2011
2011 was the year in which Greenpeace celebrated its 40th anniversary as a campaigning organisation; while the environment may have been under threat back in 1971, it is in a state of crisis today. With the world's political and industrial leaders unwilling to avert climate chaos, swaths of the world's forest destroyed daily, the Arctic under threat, and unsustainable consumption in all industrialised countries – the urgency of our work is increasing exponentially.
Within this context, Greenpeace has expanded and strengthened its mobilisation and empowerment of people all around the world to take action.
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2010
The year was marked by the devastation that the relentless and reckless pursuit of profit can cause: a human tragedy and enormous environmental, social and economic devastation that will last a generation or more. We watched in horror as oil poured from a blown-out deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil industry appeared to be both unprepared and powerless to stop it.
The Deepwater Horizon disaster provided yet another reason why the world should end its reliance on dwindling fossil fuels and embrace an Energy [R]evolution based upon smart use of energy and renewable energy sources.
Throughout the year, we challenged corporations to become leaders in the struggle to avert climate change. We challenged them to clean up their supply chains and address their roles in environmental destruction. We demanded that they champion policies to protect the environment and the climate.
And we harnessed the power of consumers, urging them to vote with their pockets and demand goods and services that do not cost the Earth. We have been increasingly campaigning with our supporters to let major brands know that we won't buy environmental destruction.
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2009
December 2009 - the UN's Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, where the talks were meant to avert catastrophic climate change. Together with a wide coalition of civil society groups, Greenpeace worked tirelessly - under the banner of the Global Campaign for Climate Action (GCCA), of which we were a founding member - to generate the public interest and pressure needed to make the those talks a success.
That pressure compelled some 120 Heads of State to turn up for one of the largest gatherings of world leaders ever. Yet despite the clear public call for a Fair, Ambitious and legally-Binding (FAB) climate deal, all they produced was a feeble three-page Copenhagen Accord.
It is now clear that the only way big changes are going to happen is if civil society takes the power and compels politicians and business leaders to act. We must have a say in what our future and the future of our children will look like. We must make political and business leaders understand that, if they do not act to avert climate chaos, they will be replaced. And to achieve this, we must protect the right to non-violent protest.
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2008
Throughout 2008, Greenpeace worked not only to highlight the threats of climate change, but also on showcasing the opportunities and solutions that tackling climate change can bring.
Greenpeace's Energy [R]evolution shows how to replace fossil fuels quickly and completely. We developed it in partnership with the German Space Agency and universities around the world. It supports current projections of both population and economic growth. It uses existing technologies and rejects unproven carbon capture and storage technologies and dangerous nuclear power.
Our 'Forests for Climate' plan describes how deforestation can be halted by 2015 for priority areas such as the Amazon, the Congo and the paradise forests of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, and by 2020 globally. It shows how to halt deforestation by investing money raised on carbon markets into forest protection, and by implementing it on a global scale how to avoid the risk that deforestation is simply displaced.
Our 'Cool Farming' report describes how sustainable agriculture systems can feed the world while reducing climate changing emissions from fertilisers and livestock. Our call for a global network of large, fully-protected marine reserves covering 40% of our oceans will not only restore the health of fish stocks and protect ocean life from habitat destruction and collapse, but also make our oceans more resilient to the ravages of climate change.
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2007
Upon winning the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, Al Gore said that he could notunderstand why young people were not chaining themselves to coal-firedpower stations.
They are...and so are we.
Taking action remains at the heart of Greenpeace. Our non-violentactions happen in all parts of the world, and the number of ouractivists continues to grow. We maintain our independence, accepting nomoney from corporations or governments. But, we want to do more thanact for others; we want to take action with others. Today, it's as important to Greenpeace that we help others takemeaningful action as it is that we take actions ourselves.
Our solutions set out a vision for a green and peaceful future. They are designed to benefit both the planet and its people. Big problemsneed big solutions and collective action: Greenpeace is ready for both.
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2006
Inconvenient truths and unlikely allies combined in 2006 to make it a notable year for Greenpeace and the environment.
Greenpeace has campaigned for climate protection for two decades, and is uniquely placed to provide leadership in the tough years to come: to promote radical solutions and oppose false promises. Our financial independence - we take no money from governments or corporations - and adherence to the principles of peaceful nonviolent direct action give enormous support to the solutions we propose. Our long involvement in the climate debate means we can hold the politicians to their promises and ensure that the new 'greening of business', or Corporate Social Responsibility, is not a soft sell, devoid of hard action, but something that will combine to hold global warming to a manageable level.
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A note on report names: In previous years (listed below) we have labelled our Annual Reports with the year of issue. In 2006 (above), we brought our annual report naming convention into line with common practice and its title (06) refers to the year covered by the report.
2006
2005 was a milestone for the planet -the year that the Kyoto Protocol finally became law. It took a long time to get here - over ten years - and it's only the beginning of the battle, but Kyoto is about more than reducing greenhouse gas emissions. One of its most exciting results is to prove that people from the diverse communities of the world are learning to work together to solve global environmental problems.
