Greenpeace International is proud to be part of a global network of independent Greenpeace organisations and we are happy to be able to report back to you on our work in 2017. You can read the details in this report and in this blog by our International Executive Directors and Board Chair.
Greenpeace International and Greenpeace Canada were especially proud to stand with the Indigenous community of Clyde River in the Canadian Arctic, supporting them as they won their Supreme Court fight to prevent seismic blasting in the waters that are their home and livelihood. One of our fundamental principles is that we take responsibility for our actions and we hold others accountable for theirs. Sometimes that means turning to the courts; in 2017 the law played a big part in our work.
The logging company Resolute Forest Products (Resolute), and Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), the company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline, both attempted to stop the work you support. Resolute filed a US$276million lawsuit against Greenpeace International, Greenpeace USA and Stand. Earth. The court dismissed the case without prejudice; the company promptly amended their complaint and refiled. We continue to fight the injustice. ETP filed a US$900 million suit against Greenpeace International, Greenpeace USA and others because of our support for the campaign against the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock. That case also continues.
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In 2017 Greenpeace International, Greenpeace Nordic and Norwegian Nature and Youth Network mounted an historic case on your behalf in Norway – The People vs Arctic Oil. We believe the Norwegian government breached its constitutional promise of a healthy environment for current and future generations, after they opened new areas to oil drilling in the Arctic, despite signing the Paris Climate Agreement. More than a half million of you put your names forward as witnesses. Though the court hearing initially went against us, we are not deterred - stay tuned for the appeal and the part you can play.
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Greenpeace International helped the climate justice and liability campaign to build the basis and public support for groundbreaking cases aimed at making fossil fuel companies pay for the costs of climate change. With Greenpeace International support, Greenpeace Southeast Asia used the law to trigger a first-of-its-kind investigation to deliver justice and hope to disaster survivors threatened by storms made worse by climate change. 1000 senior women in Switzerland are demanding their government deliver their Paris Climate Agreement commitments in court, with the support of Greenpeace Switzerland. Greenpeace USA is supporting cities and counties demanding fossil fuel companies pay for their climate damage, and two states are investigating ExxonMobil for misleading the public.
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The horrifying Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan six years ago continues to haunt the survivors and impact the oceans and land. In 2017 Greenpeace International and Greenpeace Japan worked with affected communities, especially women and children, to bring to the attention of United Nations Human Rights Council the ongoing abuse of their rights. The work continues and we were encouraged in 2017 to see many governments demanding Japan take urgent measures to support people who have lost their homes, their health, and their rights.
READ MORE“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead
You are those committed citizens and we are inspired by you! People power is an unstoppable force and we are proud to have you as partners in our work.
We are amazed by the 1.5million of you who joined a coalition of Greenpeace Brazil and other organisations to stop the government from opening up an area of the Amazon the size of Denmark to commercial mining. We are awed that the fastest European Union petition to reach a million signatures was driven by your determination to support Greenpeace EU stop the long-term use of cancer-causing, bee-killing glyphosate pesticides.
We love that your dedication to stop one of the world’s worst fishing companies from emptying our oceans finally paid off in 2017 with the commitment from Thai Union to more sustainable fishing. Your support for the ship expedition mounted by Greenpeace Brazil and International and the fantastic scientific data from Greenpeace submarine dives on the Amazon Reef literally discovered a new underwater world. You stood up for people, animals and lands that house a quarter of the world’s trees in the Great Northern Forest and you danced with Greenpeace Africa for the forests in Congo. With us, you led a people’s food movement.
Greenpeace activists deploy a banner on a construction crane near the White House reading "RESIST" on President Trump's fifth day in office. © Tim Aubry
Highlighting the Great Barrier Reef mass coral bleaching event, Australia © Dean Miller / Greenpeace
Outside the Montreal office, Greenpeace Canada stands in solidarity with the message #OurVoicesAreVital to unite against Canadian logging company Resolute's multiple lawsuits to stifle free speech and the organisation's work to protect the Great Northern Forest in Canada. © Toma Iczkovits / Greenpeace
Civil society group organised a non-violent event on the iconic Heroes’ Square in Budapest. Thousands of people stood for the freedom of civil society and the freedom of thought, by forming a spectacular human banner. © Attila Pethe
The huge globe features messages from people around the world urging the Norwegian government to end its Arctic oil expansion. © Nick Cobbing / Greenpeace
A keeper hugs an orangutan that is living at Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) Foundation in Nyaru Menteng, Central Kalimantan. © Bjorn Vaugn / BOSF / Greenpeace
Snutetkwe Manuel and her daughter Wasayka, 2, Activists from the Tiny House Warriors in Canada. Calling themselves the Tiny House Warriors, a group of Indigenous Secwepemc people from Canada are building tiny houses in the path of the massive Kinder Morgan tar sands oil pipeline's planned route through their territory. The house is a symbol of the home they are fighting to protect, creating hope and community in the face of destruction. © Ian Willms / Greenpeace
We make no secret that we want an end to the fossil fuel age in favour of a world powered by clean, safe renewable energy. There was a time when coal and oil were drivers of progress – but now they are holding back humanity. They were and are also drivers of global climate change. We, like you, believe they should be history and we embrace the new energy revolution is already underway.
