London, United Kingdom – Activists on board the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise have successfully placed giant boulders onto the seabed in the Southern North Sea – the UK’s most bottom-trawled offshore Marine Protected Area (MPA) – forming an underwater barrier to prevent the destructive fishing method. 

Using boulders signed by UK MPs and prominent figures including actors Simon Pegg and Benedict Cumberbatch, the Greenpeace UK activists formed an underwater barrier effectively closing 116 km² along England’s east coast, as new analysis by Greenpeace UK reveals bottom trawlers spent at least 37,200 hours in 2025 alone fishing in this MPA – created to protect harbour porpoises.[1][2]

A new Greenpeace International report found that at the current rate of progress, it could take 265 years to fully protect 30% of the ocean, which scientists say is the minimum required to give it a chance at recovery. The report shows only 3.5% of the world’s ocean is currently fully or highly protected, and just 1% of UK waters.[3] 

Will McCallum, co-executive director of Greenpeace UK said: “Destruction on a huge scale is happening near our shores out of sight, in places we’re told are ‘Marine Protected Areas’. Hulking great ships prowl our oceans day after day, stripping them of fish and killing precious wildlife like dolphins, sharks and sea birds.

“With our ship and a movement behind us, we’re doing what the government isn’t: Protecting our seas. We’re setting a bold challenge to ministers: Ban destructive fishing across all our protected waters at home, and lead the charge for a network of global ocean sanctuaries across the Atlantic.”

New analysis from Greenpeace UK shows that in 2025, bottom trawlers and dredgers churned up a cumulative 55,600 km² of seabed inside the UK’s Marine Protected Areas, equivalent to almost the size of Croatia.[4] According to the findings, trawlers and dredgers spent at least 115,000 hours towing gear along the seabed inside these MPAs in 2025 – the equivalent of more than 13 years of non-stop fishing.

Despite its status as a ‘Marine Protected Area’, there are currently no restrictions on fishing activity in most of the Southern North Sea MPA, meaning bottom-trawlers, dredgers and other industrial vessels threaten the porpoise population daily. The Arctic Sunrise will remain in the area to monitor any other types of destructive industrial fishing.

Governments around the world committed to a global target to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030. The Arctic Sunrise action comes as progress towards this target is revealed at the UN biodiversity conference (CBD COP17) in Armenia. 

ENDS

Photo and video are available in the Greenpeace Media Library

Notes: 

[1] Estimates based on an analysis of data from Global Fishing Watch. Methodology and calculations are available on request.

[2] The Southern North Sea MPA is identified as an area of importance for harbour porpoise.

[3] Press release: At current rate it will take 265 years to reach crucial target to protect 30% of the ocean – but sanctuary networks could save it. Report: WELL CONNECTED: Protecting the Atlantic High Seas through an ocean-wide sanctuary network  

Just over 10% (43 out of 378) of the UK’s MPAs are fully protected by law from destructive bottom-trawling.

[4] Greenpeace UK analysed Global Fishing Watch data on apparent fishing activity in 2025 and found that bottom-towed fishing gear was dragged across a cumulative 55,600 km² of seabed inside the UK’s offshore Marine Protected Areas. This figure counts every pass of the gear, so seabed trawled more than once is counted each time. It measures the total amount of bottom trawling, not the area of seabed that was trawled. Repeated trawling in an area compounds the damage to the ecosystem.

Contact:

Greenpeace UK Press Office, press.uk@greenpeace.org, 0207 865 8255

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

Note: This release was edited on 2/11/2026 to correct the equivalent size of seabed area inside the UK’s Marine Protected Areas churned up by bottom trawlers and dredgers in 2025 to almost the size of Croatia.

Amsterdam – Greenpeace has called on governments meeting at the UN climate change conference COP31 next week to take urgent action to transition away from fossil fuels and step up climate finance as two major reports warned of the growing risk to the world’s cryosphere from global heating. 

The reports from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative (ICCI) outlined the large-scale and in many cases irreversible impacts to the the world’s melting ice sheets, permafrost, glaciers and sea ice as the global temperature edges towards an overshoot of the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C global warming goal.

