Ever heard of the 8-hour movement? In the 1880s, workers in the US protested against dangerously long days, demanding “eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, and eight hours for what we will.” Their bravery was met with violence, and May 1 became a global day of solidarity to remember those who fell in the struggle for dignity and safety. That was 140 years ago. While in some places we have won the weekend and the abolition of child labor, just working conditions are still not met and so workers are still standing together, demanding better. Here are five ways that demonstrate how climate justice is also worker justice.

The fossil fuel lock-in: A century of control

The demand for worker justice is more urgent than ever because, as workers were rising in the late 1800s, so were the “robber barons” and the engineered dependence on fossil fuels. This system was locked in to power industrial growth, but it created a fragile world where our daily needs are held hostage by the volatility of war. Today, geopolitical shocks and corporate greed dictate the rising cost of our energy, transport, and food.

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Crisis is a business model

While the war in Iran and the closure of the Hormuz Strait takes the lives of innocent civilians and causes workers everywhere to face a “cost-of-working” crisis, oil giants remain insulated. As shipping chokepoints fail, prices soar—eating up wages and leaving less for rent and healthcare. This isn’t an accident; it’s the system working as designed. By keeping the world dependent on a resource that is easy to monopolize, the polluting elite builds crisis into their business model.

Breaking the “Jobs vs. Climate” myth

For too long, we’ve been told that we must choose between a healthy planet and a stable job. This is a false choice, engineered by the same polluting elite who benefit from keeping us divided. In reality, the fossil fuel industry has spent years automating jobs and cutting worker protections to maximize shareholder returns, all while leaving communities to deal with the toxic fallout. Climate work isn’t “anti-worker”—it is the ultimate labor demand. It is the demand for a Just Transition where workers aren’t just an afterthought, but the architects of a new economy. We aren’t fighting for “fewer jobs”; we are fighting for better jobs—roles in homegrown energy, expanded transit, and resilient housing that offer dignity, long-term security, and a life free from the boom-and-bust cycles of oil.

Where do climate solutions come in?

Climate solutions are the tools we use to break the grip of this common enemy. Just as the labor movement of 1886 rose up against the industrial elite who squeezed workers for profit, today’s climate movement is taking on the fossil fuel giants thriving on war and extraction. We are fighting for the same goal: sovereignty. Whether it is a union demanding a living wage or a community demanding a decentralized solar grid, we are seeking to shift power back to the people. Because transport accounts for 60% of global oil use, reclaiming our mobility is a worker’s right. Climate solutions like mass public transport, energy-efficient housing, and homegrown renewables are the modern frontlines of justice.

#WorkersDeserveBetter

Stability is only possible when we redirect public funds away from fueling war and padding corporate subsidies, and toward the essentials for a good life: universal healthcare, affordable housing, and clean, reliable public transport. By dismantling our dependence on the volatile, combustible fuels controlled by autocrats and billionaires, we aren’t just cutting emissions—we are winning back the dignity and peace of mind that workers have been marching, and dying, for since the very first May Day.

Check out how workers around the world fight together to demand improved labor rights.

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Learn more about existing solutions through this Greenpeace interactive map.

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Yewande Omotoso is a Story Manager for Greenpeace International

On International Worker’s Day, Greenpeace activists and volunteers joined our trade union allies in the streets around the world because we are united by common values. 

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Greenpeace organisations all over the world are also facing the same coordinated attacks from the same forces seeking to undermine rights, protections and democratic freedoms. 

It will take a united movement to face down the corporate bullies and autocrats who are trying to grab control of our rights and freedoms. 

For too long, environmental activism has been viewed as a separate movement from trade unionism or human rights or press freedom. In reality, our struggles are interconnected and our successes are interdependent. We are stronger together.

The world is resisting a billionaire takeover and increasing corporate impunity: an insidious alliance of corporate bullies, oligarchs, and autocrats who are aggressively threatening our rights and freedoms. Billionaires and the reactionary forces they bankroll are actively trying to roll back decades of hard-won environmental, labour and civic protections, pointing the finger at the most vulnerable communities and seeking to divide the very people they exploit.