Greenpeace International’s role in strengthening and supporting powerful campaigns to end the era of coal and oil was instrumental around the world in 2017. The campaigns prompted tens of thousands of people to take to the streets with 200 different groups mounting 170 protests in 60 countries to demand governments, corporations and financiers #breakfree from fossils fuels. And they are. More than 24 countries, cities and states have committed to phase out coal by 2030. Around the world, financial institutions are beginning the move away from oil.
The World Bank announced that it will no longer finance upstream oil and gas projects after 2019, HSBC confirmed that it will no longer finance new tar sands projects including tar sands pipeline construction, and BNP Paribas announced that it would neither finance new shale or tar sands projects, nor work with companies mainly focused on those resources. It also ruled out involvement in oil and gas exploration and production in the Arctic. In the UK, Norway, France and the Netherlands, investors are moving away from oil companies that damage the local environment, trash the climate, and trample human rights.
We are still seeing shocking levels of air pollution across the globe, but you are responding to demand clean air. In Asia, the key region for the coal industry, our campaigning on the killer impacts of coal drove air pollution up the political agenda and resulted in significant victories. In South Korea, the new president committed to phasing out all coal and nuclear, in a major change in energy policy. In India, campaigning on air pollution supported by over 100,000 Indians, led to the introduction of a draft national clean air programme. In Indonesia, we exposed the dangerous air pollution levels in Jakarta, putting pressure on the government to revise its weak regulations on air quality.
Changing the way we produce, consume and reuse our resources is a vital step in putting less stress on our planet, but we need to go further. Greenpeace International has been at the centre of our work around the globe to develop ways to change the way we think about consumerism, and fast track the change we want to see. So we were delighted when tens of thousands of people across six continents took part with multiple Greenpeace offices in 186 different events as part of Make SMTHNG week and rediscovered the value of creating instead of consuming.
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The wasteful throwaway mindset was clearly on display within the IT sector, with Samsung’s plans to just dump millions of controversial combusting Galaxy phones. We were pleased that our campaign pressure forced a change of policy on this issue, but they and the whole tech industry must do more to change their entire production processes and ethos. We know we can rely on you to help us hold them to it.
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How we make and consume our food is a growing concern across the planet. Over-consumption, pesticide use, and the climate impacts of the massive cattle industry are taking their toll. But working with farmers and communities we have shown that an alternative vision is possible and profitable. In 2017, Greenpeace India’s continued work with farmers in Bihar state, showcasinge eco-farming practices, led the state government to support the programme across the region.
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A giant plastics-puking dragon was a stunning and visceral reminder of the pollution and harm we are dumping on our planet with single-use plastics. In the Philippines, Greenpeace South East Asia as part of the Break Free From Plastic movement named and shamed the corporates who are causing the greatest amount of plastics pollution. The issues and the monster dragon, spitting their damaging products, ensured the issues were front and centre at a European Union’s ‘My Oceans’ Conference in Malta. With your support we continue to demand a plastics free future.
TAKE ACTIONIn 2017, around 85,000 people visited Greenpeace ships in nearly 100 port visits from Greenland to India, the Amazon to East Asia.
Our ships sailed more than 70,000 nautical miles – nearly 3.5 times around the circumference of Earth. They took action to demand climate justice, protection of our oceans and forests and healthier food for the people and planet.
Join our ships on land and sea. Follow the Rainbow Warrior, Arctic Sunrise and Esperanza on Facebook, or apply to join as crew.
The Arctic Sunrise had a major refit in the first half of 2017, but still had time to support a month-long anti-plastics tour of the US east coast, and take action against oil drilling in the Arctic, as part of the People vs Arctic Oil legal case.
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The Esperanza brought science and submarines to the Amazon - to discover an unknown reef and put a block on oil drilling in the Amazon as a result. Across the other side of the Atlantic, she partnered with local authorities to protect vital fishing grounds in West Africa and local forest defenders in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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The Rainbow Warrior spent 2017 defending our oceans from destructive fishing and plastic trash along the Latin America coast and across the Mediterranean. The ship kicked off the year with a Ship Tour in Cuba, hosting conversations on researching and practicing large scale ecological farming on the island.
