scaling the chimney. More

Aug. 5, 2008: After our campaign in the 1990s against toxic PVC, the U.S. belatedly follows Europe’s lead of outlawing toxic PVC in children’s toys.

July 9, 2008: Ferrero becomes the latest large palm oil user to change its position to support a moratorium on cutting down trees in Indonesia for palm oil plantations. More

May 15, 2008: After three weeks of actions, a popular spoof advert and 115,000 online signatures, Unilever changes its position to support a moratorium on cutting down trees in Indonesia for palm oil plantations.

March 14, 2008: After a campaign in Argentina, the government announces a ban on energy-wasting incandescent lightbulbs. More

Dec. 12, 2007: The World Bank’s private lending arm, the International Finance Corporation, decides to sell its equity stake in Olam International Limited. Olam’s involvement in illegal timber trade was first detailed in our Carving up the Congo report. More

Dec. 6, 2007: The Irish government announces the EU’s first ban on energy-wasting incandescent lightbulbs.

Nov. 25, 2007: Together with other environmental groups, Greenpeace gets 1.5 million signatures of support and pushes through Argentina’s first federal forest protection law.

May 26, 2007: After four years of Greenpeace campaigning to bring an end to deep-sea bottom trawling, representatives from countries around the world gathered in Chile to carve out a fisheries agreement for the South Pacific region, protecting it from this destructive fishing method.

May 2, 2007: Apple announces a phase-out of the most dangerous chemicals in its product line in response to a Webby-award winning online campaign by Greenpeace and Apple fans worldwide. The campaign challenged Apple to become a green leader in addressing the electronic waste problem. More

March 7, 2007: The New Zealand government announces cancellation of proposed coal-burning power plant Marsden B in Northland. For four years, Greenpeace challenged the plan. The struggle included a nine-day occupation, high court challenges, protests, a record number of public submissions and a pirate radio station. More

Feb. 15, 2007: The High Court rules the U.K. government’s decision to back a program of new nuclear power stations was unlawful on the basis that the government had failed to adequately consult citizens and groups who oppose nuclear power. More

Sept. 27, 2006: Estonia launches an investigation into the Probo Koala following three days of blockade by Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise. It is the first official action against the ship, which poisoned thousands and killed eight in the Ivory Coast when it dumped a cargo of toxic waste that had been refused by the Netherlands. The ship sailed to Estonia unhindered until Greenpeace took action.

July 25, 2006: McDonald’s agrees to stop selling chicken fed on soya grown in newly deforested areas of the Amazon rainforest and becomes instrumental in getting other food companies to also sign a zero deforestation policy. Pressure from the companies forces their suppliers to agree to a two-year moratorium on buying soya from newly deforested areas.

June 26, 2006: Dell promise to remove the worst toxic chemicals from it products, closely following the move of its rival Hewlett-Packard. Greenpeace pressured both companies to make their products greener and help tackle toxic e-waste.

May 31, 2006: Spain confirms the country’s eight operating nuclear power plants will be phased out in favour of clean, renewable energy.

April 3, 2006: Seafood suppliers Gorton’s, Sealord and parent company Nissui withdraw their support for Japanese whaling after months of pressure by Greenpeace. More March 9, 2006: Electronics giant Hewlett-Packard commits to a phase-out plan for a range of hazardous chemicals in its products.

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

Feb. 16, 2006: France recalls its asbestos-laden warship Clemenceau, which it had planned to dump on India, following Greenpeace actions.

Feb. 14, 2006: An area twice the size of Belgium (6.4 million hectares) is given greater protection in the Amazon after a Brazilian presidential decree.

Jan. 13, 2006: Cyberactivists convince a major Nissui client in Argentina not to buy from a corporation involved in the killing of whales.

Nov. 28, 2005: The Swiss vote no in a referendum to determine whether genetically engineered crops and animals can be grown in the alpine nation over the course of five years.

Nov. 24, 2005: Buenos Aires announces plans to implement a zero waste policy after a campaign by Greenpeace in Argentina.

Oct. 27, 2005: Celebrities support tips the balance in favour of protecting the forests of northern Argentina after a long fight by Greenpeace and the indigenous Wichi people.

Oct. 4, 2005: Electronics giant Motorola and health and body care companies L’Occitane, Melvitacosm and Alqvimia drop the most toxic chemicals from their products.

Aug. 17, 2005: Electronics giant LG announces it is eliminating toxic chemicals from its entire consumer electronics range.

July 5, 2005: European Parliament bans toy manufacturers from using six toxic chemicals.

April 29, 2005: Sony Ericsson announces it will be phasing out the use of toxic chemicals in its products. This is the result of thousands of participants in our online action to pressure electronics companies to come clean.

March 22, 2005: Photocopy giant Xerox agrees to stop buying timber pulp from StoraEnso, the Finnish national logging company, and agrees to a sustainable procurement policy following pressure by Greenpeace cyberactivists.

Nov. 11, 2004: The Brazilian government creates two protective reserves in the Amazon totalling two million hectares following years of campaigning by Greenpeace.

Nov. 4, 2004: Biotech giant Bayer pulls out of genetically engineered research in India after sustained pressure from Greenpeace.

Oct. 29, 2004: MQ Publications becomes the first U.K. publisher to collaborate with the Greenpeace Book Campaign, committing to phasing out paper that’s not ancient forest friendly. MQ Publications also publicly challenges all U.K. publishers to follow suit.

