The first half of 2026 has seen record-breaking heatwaves in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America, as climate change – supercharged by the burning of fossil fuels – increasingly exposes countries to extreme weather events. 

The heatwaves triggered exceptional wildfires across western Europe and led to smoke haze from Canadian blazes blanketing large swathes of the US northeast and midwest. Amid a prolonged dry season, the biggest wildfires in Indonesia since the 2015 El Niño have blanketed parts of Southeast Asia in acrid smoke, while India faces its weakest monsoon in two decades.

These heatwaves and so-called natural disasters are the type of impacts IPCC climate scientists have been warning us about for decades due to the burning of coal, oil and gas. The record-shattering temperatures – and new record sea surface temperatures – are the grim reality of climate change and the reason why we need to transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energies.

The need to act is more urgent than ever, especially as the El Niño is set to become a record-breaking historic event of its own on an already rapidly warming planet. Forecast to be a ‘super’ El Niño, it is expected to usher in even more severe extreme weather events as the global climate edges closer and closer to temporarily overshooting the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial times.

So why has 2026 seen so many wildfires and heatwaves?

The record heatwaves have spawned conditions contributing to wildfires as our climate rapidly heats up due to decades of fossil fuel pollution and forest destruction. 

Since the Paris Agreement was reached, the years 2015-2025 have been the hottest 11-years on record. Our climate is now more out of balance than at any time in recorded history and as greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, the 1.5°C threshold is increasingly under threat.

The series of extreme weather events of 2026 also come after July was the planet’s joint warmest July on record, tying with July 2024, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. It continued a trend in which the 10 warmest Julys on record have all occurred since 2016, with the past four years (2023–2026) taking the top four spots.

Due to a combination of July’s record land heat and record sea surface temperatures, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said heatwaves, drought, fire and floods defined the state of the Earth’s climate in July and early August. In the European Union, the wildfires were the fourth worst on record by early August, triggered by conditions linked to climate change. 

While Southern Africa experienced cyclones and widespread flooding from relentless rainfalls at the start of the year, the WMO said Africa and Asia experienced their warmest July on record. Japan and South Korea both recorded exceptional and record-breaking heat at the start of August, alongside other regions in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. 

The Copernicus Climate Change Service said western Europe had its hottest June-July period on record, experiencing four heatwaves since May in an “exceptional run of extreme heat”. Europe is now the fastest-warming continent, warming at more than twice the global average rate.

It’s a trend that brings the “hot and dry conditions that favour large, high-intensity wildfires” that not only result in injury and death, but also health concerns such as respiratory and cardiovascular illness, hospital admissions and premature death from smoke inhalation.

But these extreme weather events cannot be classified as ‘natural’ disasters any more. Extreme weather has become more frequent and destructive due to decades of fossil fuel emissions and it’s time for the world’s governments to hold these oil and gas profiteers to account.

There’s also nothing natural about extractive economic systems that leave some countries, communities and groups of people extremely vulnerable to such hazards. The same powerful interests operating with impunity have stymied political will to hold big polluters to account.

How can these extreme weather events and heatwaves be linked to fossil fuels?

These escalating extreme heatwaves, storms and wildfires are not random chaos: they are instead the result of government inaction allowing fossil fuel companies and nature destroyers to profit over people. This is why political leaders must step up and accelerate action to end fossil fuels and to end forest destruction.

Human-caused atmospheric warming – due to the current and historic emissions primarily from industrialised countries and major corporations – is directly associated with extreme cold and heat events and large-scale heavy rainfall events, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) found.

NASEM said these links have been established with high confidence – supported by physical understanding, observation and simulations – after it recently reviewed progress on attributing extreme weather events to climate change over the last decade.

Two recent rapid attribution studies showed the European and North American heatwaves were virtually impossible without climate change, which is caused by the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to the burning of coal, oil and gas and forest destruction.

The rapid attribution study by scientists at World Weather Attribution (WWA) examining the influence of climate change said a similar June heatwave in western Europe would have been around 3.5°C cooler if it had happened 50 years ago. 

Another WWA study found that the extreme North American heatwave – which impacted the 250th anniversary celebrations of the United States – was “much more likely and intense” due to human-induced climate change. The WWA study found the specific impacts driven by persistent, humid heat “would not have happened in a preindustrial climate”.

Will 2026 become the hottest year on record?