People power is the future for environmental campaigning, and this year we have had some exciting victories by using the internet to bring together people from around the world to put pressure on companies and politicians - demanding change through 'cyberactivism'. Earlier in the year, Sony Ericsson became the latest global electronics giant to announce that it will phase out toxic chemicals from its products following our online action in which thousands of ordinary people took part to pressure electronics companies to come clean...
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2005
Greenpeace's combined annual summary of income and supporter accounts for 2004 shows a slight decrease in supporter figures and a stable income.
Offices in Latin America and Asia continue to show an increase in membership with a combined increase of 80 percent in both regions, a similar figure to the previous year.
Worldwide, the organisation showed a decrease of just under 1 percent in its income and 4.9 percent in the number of supporters. However, in 2004 many offices streamlined their reporting systems for both supporters and income, which is also affected by currency exchange rates.
"The importance of Greenpeace and organisations like ours continues to be proven in areas of fastest economic growth such as China and India,"said Gerd Leipold, Executive Director of Greenpeace International. "But the developed world must not rest on itslaurels. Governments and industry must not be driven by profits and politics but by a genuine interest in the future of our planet."
Income in 21 of the 27 national and regional offices dotted around theworld increased. Only offices in Brazil, Central Eastern Europe, Luxembourg, Netherlands, and Switzerland showed a decline.
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2004
Environmental crimes happen daily with no government, court, police or authority to turn to. We cannot rely on governments, alone, to actand make change. We can rely on people. The world's second superpower can guide change, indeed provoke it. And where people gather forchange, you will find Greenpeace.
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2003
There are huge numbers of people on every continent who are committed to the common good, and who are no longer willing to accept the agendas of timid or inept governments or unscrupulous corporations. This globalsocial movement has been described as the "emerging second superpower" and is made up of millions of people dedicated to environmental protection, human rights and social development.
The continued growth of Greenpeace - as laid out in this annualreport - shows that even in economically difficult times people have avision of a different world. This is our best hope for a better future.
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2002
Vision, Movement, Spirit: Playing cat and mouse with whalers in the Southern Ocean, facing death threats from illegal loggers in the Amazon, crossing Greenland by dog sled.
It's all in a day's work for Greenpeace, and these are just some of the stories from the 2002 annualreport - plus, of course, the financial facts and figures and reports from each campaign area.
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2001
Witnesses of environmental crimes speak out. A grandmother describes being jailed for taking a peaceful stand against destruction of the Great Bear Rainforest on Canada's West Coast. Such resistance ultimately led to an agreement to preserve this forest.
An African American man, whose family was devastated by chemical pollution, speaks out to delegates, who later brokered the Stockholm Treaty to limit chemical pollution. A Greenpeace campaigner tells how confrontations with pirate fishers deep in the Atlantic Ocean helped clinch the protection of endangered tuna species.
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1999
Special reports from the Greenpeace science and political units reflecton the year's campaign activities. Greenpeace activists are in the firing line as Norway and Japan continue whaling. Our scientists revealthat Bhopal in India, the site of one of the world's worst toxic chemical disasters in 1984, is still highly contaminated. Greenpeace establishes a base in Manaus, Brazil, to help protect the Amazon.
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1998
1998 was the UN's International Year of the Oceans. Greenpeace has long campaigned to protect the oceans, and our efforts are rewarded with ahistoric agreement that bans the dumping of offshore installations like the Brent Spar and a phase-out of radioactive and toxic waste discharges into the north-east Atlantic. Following 15 years of Greenpeace campaigning, the EU decides to phase out drift nets. Also in 1998, logging giant MacMillan Bloedel announces it will phase out its clearcut operations in Canada's pristine rainforests. Greenpeace fliesa balloon over the Taj Mahal to protest nuclear weapons testing by India and Pakistan.
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1997
This is Greenpeace's first year in China. Highlights from the reportinclude the Kyoto climate agreement, an expedition documenting the break-up of Antarctic ice shelves and actions to prevent logging in Canada's ancient rainforests. Scientific investigations reveal that children are exposed to harmful chemicals from soft PVC (polyvinylchloride) toys, and that La Hague nuclear reprocessing plant is emitting high levels of radiation into the sea.
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1996
The US, Russia, France, China and the UK sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Greenpeace underlines its global commitment, turning east and opening an office in Hong Kong as a first step towards establishing Greenpeace in China. Genetically modified organisms and solar power also feature in the report.
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1995
Read about French nuclear testing and Shell's plans to dump the Brent Spar oil platform in the North Sea. You can also find out more about how chlorine chemistry threatens our health and future, together with setbacks in the fight to protect the ozone layer.
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1994
Two major Greenpeace campaign victories. In May 1994, the International Whaling Commission establishes an Antarctic whale sanctuary (Environmental Agenda section). After 10 years of Greenpeace campaigning on toxic trade, 65 nations sign up to the Basel Convention banning the export of all hazardous wastes from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to non-OECD countries.
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