Oct. 29, 2004: Greenpeace efforts to achieve tighter controls on the notorious shipbreaking industry result in an international agreement between 163 nations to treat obsolete ships as waste.

Oct. 22, 2004: Russia ratifies the Kyoto Protocol, putting the global climate protection agreement over the threshold required to become international law.

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

Sept. 1, 2004: Ford Europe announce a reversal of the decision to scrap its fleet of fuel efficient electric Th!nK City cars. Pressure applied by Greenpeace and cyberactivists convinced Ford to Th!nk Again.

July 20, 2004: Queensland Energy Resources announce the end to the Stuart Shale Oil Project in Australia against which Greenpeace campaigned.

June 22, 2004: Unilever, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s promise to phase out climate-killing chemicals in their refrigeration equipment.

June 17, 2004: Electronics giant Samsung announces plans to phase out hazardous chemicals in its products after its brand-name products were graded red — as containing hazardous chemicals — on the Greenpeace database.

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 fuelled domestic opposition by gathering 50,000 worldwide signatures to a pledge to visit Iceland if the government would stop whaling.

May 11, 2004: Monsanto announces it will suspend further development and open field trials of its genetically engineered “Roundup Ready” wheat.

April 2, 2004: The UN International Maritime Organisation designates the Baltic Sea as a “Particularly Sensitive Sea Area,” a decision for which Greenpeace advocated for years.

March 31, 2004: Following the controversial U.K. government approval of genetically engineered corn for commercial planting, the only company authorized to grow it withdraws its application.

Feb. 18, 2004: The Stockholm Convention comes into force following years of lobbying by Greenpeace calls for the elimination of all Persistent Organic Pollutants. Read the success story

Feb. 4, 2004: Esso loses its court case against Greenpeace in France, which had developed a parody of Esso’s logo with a double dollar sign.

Nov. 21, 2003: Thanks to intensive lobbying by cyberactivists around the world, Greenpeace prevails against an attempt by member states to remove the organization from the International Maritime Organisation.

Aug. 6, 2003: The Deni, indigenous peoples of the Amazon, celebrate the end of an 18-year campaign to mark their land as protected from logging. Greenpeace volunteers used GPS technology and a helicopter for a month to create an eco-corridor around 3.6 million hectares of land.

May 7, 2003: Intense lobbying efforts by Greenpeace and Global Witness result in UN sanctions on Liberia for illegal logging.

Feb. 26, 2003: A French court agrees to lift an injunction against Greenpeace for creating a parody version of the Esso logo. In July, Greenpeace was ordered to remove the logo from its website. On appeal, the court agreed the depiction on a website branding the oil giant Environmental Enemy Number One was protected speech.

Feb. 7, 2003: McDonald’s in Denmark bows to pressure and takes a leadership position in opening its first restaurants that use no climate-killing chemicals for refrigeration. 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.

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.

2002: The European Union, followed by Japan, ratifies the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

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.

May 2001: After years of negotiations and pressure from Greenpeace, a global agreement for the elimination of Persistent Organic Pollutants becomes reality in May 2001 when a UN treaty banning them is adopted.

2001: Greenpeace lobbying, together with earlier expeditions to the Southern and Atlantic oceans exposing pirate vessels, are instrumental in the adoption of an international plan of action to combat illegal fishing in international waters.

2000-2001: A number of European retailers, food producers, and subsidiaries of multinational companies guaranteed to keep genetically engineered ingredients out of their products due to consumer pressure. Thanks to its consumer networks in 15 countries, Greenpeace tests products, collects information about food products and policies and exposes contamination cases.

2000: An import ban is adopted on all bigeye tuna caught by pirate 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 cancelled in July after eight years of campaigning by Greenpeace and others.

2000: The Biosafety Protocol is adopted in Montreal. 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 since 1995. More

1990s

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.

Jan. 14, 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: Shell agrees to bring its infamous offshore installation, the Brent Spar, to land for recycling. Greenpeace campaigned since 1995 to persuade the oil company not to dump disused installations in the ocean. More

1998: The EU agrees to phase out driftnet fishing by its fleets in EU and international waters by the end of 2001, after 15 years of campaigning by Greenpeace.

1997: Ministers from industrialized nations adopt the Kyoto Protocol, agreeing to set legally binding reduction targets on greenhouse gases, following more than a decade of campaigning by Greenpeace.

1997: Greenpeace collects the United Nations Environment Programme Ozone Award for the development of Greenfreeze, a domestic refrigerator free of ozone depleting and significant global warming chemicals.
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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 U.K. reverses its decision to dump the Brent Spar oil platform in the Atlantic Ocean. More
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1995: Greenpeace actions to stop French nuclear testing receive international attention. Over seven million people sign petitions calling for a stop to testing. France, the U.K., the U.S., Russia and China commit to sign 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: 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) countries 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.
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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 Antarctic Treaty signatories 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.
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1980s

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

1988: Following actions at sea, 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 radioactive waste dumping 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 where officially no radioactive wastes are dumped at sea.

1982: After actions at sea against whalers, a whaling moratorium is adopted by the International Whaling Commission.
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1970s

1978: Greenpeace actions halt the grey seal slaughter in the Orkney Islands, Scotland.

1974: France ends atmospheric tests in the South Pacific after Greenpeace protests at the test site.
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1972: After the first Greenpeace action in 1971, the U.S. abandons nuclear testing grounds at Amchitka, Alaska.