It’s that time of the year again, where we take a moment to step back and have a look at everything that was accomplished in the past 12 months.  

2019 was an iconic year where millions mobilised on the streets all around the world to fight for our planet. Corporations and governments were called out for their unwillingness to do their part and do more to save our home. But it was also a devastating year, as we saw ruthless extreme weather events – propelled by climate change – ravaging so many countries. But in the end, it was a landmark year of people power. Despite the adversities, people came and will continue to, come together to continue driving the movement towards a greener, more sustainable, and hopeful future.

On that note, check out a few of the best moments Greenpeace captured in 2019.

Lone Climate Strike Protester Arshak Makichyan in Moscow. © Anna Antanaytite / Greenpeace
Students in Prague, Czech Republic went on the street to strike on 15th March 2019.
A volunteer extinguishes fires in the peatland area in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. © Jurnasyanto Sukarno / Greenpeace
A volunteer extinguishes fires in the peatland area in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. The forest fires in Indonesia through September this year had exceeded to 857,756 hectares (2,12 million acres), this is according to data given by the Indonesian Forestry and Environment Ministry. © Jurnasyanto Sukarno / Greenpeace
Greenpeace activists board two oil platforms in Shell’s Brent field in a peaceful protest. © Marten van Dijl / Greenpeace
Greenpeace activists from the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark boarded two oil platforms in Shell’s Brent field in a peaceful protest against plans by the company to leave parts of old oil structures with 11,000 tonnes of oil in the North Sea. © Marten van Dijl / Greenpeace
Greenpeace crew jump from the MY Esperanza during a swim stop. © Pierre Baelen / Greenpeace
In need of a break, Greenpeace crew jumps from the MY Esperanza during a swim stop, at the end of the Amazon Reef leg of the Protect the Ocean expedition. This is after they successfully completed the first human dives ever made on the recently discovered Amazon Reef, off the coast of French Guiana, collecting first biological samples in order to better understand this reef system and reinforce its need for its protection. The Amazon Reef is an underwater treasure and a unique ecosystem already threatened by giant oil companies that intend to drill nearby. © Pierre Baelen / Greenpeace
Aerial view of a large burned area in the city of Candeiras do Jamari in the state of Rondônia. © Victor Moriyama / Greenpeace
Aerial view of a large burned area in the city of Candeiras do Jamari in the state of Rondônia. The number of fire outbreaks registered in the Amazon in 2019 is one of the largest in recent years. From January to August 20, the number of fires in the region was 145% higher than in the same period of 2018. © Victor Moriyama / Greenpeace
A flying fish at night near the surface in the Sargasso sea. © Shane Gross / Greenpeace
A flying fish at night near the surface in the Sargasso sea. Greenpeace was on an expedition in the Sargasso Sea, a unique region in the North Atlantic Ocean that is home to a diverse array of marine life, including loggerhead and green sea turtles. © Shane Gross / Greenpeace
An area of forest in southern Finland which was logged and later burned. © Jani Sipilä / Greenpeace
The logging rates in Finland are on the rise as new pulp mills are being built. This is an area of forest in southern Finland which was logged by UPM, a Finnish forest industry company, in 2018 and later burned. Every year thousands of square kilometres of forests are fragmented, degraded or destroyed. © Jani Sipilä / Greenpeace
The body of a dead piglet sticks out of a broken bin outside an industrial pig farm. © Greenpeace / Wildlight / Selene Magnolia
The body of a dead piglet sticks out of a broken bin outside the industrial pig farm Vandvaerksgaarden in the small town of Tingerup, 60 kilometres west of Copenhagen. Denmark produces more than 31 million pigs annually, which, together with the annual production of 1.5 million cattle, makes up 19 per cent of Denmark’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Inside the walls of industrial farms, animals’ existence is reduced to short lives inside small booths or cages. Besides its effect on the climate, meat production in Denmark further has a negative impact on the local environment, landscape, biodiversity and public health. © Greenpeace / Wildlight / Selene Magnolia
Divers and Corals at Elba Island. © Lorenzo Moscia / Greenpeace
Greenpeace together with The Blu Dream Project, the CNR-IAS and the University of the Marche start a tour in the Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy to document the plastic and microplastics pollution in the marine eco-system. © Lorenzo Moscia / Greenpeace
Massive Wildfire on Gangwon-do in South Korea. © Soojung Do / Greenpeace
A series of fires blazed the eastern cities in Gangwon Provinces in South Korea, forcing more than 4,000 people to flee their homes, and killing one person. About 250 hectares of forest was burnt down in Goseong and 25 hectares in Inje. © Soojung Do / Greenpeace
Aerial view of Greenpeace ship the Arctic Sunrise mooring at the ice in Tempelfjorden on Svalbard. © Christian Åslund / Greenpeace
Aerial view of Greenpeace ship the Arctic Sunrise mooring at the ice in Tempelfjorden on Svalbard. The ‘Protect the Oceans’ expedition saw scientists and campaigners team up to research the threats of climate change, overfishing, plastic pollution, deep-sea mining and oil drilling. © Christian Åslund / Greenpeace