It’s time to resist. United!

Rising attacks on workers and environmental defenders 

Across the world, trade union leaders are facing charges, arbitrary arrests, and violent attacks merely for exercising their democratic freedoms. At the same time, massive fossil fuel corporations are using their vast wealth to prosecute environmental defenders with abusive lawsuits.

We know that freedoms are not isolated. Union-busting; crackdowns on the right to organise, protest and strike; attacks on press freedom or the use of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) are all part of the same pattern of intimidation by the same type of bullies. Our power to resist these attacks lies in our solidarity. We cannot stay silent when one sector is attacked. They want to isolate us from each other, as individuals but also as movements. 

Defending the rights to free speech, strike and protest

In mid-April, the inaugural hearing in Greenpeace International’s landmark anti-SLAPP case against Energy Transfer in the European Union took place in Amsterdam. With this case, Greenpeace International seeks relief from the ongoing harm caused by the oil pipeline giant’s absurd back-to-back SLAPP lawsuits against Greenpeace International and Greenpeace organisations in the US for displaying solidarity with the Indigenous-led Standing Rock movement. Energy Transfer’s SLAPP lawsuits are an attempt to silence a popular movement and we cannot let them win. Greenpeace International’s case in Amsterdam is the biggest test to date of the new EU anti-SLAPP directive. It is bigger than Greenpeace because it can set a precedent for all popular, social movements around the world. It is an act of resistance against the billionaire-backed corporate playbook that seeks to export abusive litigations worldwide. The transposition of the EU directive into national laws, which needs to happen in each member state by 7 May must serve as a crucial shield to protect civil society from silencing tactics.

Simultaneously, the global labour movement is fighting a historic battle to protect a crucial pillar of workers’ rights: the right to strike. In October 2025, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and other international organisations presented oral arguments before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in defence of the fundamental freedom of workers to withdraw their labour in order to stop abusive, unjust or unsafe working conditions and improve standards for all workers. Strikes have played a crucial part in history, winning for millions of workers worldwide the right to shorter working hours, safe contracts, vacation and better wages. Around the world, international labour organisations, like ITUC, Public Services International (PSI),and UNI Global Union are working tirelessly to defend workers’ rights and safety. Yet there are still two  billion workers who lack formal contracts and social protections. Among them are countless platform workers, many of them migrants, subjected to the tyranny of Big Tech billionaires and fighting alongside the ITUC to win an International Labour Organisation convention on platform work. In many workplaces workers still risk their lives, collapsing from heat or exhaustion. By fighting for the right to strike and a convention on platform work, we are facing down bullying employers everywhere.

Corporate bullies fear people power 

There is no doubt that billionaire corporate bullies and autocrats know that we, the people, can band together, face them down, and win. 

They want us isolated, but we are joining together, finding common ground, and forging deeper connections. This  International Workers’ Day, the  growing solidarity was on display as citizens around the world —including environmental activists and Greenpeace staff and volunteers — marched united. 

It’s time to resist! Together! 

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Sanna Ghotbi & Kasey Valente are the Allyship co-leads for Greenpeace International’s Civic Resistance & Freedoms Programme 

In November 2025, Cyclone Ditwah tore through Sri Lanka with devastating force. In the days after, the air felt heavy with silence. Not the quiet kind of silence, but the kind that follows destruction when people are still processing the shock of what has just happened. 

More than 600 people lost their lives. Over 300,000 were displaced. Homes, fishing boats, crops, and coastal ecosystems were destroyed. The damage crossed USD $4 billion dollars and entire communities had to rebuild from the ground up.  But numbers never tell the full story.

They cannot capture the loss of a childhood home, the destruction of a fishing boat passed down through generations, or the disappearance of a temple, a playground, or a coastline that was once home to an entire community.

When disaster hits, communities respond first

In the immediate aftermath of the cyclone, people did not wait for help to arrive. Communities organised themselves, supported each other, and shared what little they had.

