2020 has been a difficult year for so many of us. Lockdowns and social distancing became the “new normal”, changing our lives as if we’re living through a science fiction movie.
Despite all of the hurdles, 2020 threw at us, our courageous volunteers and activists have never wavered from selflessly sounding the alarms about the climate crises. Check out some of the best images from our actions teams across the world in 2020.
Greenpeace UK and supporters are outside Edinburgh’s Court of Session on the first day of the trial. BP’s rig operator, Transocean asks Scottish courts to jail Greenpeace’s boss and punish the campaigning group with huge fines. Last June, Greenpeace activists blocked a BP rig from drilling new oil wells in the North Sea for 12 days. Transocean secured an interim interdict, with BP’s consent, which Greenpeace was accused of breaching by continuing its protest.
Youth voices via holographic projection at National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea. The projection shows 33 youth representatives delivering emotional speeches against the background of the National Assembly to urge politicians to act on the climate crisis immediately.
Projection at Nuclear Power Plant Philippsburg Germany. Greenpeace Germany celebrates the destruction of the two cooling towers of the nuclear power plant Philippsburg with a projection. It reads: “Making room for the energy turnaround” and #NOMONEYFORYESTERDAY. The Nuclear power plant will be deconstructed.
Two paragliders from Greenpeace Hong Kong fly over Lantau island in Hong Kong, urging the government not to go ahead with the ‘Lantau Tomorrow’ reclamation project. The Hong Kong government’s “Lantau Tomorrow Vision” reclamation project will cost at least HKD 624 billion (EUR 68.3 billion) and will not only destroy Hong Kong’s precious marine ecology and biodiversity but also drain Hong Kong’s fiscal reserves.
Modern slavery of Indonesian fishers protest in Jakarta. The Indonesian Migrant Workers Union (SBMI) together with Greenpeace Indonesia conducted a peaceful action in front of Presidential Palace in Jakarta, to encourage the President to immediately ratify the Government Regulation draft on the Protection of Indonesian migrant fishers. According to the SBMI-Greenpeace Investigation Report Paper regarding data during 2015-2020, there were at least 11 Indonesian crew members who were victims of forced labour and even died on foreign ships. It is not uncommon for their bodies to be thrown into the high seas.
Activists Swim to Oil Rig in Denmark Four Greenpeace Denmark activists hold up banners reading “Fossils or Our Future” while swimming with the oil platform Dan Bravo in the background. The activists have swum from the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior, across the Dan oil field in the Danish North Sea to peacefully occupy the Dan Bravo oil rig to demand an immediate ban on all further oil and gas exploration in Denmark, followed by a complete phase-out of domestic fossil fuel production and a massive expansion of clean offshore wind power.
Greenpeace Russia activists hold a banner reading “The world is changing, you are not”, with the industrial landscape of Norilsk in the background. Norilsk is the world’s northernmost city with 150,000 inhabitants and is the second-largest city (after Murmansk) inside the Arctic Circle. It is one of the only three large cities in the continuous permafrost zone and the most polluted city in Russia. There are a lot of ecological problems (air pollution, acid rain, smog, dumping of polluted water) due to the mining and metallurgical plants owned by Norilsk Nickel.
Greenpeace USA activists sail out on the San Francisco Bay with a message for American Congress and the oil industry. The activists display a banner reading “Oil Is Over, The Future Is Up to You” next to the Amazon Flacon, one of the dozens of crude oil tankers stuck off the California coast as the oil industry grinds to a halt. This action comes as Congress begins negotiations on the next coronavirus (COVID-19) stimulus package, and as the oil industry unleashes a lobbying frenzy in hopes of securing taxpayer dollars to prop up its obsolete business model.
Greenpeace Philippines joined the broad, multi-sectoral protest at the University of the Philippines ahead of President Rodrigo Duterte’s fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA). Along with other groups, Greenpeace Philippines is calling out the Duterte administration for failing to bring about more inclusive, people-centred, responsible and accountable governance, especially in light of its militarized response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and attempts to silence critical opinion and dissent.
Climate Strike with Light Painting during Coronavirus in Berlin. In support of Fridays For Future’s first global digital climate strike, a Greenpeace activist released ghost images of a climate demonstration in the early hours of the morning on the open space in front of the Reichstag in Berlin. In translucent images, he showed climate activist Greta Thunberg and scenes from last year’s large-scale climate strike demonstrations. The activists use a pixel stick to paint their message during the darker hours.