Scientists are already calculating that 2026 could become one of the hottest years on record, as they also anticipate  2027 might even exceed this year’s level. 

Amid rising emissions and strong indications the El Niño will continue to develop in coming months and dominate global climate patterns in the August-October period, Berkeley Earth calculated there’s a 69 percent chance that 2026 will become a record hot year.

The UK Met Office has also said 2026 will be remembered for the development of an “unprecedented” El Niño – possibly the largest such event since the 19th century. It said 2027 will likely replace 2024 as the warmest year on record and be another year to temporarily exceed 1.5°C.

This is cause for great concern because El Niño conditions can lead to further widespread extreme weather impacts, including droughts in some regions and intense storms and rainfall in others.

At risk, for example, is the Indian summer monsoon, which is already running well below normal rainfall, while Central America, west Pacific nations and tropical South America are also at risk of low rainfall. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization said El Niño conditions trigger failed harvests, livestock losses, rising household debt and migration in search of food and water.

Elsewhere, the El Niño can lead to more intense storms and extreme rainfall hitting central Asia (China, Japan and South Korea), parts of southern South America, the southern US and parts of the Horn of Africa.

How is the heatwave in Europe affecting river water levels and nuclear energy systems?

Water levels across four of Europe’s main rivers, the Loire, Po, Rhine and Danube rivers, reached record-lows in August. The prolonged dry conditions are putting growing pressure on water resources, crops, energy systems, river transport, tourism and ecosystems.

The water shortages also have a large flow-on effect to nuclear energy systems, which rely on pumped river water for cooling purposes. Due to the low water levels, pumping devices for nuclear power plants located along the Danube have been unable to reach the water.

As a result, Romania shut down its nuclear power plant, the Cernavodă, which produces about 20 percent of Romania’s electricity. Although Hungary narrowly escaped the full shutdown of its Paks nuclear plant, it was forced to cut output to just 10 percent as it shuttered three of its four reactors at a plant that normally produces nearly ​half of Hungary’s electricity.

What this reveals is the inherent vulnerability of nuclear power plants to water shortages and drought because a complete and long-lasting loss of water cooling would become a major safety threat. It’s just another reason why we need an energy system based on renewables, not nuclear or fossil fuels, and yet another reminder of the wide-ranging impacts from extreme weather events.

Record atmospheric CO₂ as fossil fuel emissions continue to rise

CO₂ emissions are dangerously high and rising. Governments must act urgently to bring them down. Data from the International Energy Agency showed the growth in energy-related CO₂ emissions slowed in 2025, rising by 0.4 percent, the slowest rate since 2021. However, CO₂ emissions still increased to a new high of nearly 38.4 billion tonnes (Gt), 5 percent above 2019 levels.

While this is clearly not good news, the roll-out of renewable energy is slowing down the growth in emissions. The expansion of solar power had the biggest contribution in slowing emissions growth last year, avoiding 1.5 Gt of annual CO₂ emissions (equal to half of India’s annual CO₂ emissions in 2025, for example). 

Despite this, record atmospheric CO₂ levels of about 427 parts-per-million were recorded in 2024, which is about 50 percent above pre-industrial levels.

These levels have continued to climb in 2026 and reached a monthly average record high of 432.3 parts per million in May at Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory, which has the longest record of direct measurements of CO₂ in the atmosphere.

How far away are we from an exceedance of the 1.5°C limit?

Exceeding the 1.5°C global heating limit raises the risks of irreversible climate tipping points and severe environmental damage. The continued trend of record hot years exposes how the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C is becoming more and more difficult to achieve. But this reality must serve as a rallying call to action for all countries to dramatically ratchet up climate ambition – above all developed countries that have an historical responsibility to act first and fastest.

The WMO has warned it’s very likely that the global temperature will temporarily exceed 1.5°C for at least one year between 2026 and 2030. It also said that it’s likely the 2026-2030 five-year average will exceed 1.5°C, with the associated risk of more extreme weather events.

What this means is that it’s time for political leadership! Governments must now respond and as pivotal moments and deadlines approach, world leaders need to accelerate the just transition away from fossil fuels with the speed and commitment to match the threat. 

What can governments do to speed up the transition away from fossil fuels

Governments can and must speed up the transition from fossil fuels to decentralised renewable energy systems powered by cheap, reliable and abundant energy sources like wind and solar. The good news is there’s already an accelerating shift to renewables. A Greenpeace International report found that the pace of change in the past 10 years offered great hope for a renewable future – due largely to the significant cost reduction of solar, wind power and battery storage technologies.