Greenpeace South Asia opened its office as a relief collection centre, mobilising volunteers and distributing essential supplies to affected families. It was a rapid response built on solidarity.

But even as relief efforts were underway, a deeper question began to take shape.

Why are communities always the first to respond to climate disasters, while the biggest polluters, who hold the greatest responsibility for the climate crisis, remain absent?

Changing the narrative around climate disasters

Cyclone Ditwah was not just another extreme weather event. Scientific analysis from World Weather Attribution confirmed what many already knew, climate change made rainfall 160% more intense than it would have been without the human-induced global warming of 1.3°C above pre-industrial levels. 

Sri Lanka also contributes less than 0.1% of global emissions. But like many climate disasters, communities who hold the least responsibility suffer the most devastating losses. 

This shifted the conversation.

Instead of treating Ditwah as an isolated tragedy, Greenpeace South Asia began building a public narrative around climate accountability, non-economic loss and damage, and the responsibility of major polluters.

Through media engagement, opinion pieces, interviews, and international coverage, the message was clear: communities should not be left to bear the cost of a crisis they did not create.

The call was simple and urgent: Polluters Must Pay.

Listening to the stories behind the numbers

Soon after, the Greenpeace South Asia team, along with journalists and researchers, travelled to the affected areas across Sri Lanka’s Central Highlands to document what communities were experiencing on the ground.

Families spoke about losing their homes, but also their memories. Communities spoke about the impact on children’s mental health and education, the disappearance of cultural spaces, damaged coastlines, and the loss of safety and belonging. Fisherfolk spoke about uncertainty, and young people spoke about fear for their future. These immeasurable losses are examples of what climate experts call non-economic loss and damage. 

To better understand the scale of impact, the team conducted spatial analysis based on satellite mapping gathered through Geographical Information Systems (GIS). These maps indicate an obvious connection between increased loss of vegetation, surface water accumulation, and greater disaster risk in the affected areas. The gathered evidence of environmental degradation, loss of vegetation, and poor planning showed how human decisions and climate change together shape disasters.

The findings reinforced a critical point: climate disasters are not just natural events; they are political and economic failures.

Communities as leaders, not victims

One of the strongest lessons from Ditwah was the role of communities as first responders.

Local heroes stepped forward, rescuing neighbours, organising relief, and supporting recovery efforts long before external help arrived. Informal networks became lifelines, ensuring that vulnerable families were not left behind.

Women, in particular, played a central role.

They organised food distribution, supported families, coordinated relief efforts, and kept communities functioning during the most difficult days. Yet, like in many climate disasters around the world, their leadership often remains invisible in formal decision-making spaces.

To recognise this, Greenpeace South Asia worked with the community in Manaar, one of the most impacted regions. Together, we created a mural on International Women’s Day that now stands as a reminder of the importance of women’s leadership and their key role in ensuring community resilience and climate justice.

From documentation to accountability

The stories, field research, and expert discussions that followed the cyclone led to the development of a climate accountability Issue Brief focused on Non-Economic Loss and Damage.

Experts from climate science, gender justice, political economy, and social policy came together to highlight a major gap in global climate response: the world still struggles to recognise and address losses that cannot be quantified in financial terms.

This gap has real consequences.

When non-economic losses are ignored, communities lose their histories, identities, and security without recognition or support. When polluters are not held accountable, the cycle of destruction continues.

Greenpeace South Asia aimed to change this via the Crisis to Collective project, to connect community experiences with global climate justice conversations and push for stronger accountability mechanisms.

Building resilience for the future

The project is now moving into its next phase, supporting the development of climate-resilient community spaces in one of the most affected areas.

These spaces are not just physical structures. They represent preparedness, collective action, and long-term resilience. They are places where communities can organise, share knowledge, and strengthen their ability to respond to future climate shocks.

A collective call to action

What began as a tragedy transformed into a movement for climate accountability, led by solidarity, storytelling, research, and advocacy. It showed that climate justice is not just about responding to disasters. It is about addressing the systems that cause them in the first place.