FOLLOW MEGreenpeace is an independent campaigning network, which uses non-violent, creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems, and to force the solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.
Greenpeace’s goal is to ensure the ability of the earth to nurture life in all its diversity. We believe in equality and respect in the workplace and strive to create an inclusive working environment where everyone has the opportunity to grow and thrive.
Greenpeace International has a coordinating and enabling role within the global Greenpeace network of independent national and regional Greenpeace organisations in 26 countries. The Greenpeace International campaign teams provide high-level strategic direction for national and regional organisations’ campaigns, as well as managing the operations of Greenpeace ships and the Greenpeace International Laboratories, based at Exeter University in the UK. “Our Work” therefore is the result of the efforts of teams within Greenpeace International and national organisations.
Like any organisation, we are only as strong as our people, so we invested time and energy in creating policies and systems to ensure we are an open, diverse, tolerant and inclusive organisation.
Your financial support helped us achieve a great deal in 2017, and it also enables us to plan into the future. An important part of our work last year was coordinating the development of longer term campaign strategies for a better planet and generating new ideas that will help us realise the world we want to see in the coming years. We look forward to you reading about the results of some of those plans in next year’s report!
You are part of 72 million people who chose to be a part of the work of Greenpeace globally in 2017 – in country populations that puts us in the top 20 in the world! You donated, followed, liked, tweeted, took action and volunteered. More than three million of you supported us financially and more than 80% of your donations are long term, enabling us to plan further for the future we want for us all.
We could not do our work without you and we could not do it without our dedicated staff at Greenpeace International and our offices around the world. We are committed to ensuring we have a diverse, inclusive, safe and inspiring workplace. We continue to listen and learn from our staff as we strive to provide the best working environment we can offer.
Thank you for making it possible….
… because it is the monthly donations from millions of people around the world, and the few grants from like-minded foundations, that make our work possible. We do not take money from government, corporations, political parties or intergovernmental agencies, so we can remain proudly independent.
This version of the 2017 GPI Annual Report does not include the Annual Financial Statements 2017. The Draft Annual Financial Statements 2017 are published here. The adopted Financial Statements will be added to the 2017 Annual Report as soon as possible after which the full Report will be published. The draft Financial Statements will then be removed. Thank you for your patience.
Download the 2017 Annual Report
Download the 2017 Independent Auditors’ opinion
At Greenpeace we strive to step lightly on our world and minimise our environmental footprint. Our global greenhouse gas emissions slightly decreased from 2016 to 2017. We are constantly improving the way we calculate and report our emissions, to be as accurate as possible.
Greenpeace, Greenpeace International and the Greenpeace network
For convenience and reading ease, in this annual report ‘Greenpeace’ is also used to identify Greenpeace International and/or one or more Greenpeace national and regional organisations. Further information about national and regional Greenpeace organisations is available online and/or via pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org.
The words ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ in this report may refer to Greenpeace International, and/or national and regional offices, and supporters. ‘You’ may refer to the reader of this report, and to existing and potential Greenpeace supporters across the world.
June 2017
Our planet and people are more interconnected than any world-wide-web we could create. What impacts one part, affects another and environmental protection is inextricably linked with social justice.
June 2016
Greenpeace is on a transformational path. Our world is changing faster than at any other time in human history.
June 2015
Now well into its fifth decade of existence, Greenpeace continues to reinvent itself. Rather than bask in past glories, our organisation is undergoing a process of renewal.
June 2014
Campaigning for a peaceful, just and green future is no longer the job of a specialised few, but the common struggle of all.
June 2013
With the environmental crisis deepening and climate change impacts being felt across the globe, our work in 2012 proved increasingly more challenging and demanding.
June 2012
2011 was the year in which Greenpeace celebrated its 40th anniversary as a campaigning organisation.
June 2011
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.
June 2010
December 2009 – the UN’s Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, where the talks were meant to avert catastrophic climate change.
June 2009
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.
June 2008
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.
June 2007
Inconvenient truths and unlikely allies combined in 2006 to make it a notable year for Greenpeace and the environment.
June 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.
June 2005
Environmental crimes happen daily with no government, court, police or authority to turn to. We cannot rely on governments, alone, to act and make change.
June 2004
There are huge numbers of people on every continent who are committed to the common good.
June 2003
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.
June 2000
Special reports from the Greenpeace science and political units reflection the year's campaign activities.
June 1997
The US, Russia, France, China and the UK sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
June 1996
Read about French nuclear testing and Shell's plans to dump the Brent Spar oil platform in the North Sea.