Close to 60 countries also agreed at the first conference for the transition away from fossil fuels in Santa Marta to collaborate and support the development of national and regional roadmaps to end fossil fuels. The task now for this ‘coalition of doers’ is to spearhead ambitious national action at home and, in a turbulent geopolitical space, drive concrete progress.

A just transition means that all communities can access the benefits of renewable energy and that none are disadvantaged through the transition. This means adequate and accessible funding, proper consultation and empowering communities to shape their own energy futures, and avoiding negative impacts on vulnerable communities, such as through mining for critical minerals. 

On the road to the UN General Assembly in September and the UN climate conference COP31 in November, governments must signal their intent to accelerate a just transition. That includes ensuring outcomes at COP31 that are aimed at increasing electricity’s share of final global energy demand actually become a pathway to ending fossil fuel dependence.

The solutions are here and homegrown renewables are already winning: solar, wind and battery storage deliver cheap, reliable, 24/7 power today. By actively moving to reset the energy landscape with cheap and reliable renewable power, we can ultimately deliver true climate safety and stability. 

• Policy Briefing: A Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels
• Analysis: The Energy [R]evolution+10

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South Africans celebrated as their Constitutional Court ruled against Shell and Impact Africa’s oil exploration plans off the country’s Wild Coast. The legal victory demonstrated the importance of people-powered action against destructive neocolonial extractive industries across Africa. The judgement also strengthens the case for African governments to move away from an economic dependence on fossil fuels and towards reliable renewable energy and green employment.

What exactly did the Constitutional Court rule?

On 14 August 2026, South Africa’s Constitutional Court permanently halted Shell and Impact Africa’s oil and gas exploration off the country’s Wild Coast. This brought a years-long legal battle to a decisive end. South Africa’s apex court, upheld the 2022 Makhanda High Court finding that the exploration right had been unlawfully granted to Shell. It found that the South African government had not meaningfully consulted affected communities, as per the country’s laws. The South African Minister of the Mineral Resources and Energy, who was cited as the Main Respondent,  did not provide the requisite stewardship over the process.

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The court also set aside the original exploration right and its two renewals, rejecting the Supreme Court of Appeal’s 2024 decision to give Shell an opportunity to remedy the original failure through a later consultation process. The court warned that allowing this would mean “financial investment” could outweigh “grave constitutional violations”. 

For Wild Coast communities, the judgement confirmed that decisions affecting their ocean, livelihoods, culture and environment cannot be separated from their constitutional rights.

How did South Africans react to the judgement?

Wild Coast communities and environmental organisations welcomed the judgment as a historic victory for people whose livelihoods and cultural identities are closely connected to the ocean. Sustaining the Wild Coast’s Sinegugu Zukulu said the communities had gone to court “for the future and for future generations”, rather than for profit. “For centuries, colonialism and capitalism have enabled a system that ignores the rights of Indigenous People in their own land. At last we have been able to assert the rights of Indigenous People over the profits of global corporations.”

At last we have been able to assert the rights of Indigenous People over the profits of global corporations.

Activists and Wild Coast community members also stressed the importance of collaborating across all factions of society in achieving people-powered impact. Local fisher Sazise Maxwell Pekayo said the communities challenging the government were greatly supported by lawyers and civil society groups, adding: “Amandla! Power to the rights of communities!” Amadiba Crisis Committee activist Nonhle Mbutuma said that true development must come from people deciding their own future. Natural Justice’s Delme Cupido said the case demonstrated that public participation is not simply about “ticking boxes”, but about putting people’s dignity at the centre of decisions that affect their lives, rights and cultural practices.

Why did South Africa’s court rule against Shell?

The South African Constitutional Court found the original process granting Shell its exploration license failed to give communities meaningful participation in a decision that could affect their livelihoods, environment, culture and spiritual relationship with the sea. Regarding the failure to consider the relevant communities’ spiritual and cultural rights, the High Court found that there was no evidence that the possibility of harm to ancestral beliefs and practices, or any remedial measures to guard against possible harm, were considered by the Minister.

The court rejected an approach that treated these concerns as merely competing against economic development. It emphasised South Africa’s history of apartheid, dispossession and marginalisation, explaining that commercial interests cannot automatically be placed on the same footing as constitutionally protected community rights. 