The fossil-fuel industry continues to profit while vulnerable communities pay the price. Governments continue to delay meaningful climate action while frontline communities rebuild again and again.

This needs to change. Polluters must pay for the damage they cause.

Non-Economic Loss and Damage must be recognised in climate policy, and communities must be at the centre of climate decision-making.

Ireland— On 8 May 2026, Greenpeace departs on a month-long mission to the Arctic deep-sea. The Deep Arctic Expedition brings together world-leading scientists to explore Arctic seamounts and hydrothermal vent fields – ecosystems so remote they remain largely a mystery to humanity.

“We are sailing into the planet’s uncharted and unexplored territory and will probably find new species that haven’t been described and named up to now,” said Dr. Paco Cárdenas, deep-sea sponge expert at the Museum of Evolution, Uppsala University. “These animals have survived for hundreds of millions of years, and we are connected to them in many ways. They are the chemical libraries of the ocean, holding potential cures for diseases and have the important function of cleaning our oceans. To lose these species before we even understand them would be a tragedy of global proportions. It’s essential that we protect them.”

The area of the expedition was opened for deep sea mining by the Norwegian government in 2024, but was halted last year after protests from environmental organisations, scientists and the green opposition parties in Norway.[1] Deep sea mining would, according to many scientists, cause irreversible damage to vulnerable deep-sea ecosystems, including the destruction of habitats, and possibly species extinction.

The expedition will focus on exploring seamounts, which are biodiversity hotspots in the deep sea, and hydrothermal vent fields – underwater volcanic hot springs that support life in total darkness. Greenpeace and the external scientists onboard will be livestreaming from depths down to 3000 metres.[2]

Dr. Anne Helene Tandberg, from the University Museum of Bergen, is a specialist on the crustaceans that live in these environments, and has described many species previously unknown to man. She also works with Red Listing marine species and habitats and provides scientific background for establishing Marine Protected Areas. She emphasizes the connectivity of these ecosystems.

“The Nordic and Arctic deep seas are the heartbeat of our northern oceans,” says Dr. Tandberg. “From the smallest amphipod to the largest seamount, these sites are interconnected. We see this in both species composition and genetic variability. We aren’t just looking at rocks, animals and water; we are documenting the vital organs of a global ecosystem that keeps our planet habitable.”

The Arctic is one of the most rapidly changing and underprotected regions on Earth. As the industrial frontier expands toward the deep sea, Greenpeace warns that unique ‘biodiversity hotspots’ are now at risk of irreversible disruption.

“We cannot protect what we do not know,” said Dr. Sandra Schöttner, chief scientist with Greenpeace International. “This expedition will gather scientific evidence of the Arctic’s vulnerable deep-sea ecosystems. By safeguarding these waters in a network of ocean sanctuaries, we can create a resilient safety net for marine life and protect the health of our global oceans for generations to come. 

The expedition will conclude in Bergen, Norway in early June, presenting its initial findings to the public and policy-makers. Greenpeace is campaigning globally for a moratorium on deep sea mining and to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030.

ENDS

Photos, video and maps available in the Greenpeace Media Library. 

Notes:
[1] Deep-sea mining: Norway halts controversial practice until 2029 (Euronews)

[2] Expedition dates: 8 May – 5 June. Livestreams from the Arctic seabed are planned between 15-30 May. Scientists onboard from Sweden (Uppsala University), Spain (University of Madrid), Norway (University in Bergen), and Germany (Senckenberg Society for Nature Research). Languages spoken: English, French, German, Spanish/Catalan, Norwegian, Swedish

[3] Greenpeace International, Greenpeace Germany and Greenpeace Nordicare leading the Deep Arctic Expedition.

Contact:
Daniel Bengtsson, Communications Lead Onboard, Greenpeace Nordic, +46 70 300 9510 (Whatsapp/Signal), daniel.bengtsson@greenpeace.org

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