Greenpeace gets an A+ for climate activism
For Greenpeace New Zealand, 2019 was the year to deal with some unfinished business with the oil industry. We had achieved a historic win in 2018 with the government ban on issuing new oil and gas exploration permits (except onshore Taranaki). It was a long hard-fought campaign but, all of us together, we did it.
However, there remained the outstanding issue of the existing oil and gas exploration permits. Not only did the Government not have the courage to revoke existing permits, they extended some of them! The Austrian oil company OMV used these existing permits to pursue an oil exploration programme in deep and shallow water, in spite of the climate crisis and the risks of a spill.
I’m proud to say that we mounted a vigorous resistance. Greenpeace activists were 20 storeys up outside the windows of OMV’s Wellington office, as well as at the front doors. They were locked onto the oil support boats, blockading the OMV headquarters in New Plymouth for three days, and were outside their Vienna offices in Austria. We were in court against OMV and their friends in the so-called Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). And so much more!
The head of OMV in the region, who has worked around the world, said he had never seen anything like it: “I don’t see myself being able to continue to operate as today, and commit large amounts of money if this disruption will become more systematic.”
In his lament, the guy basically gave Greenpeace an A Plus for climate activism! I don’t see how we can continue to provide a decent life for our kids if the climate disruption caused by his company is allowed to become more systematic. And that’s why we stopped them.
In the end, they left and I don’t reckon they’ll be back. So Greenpeacers across Aotearoa, take a bow! And of course, we worked on a bunch of other issues in 2019 (oceans and agriculture especially) and all of it is only possible due to our supporters. We are people-powered in our campaigning strategy and people-powered in our fundraising strategy, so thank you to everyone who supported us in 2019.
Download the full 2019 Greenpeace NZ Annual Impact Report
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