The court warned that speculative economic benefits cannot outweigh procedural justice where communities face direct environmental and cultural consequences. As the court put it, “Protection of ecological systems is inseparable from the protection of rights to dignity, culture and livelihood.” It also rejected the argument that consultation during a later renewal could cure the original illegality.

What does the Shell Wild Coast court judgement mean for local South African communities?

Beyond stopping Shell’s exploration, the judgment establishes a significant precedent for communities facing extractive projects along South Africa’s coastline. The court made clear that corporations cannot rely on financial investment to overcome failures to respect constitutional rights. 

Legal Resources Centre’s Kimal Harvey said the judgment confirmed that “no decisions about our land or resources can be made without us”, while Natural Justice’s Melissa Groenink-Groves described it as a victory for coastal communities, constitutional democracy and judicial accountability. 

“People and their constitutional rights come before corporate profits.

The court also referred to the 2025 International Court of Justice advisory opinion on climate change, emphasising that decisions must account for scientific evidence, international commitments and foreseeable impacts on present and future generations. Greenpeace Africa’s Eugene Perumal said the message was clear: “People and their constitutional rights come before corporate profits.” 

For coastal communities, that principle strengthens their ability to defend livelihoods, heritage and environmental rights when development threatens their way of life.

What is the background of Shell’s seismic blasting plans off South Africa’s Wild Coast?

Shell’s planned seismic exploration off South Africa’s Wild Coast involved a five-month survey using powerful airguns to send shockwaves into the seabed approximately every ten seconds. The technology was intended to locate potential oil and gas deposits, but raised serious concerns about its impact on marine ecosystems. 

Experts warned that seismic waves can disturb, injure or kill marine life, while successful exploration could lead to further risks from drilling, extraction, transportation and oil spills. For coastal communities that depend heavily on fishing and ecotourism, the potential consequences were particularly serious. 

The project also threatened endangered and scientifically important species, including southern right whales and the critically endangered coelacanth fish. Community activists and civil society organisations, including Greenpeace Africa, challenged Shell’s plans through the courts, while affected communities pursued further legal action after an initial interdict was unsuccessful. Thus began the years-long court battle.

The legal case became part of a wider debate about fossil fuel development, environmental protection and community rights.

How did South Africans react to news about Shell’s plans to conduct seismic blasting off the Wild Coast? 

Opposition to Shell’s plans quickly became a grassroots movement in South Africa. When the Amazon Warrior, the vessel carrying out the seismic surveys, arrived in Cape Town, hundreds of activists protested against its presence. Demonstrations subsequently spread to almost 100 towns, particularly along South Africa’s coastline. 

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For Indigenous coastal communities, the issue was about far more than environmental protection: the ocean is central to their livelihoods, culture and spirituality. Communities were already under pressure from industrial fishing and other threats to their economic security. Amadiba Crisis Committee activist Nonhle Mbuthuma described the situation as another struggle for a community that had spent decades opposing mining on its land. “Now we also must fight against the mining of the ocean,” she said.

In December 2021, communities and activists joined forces to launch a matter in the Makhanda High Court where an interdict was granted. Shell opposed this and requested a review in the self-same High Court which upheld the original decision. Shell took the matter to the Supreme Court of Appeal, which, whilst not overturning the illegality of the granting of the right, simultaneously opened a backdoor for Shell to retrospectively meet the requirement for meaning consultation. The communities took the matter to the country’s apex court to overturn the Supreme Court of Appeal ruling.

Why did South Africans stand up against Shell’s planned oil exploration? 

Activists and local communities against the corporation’s Wild Coast project also pointed to Shell’s destructive history in Nigeria’s Niger Delta as a warning of what can happen when oil extraction causes environmental damage. Shell began producing oil there in 1958, while communities and environmental organisations have spent decades challenging the consequences of pollution and demanding accountability. 

Niger Delta communities experienced widespread destruction of ecosystems and livelihoods because of oil spills, and suffered the violent suppression of protests during the struggle against oil extraction. Shell’s Niger Delta track record demonstrated the devastating long-term consequences when corporate interests take precedence over local communities and environmental protection. 

Concerns about the Wild Coast therefore extend beyond the immediate effects of seismic testing: successful exploration could open the door to a much larger fossil fuel industry and the environmental risks that accompany it.

What risks did Shell’s oil exploration plans pose to Wild Coast communities?

