In 2024, in the midst of a global climate and biodiversity crisis, we faced the full force of a new New Zealand Government determined to strip away environmental protections.
We spent much of the year slowing down the wheels of destruction while alerting New Zealanders to the new reality of the Government’s War on Nature.
We then helped civil society mobilise against the Government’s environmental destrution, notably with the massive March for Nature. People power in action.
We worked with allies in the environment movement and te Ao Māori. The latter became even more important with the Treaty Principles Bill, a Bill designed to nullify Te Tiriti, not only undermining Māori rights but also the environmental protection provided by Te Tiriti.
Simultaneously we looked for leverage points independent of the government.
We worked leverage points against corporations with vulnerabilities: such as oil and gas companies that don’t want to face the risk of civil society opposition and regulatory uncertainty; and multinational companies that have customers who expect a level of environmental credibility. We leveraged multi-national fora to pressure the New Zealand Government. We worked with civil society allies in the Pacific and the world, particularly on seabed mining.
We found new allies, especially in rural New Zealand where people are sick of their health and clean water being sacrificed for dairy corporations’ profits.
And of course we used civil disobedience and bearing witness.
But we had to find a way to finance these many forms of resistance in the middle of an ongoing recession. Greenpeace is a people powered organisation, but this means that when people are short of cash so are we.
We leaned into our strategy of increased retention, better quality telefundraising, and investing in digital fundraising. But we added a discounting strategy to allow people to sign up with lower regular gift amounts in light of the grinding recession. We were frugal and routinely sourced cheaper providers
where we could.
It mostly worked: our retention rates hit new highs; we (marginally) grew the net number of regular donors; and we did it within pretty tight budgets.
I have listed below some of the external activities we delivered in 2024 to achieve our mission. This is separate to our regular very significant output of communications in the digital world.
- Presence at Waitangi for Toitū te Tiriti
- Townhall water testing in Taranaki, Canterbury and Waikato
- Mail-in water testing of houses on rural bores
- Fast Track protest on Parliament lawns – with a giant pollution tap
- Protested with Ngāti Ruanui and others at seabed mining hearing in Taranaki
- Greenpeace presence and support for Palestine Ceasefire rallies
- Facilitated thousands of Fast Track Bill submissions
- Support for Climate Strikers
- Cameras on fishing boats campaign delivered data on deaths of seabirds, dolphins, and seals, which forced new regulations to protect them
- The Government backed down on cameras on boats, i.e. they stayed
- Released research report, “Tangled”, about oceans policy
- Lobbied Pacific governments re: deep sea mining
- Released research report – People versus Plastic
- Public meeting on Deep Sea Mining in Auckland
- Presented at Deep Sea Mining workshop at Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture in Hawai’i
- 20,000-strong March for Nature in Auckland
- Attended UN International Seabed Authority meeting in Jamaica and supported Pacific civil society allies
- Supported Deep Sea Mining activities at Pacific Islands Forum and Cook Islands
- Lodged legal action against Fonterra’s greenwashing (100% grass fed, yeah right)
- Occupied mining lobby group Straterra’s office in Wellington
- Hung banner off railway tower re: seabed mining in Wellington
- Letter writing workshop for volunteers re: agriculture
- Published documentary about fur seals in Kaikōura – deaths due to climate and fishing
- Supported allies hīkoi in Patea re: seabed mining
- Hung giant methane banner on Fonterra’s giant Horotiu factory
- Protested at TTR (seabed miner) AGM in Sydney with Ngāti Ruanui
- Presence at Fonterra AGM re: palm kernel
- Presence at Fonterra shareholders meeting re: palm kernel
- Ads in The Press re: regional council’s failure to support water testing
- Met with EU and UK ambassadors re: breaches of environment chapters of free trade agreements
- Met with Prime Minister, Ministers, officials; Select Committee presentations
- Supported Greenpeace work at Global Plastics Treaty
- Public meeting on water in Canterbury with launch of network of water defenders
- Submitted against Treaty Principles Billband encouraged supporters to submit
- Submitted against Te Awamutu waste incinerator
And much much more! We live in challenging times. But people before us have faced down these kinds of attacks, and worse, so it’s all hands on deck.
There are no passengers on Planet Earth so grab a rope and pull!
Kia kaha,
Russel
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