The risk of Shell’s oil exploration plans to South African Wild Coast communities extended beyond individual species to the wider health of South Africa’s oceans. Seismic blasts not only affect marine life on which coastal communities depend, but also disturb marine ecosystems that serve as a major defence against the climate crisis. 

Oceans absorb carbon dioxide and heat, while kelp forests (abundant along South Africa’s coastline) provide valuable ecological benefits such as sequestering carbon, sheltering marine species and protecting shorelines from erosion. With marine ecosystems already under severe pressure from global heating and rising ocean temperatures, expanding fossil fuel exploration only stands to compound existing threats. The potential profits from oil and gas cannot justify risking communities, biodiversity and ecosystems that provide vital protection against climate change. 

Yet, oil and gas corporations continue promoting oil exploration across Africa because the continent’s resources offer lucrative opportunities for multinational corporations. While they frame extractivism as an economic and development opportunity for African countries, it ultimately serves neocolonial interests.

Despite fossil fuel companies’ already long history in South Africa, the country continues to face shockingly high unemployment, remaining the most unequal society in the world. South Africa’s own experience with oil and gas corporations demonstrates the opposite of the prosperity that fossil fuel companies promise. Despite the billions these multinational oil companies rake in every quarter, communities who live near oil infrastructure (like Wentworth, South Africa) tend to find themselves in downward poverty spirals.

Furthermore, weak global tax rules currently allow multinationals in the extractive sector to shift at least 12% of their global profits to tax havens, a figure that rises to 20% of windfall profits in commodity booms. This allows them to dodge billions of US dollars in taxes in countries across Africa, undermining governments’ resources to invest in essentials like schools, hospitals and climate protection.  

Does the Shell Wild Coast court judgement protect South Africa from neocolonial extractivism?

South Africa’s Constitutional Court judgement against Shell provides an important legal safeguard against extractive industries pursuing commercial interests at the expense of local communities. By affirming that meaningful public participation, cultural rights, livelihoods and environmental protection cannot be overridden by corporate investment, the judgment strengthens communities’ ability to challenge projects imposed without their consent. 

This may have wider significance for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, in particular, and the African continent more broadly where oil, gas and mineral extraction has reproduced unequal relationships in which multinational companies benefit from resources while local people carry environmental and social costs. The judgement establishes that economic development cannot simply be defined by corporate investment or promised jobs. African governments must follow suit and ensure that resource decisions respect communities’ constitutional and human rights.

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How else is Africa meant to generate energy and create more jobs?

This South African court judgment also strengthens the case for governments to move away from an economic model dependent solely or disproportionately on fossil fuel extraction and towards renewable energy and green employment. By steering focus on new fossil fuel projects, the decision forces decision makers to diversify energy production and invest in newer, greener and cleaner technologies. Renewable energy and modern electricity grids can create jobs without exposing communities to the pollution and environmental risks associated with oil and gas. 

Renewable energy is already becoming the dominant source of new electricity generation: around 85% of new global power capacity added in 2025 was renewable, principally solar and wind. For African countries, investing in these technologies can mean developing domestic industries, training skilled workers and creating employment closer to where people live. The transition therefore offers an opportunity to redefine development around locally-owned “decentralised” energy, decent work and long-term economic resilience.

How reliable is renewable energy?

Renewable energy offers benefits that extend beyond cutting carbon emissions. Solar and wind use energy sources that are freely available locally, reducing dependence on imported coal, oil and gas whose prices rise dramatically during wars, geopolitical disputes or supply disruptions. Renewable electricity can therefore strengthen political independence in Africa by reducing the influence of foreign fuel suppliers and unequal relationships with fossil fuel corporations over national energy policies. 

Batteries, smart grids and diversified renewable systems can further improve resilience by allowing countries to store electricity and rely on multiple local sources rather than vulnerable international supply chains. Although renewable infrastructure requires minerals and responsible mining, it can generate electricity for decades without continually consuming fuel, while producing substantially lower lifecycle emissions than fossil fuel systems.

Is renewable energy viable for South Africa?

South Africa has considerable potential to build a diverse renewable energy system. Its abundant sunshine makes utility-scale and rooftop solar particularly attractive, while strong coastal and inland wind resources provide opportunities for large-scale wind generation. Batteries can store solar and wind electricity for periods when the sun is not shining or wind production falls, while improved transmission networks and smart-grid technology can connect renewable resources with areas of high demand. Its current dependence on fossil fuels has had dire impacts on the country’s economy. After years of widespread blackouts (loadshedding), it is clear that South Africa’s  current energy production cannot match the demand. 

How will South Africa pay for a just transition to renewable energy?

Governments around the world, including in South Africa, could raise trillions of US dollars through more ambitious national and global taxes on polluting multinational corporations and super-rich individuals. For example, a new global polluter tax of 20% on the profits of the biggest oil and gas corporations, with tax rates progressively increasing over time, could raise more than US $100 billion every year in its first few years. These funds should not only be used to pay for the loss and damage caused by the extreme weather that these polluters drive, but also for climate adaptation and investment into cleaner newer energy technologies like renewables. 

South Africa, alongside all other governments, should seize this opportunity through supporting bold new global tax rules under the Global Tax Treaty currently being negotiated, while rolling out higher taxes on the wealthiest polluters at the national level immediately. It is time to end this cycle of suffering inflicted by the polluting extractives industry and to hold them to account by making them pay for a just transition that benefits all. 

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Taiwan — Today, Taiwan’s Kaohsiung District Court found the captain and chief officer not guilty in a case involving allegations of human trafficking and labor exploitation aboard Da Wang, a Taiwanese-owned, Vanuatu-flagged tuna fishing vessel that exported its fish globally.

The case dates back to June 2019, when a 19-year-old Indonesian fisher, Sunoto, was reportedly struck in the back of the head while working aboard the Da Wang and was found dead in the cabin the following morning. Prosecutors in the case said the vessel’s captain and first officer used violence and coercion to exploit migrant fishers aboard.

Manny (pseudonym), a Filipino fisher who is also a victim and witness in the Da Wang forced labour case, said the verdict was deeply heartbreaking and disappointing to him. He said, “The captain assaulted and beat people on board every day. He was responsible for Sunoto’s wrongful death and should be held accountable under the law. If there is an opportunity to appeal, I will appeal the case all the way.”

Shay Kuo, Oceans Campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia’s Taipei Office, said: “Despite multiple testimonies and indications pointing to forced labour and violence aboard the vessel, the court’s decision highlights the difficulties of gathering evidence and establishing proof at sea, underscoring the challenges facing the maritime regulatory system. Seven years on, full justice remains out of reach. To prevent further victims and broken families, the Taiwanese government must strengthen oversight of fishing vessels and require seafood companies to take responsibility for human rights abuses throughout their supply chains.”

Greenpeace Southeast Asia and the Union of Indonesian Migrant Workers (SBMI) first documented allegations of severe labour abuses — such as violence, excessive working hours and wage-related abuses — aboard the Da Wang in its 2019 investigation. [1] 

Sari Heidenreich, senior human rights adviser for Greenpeace USA’s Global Fisheries campaign, said: “This heartbreaking verdict cannot be the end of the story. A migrant fisher lost his life, and other workers reported serious abuses, including forced labor, aboard the same vessel. This case exemplifies the uphill battle that fishers face to achieve justice and remedy. Responsibility does not end with vessel operators. All of Big Seafood, which includes companies buying and trading seafood, must be rigorous in their due diligence to ensure that forced labor and abuse are not happening anywhere in their supply chains and that, if they do, victims have access to swift and meaningful justice and remedy.”

The Da Wang case exposes the widespread problem of seafood supply chains remaining profitable while the migrant workers who catch the fish bear the greatest human cost. 

The Greenpeace global network’s Beyond Seafood Campaign has called for concerted action by all stakeholders and governments along the seafood supply chain to end isolation at sea. This includes:

• Free, accessible, and secure Wi-Fi on all fishing vessels to allow fishers to have contact with their families, unions, and governments.
• Capping time at sea to maximum three consecutive months to reduce the risk of human rights abuse, forced labor, and human trafficking.
• 100% human observers or electronic monitoring to ensure vital data on catch composition, bycatch, interactions with protected species, and overall fishing practices are reported by independent and impartial parties.

ENDS

Notes

[1] Greenpeace Southeast Asia and the SBMI first documented allegations of severe labour abuses aboard the Da Wang in its 2019 investigation, Seabound: The Journey to Modern Slavery on the High Seas.

Greenpeace East Asia passed the testimony of an onboard Indonesian fisher to Taiwan’s Fisheries Agency, who then took the evidence to the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office for investigation. In April 2022, the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office indicted nine people, including the vessel owner, captain, first officer and others, on charges including violations of Taiwan’s Human Trafficking Prevention Act.

Separately in the United States, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a Withhold Release Order (WRO) against tuna caught by the Da Wang in August 2020 and a Finding against the Da Wang for forced labour in January 2022. In the same year, Greenpeace USA found tuna for sale by Bumble Bee in the U.S. that was sourced from the Da Wang during the alleged human trafficking and forced labor occured. Bumble Bee also faces a separate federal lawsuit brought by Indonesian fishers who allege that the company benefited from tuna harvested using their forced labor. 

Contacts

Vela Andapita, Global Communications Coordinator, Beyond Seafood campaign, Greenpeace Southeast Asia, +62 817 5759 449 (UTC+8), vela.andapita@greenpeace.org 

Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org

We have just witnessed some of the hottest months on record as the climate continues to heat up. The trauma of watching massive forest fires, flash floods, and super typhoons is horrifying, to say the least. The horror of huge forest fires in Spain, France, Greece, Germany, Canada, and now Indonesia is an alarm bell we all need to wake up to. The frequency of super typhoons bringing destruction to  China, the Philippines, and Japan is another form of extreme weather patterns that scientists have warned us about for years. 

If this was not enough, we also witnessed flooding in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Hawaii (USA), South Korea, China, Japan, and Peru. Parts of North Africa, including Morocco, have faced back‑to‑back heatwaves on top of drought, with temperatures reaching 44 to 46°C in provinces from Marrakech and Beni Mellal to Laayoune and Dakhla.

All of this happened even before El Niño was expected to intensify toward the year’s end. The full impact could potentially be much worse than what happened so far.

While so much of the destruction of nature and human life is happening every week, too many of our governments are acting without the urgency this crisis demands. There is still a huge emphasis on making more profits, including more oil exploration and continued wars, combined with insufficient action towards addressing the core issue of climate change. In fact, some countries, are still rusted on to a ‘drill, baby, drill’ approach, but there there are also many others that are ready to plan for and implement a transition away from fossil fuels.

So there is a tendency to get distracted and forget about the consequences of our mistakes. That is why we document these climate emergencies so we can do our best not to repeat them in the future. This blog is an attempt to record the results of the combined inaction of our governments and the race to preserve this beautiful planet.

France: The wildfires affected France, particularly in the north and south of the country, burning 115,000 hectares. The wildfire season was classified as the worst in the country since 1949. Beachgoers sit on the beach of Moutchic in Lacanau, southwestern France on July 24, 2026, as clouds of smoke rise into the sky from a wildfire. The fire raged in the northern part of the Arcachon Basin in Gironde, southwest France.

Spain: The forest fire burned 25,000 hectares across Madrid and neighbouring Avila province, forcing more than 60,000 people (a downwardly revised figure) to flee their homes, according to authorities, who labelled the fire the “worst in history” for the Madrid region.

Philippines: Tropical cyclones and monsoon rains sweeping across the Philippines triggered widespread floods. Residents were evacuated to higher ground with their belongings in Barangay Sta Ana, San Mateo, Rizal, Philippines, on 17 August 2026.

Japan: Unprecedented heavy rain in Japan claimed the lives of 8 people, leaving thousands at Narita airport and cutting power to more than 20,000 households in Chiba prefecture.

Tunisia: Ash and the remains of destroyed trees as fires ravage the forests of Sakiet Sidi Youssef in the Kef region, near the border with Algeria on 24 July 2026. At least 900 fires broke out in Tunisia over 72 hours, as the country grapples with an intense heatwave. Firefighters battled two major blazes, one of them in the northwestern region of Sakiet Sidi Youssef.

United States of America: All of New York State, including New York City, and parts of New Jersey are under an Air Quality Advisory due to the smoke from more than 100 wildfires burning in Canada. The Tri-State is seeing visible smoke and hazy skies across the state and spikes in smoke-related pollution. Fine particle pollution from wildfire smoke can cause shortness of breath, coughing, dizziness, or fatigue, and can aggravate heart and lung diseases and other chronic health issues.

India: The flood situation in Assam, India, turned critical as it claimed 80 lives, displacing about 2 million people across 200 villages.

Algeria: As firefighters work to put out a wildfire in Bordj Okhriss, located approximately 150 km southeast of Algiers. For several days, Algeria has been facing a wave of exceptionally intense wildfires.