Dr. Jerry Jose, Senior Scientist at the Greenpeace International Science Unit said: “The accelerating loss of ice is an emergency demanding immediate and far-reaching action to limit the extent and duration of a 1.5°C overshoot. What we must understand is that the impacts to the cryosphere during overshoot are irreversible in most cases in human relevant time scales and will have global implications. 

“What was once viewed as a far-off consequence of climate change, the world’s melting ice is now impacting everyday life: accelerated global sea-level rise, reduced water security and worsening mountain hazards. The question now is how fast these changes will happen and what decisions governments take to reduce the rate of ice loss and avoid the worst impacts of overshoot.”

The reports, Overshoot and the Cryosphere: Averting Global Meltdown – a ‘thematic’ companion to the UNEP’s recent Limiting Overshoot Report – and the accompanying report State of the Cryosphere 2026, examine the impacts of overshoot on the cryosphere and outline the threats which may exceed the limits of adaptation and cause extensive loss and damage.[1]

In combination, the UNEP and ICCI reports detail a range of actions to reduce global temperatures down from overshoot to slow down the rate of sea-level rise to an ‘adaptable’ level, potentially halt and partially reverse glacier, snowpack and sea ice loss and to limit the damage from impacts such as the destabilisation of permafrost. 

Avinash Kumar, Deputy Program Director at Greenpeace South Asia said: “These reports highlight how the heartbreaking tragedy from the glacier collapse in Nepal might not be the last and reinforce why action is needed now more than ever. More than 1,500 lives were lost in the August mudslide and although the UN’s Loss and Damage fund has contributed USD$20 million in aid for Nepal, the reconstruction bill is close to USD$5 billion. This is what climate injustice looks like.[2]

“But the costs of global inaction should not be borne by the families, communities and governments of nations struggling to recover from one disaster after another. Instead, all governments around the world must respond to disasters like this not only with emergency relief, but also with action to prevent the next one and that starts at COP31.”

At COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, Greenpeace is calling for concrete progress on the just transition away from fossil fuels, alongside scaled up climate finance to fund the transition in developing countries, making those most responsible for climate pollution pay for the crisis they’ve caused. Greenpeace is also calling for the implementation of developed countries’ commitment to at least triple adaptation finance by 2035, aligning with the $120 billion Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) agreed at COP30 in 2025.[3]

ENDS

Notes:

[1] UNEP: Limiting Overshoot
[2] UN Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage 
[3] Greenpeace: COP31 Priorities and Expectations

Contact:
Aaron Gray-Block, Greenpeace International, Climate Politics Communications Manager, aaron.gray-block@greenpeace.org

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

Yerevan, Armenia – COP17 charted a course for the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF), but did not deliver a response matching the urgency outlined by the Global Report.[1]

With only four years to 2030, the world is seriously off track to meet the KM-GBF targets. Critical barriers to make sufficient finance move in the right direction remain unresolved, while efforts to weaken explicit recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ rights raise serious concerns over respect for their rights, including their self-determination.

Governments must translate their promises into concrete action at home, backed by sufficient finance, an end to incentives for nature destruction, and respect for Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ rights. COP17’s true legacy will ultimately be measured by progress on the ground.

An Lambrechts, Biodiversity Politics Expert, Greenpeace International said: “COP17 has delivered steady progress rather than big headlines, and has kept things moving forward. But the pace and scale of action still fall short of what the biodiversity crisis demands. Political promises made in Yerevan set good intentions, but won’t remove major roadblocks to implementation such as insufficient finance, fiscal and debt constraints, the nearly empty coffers of the Cali Fund and urgent reform of harmful subsidies.

The private sector must be held accountable too. Giant corporations did everything they could to keep the Cali Fund voluntary two years ago, and then did everything they could to stop the fund from working in Yerevan. It is unacceptable that big multinational corporations are turning massive profits from what they take from nature while contributing very little to its protection and leaving people across the world to face the impacts of the biodiversity crisis.” 

Bonaventure Bono, Forest and Biodiversity Campaigner, Greenpeace Africa said: “COP17 failed to recognise the right to self-determination of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, nor did it set out strong language on their rights. Governments cannot claim to be on track to achieve the 2030 biodiversity targets while diminishing the rights and contributions of those who protect nature. Creating institutional spaces for Indigenous Peoples and local communities is not enough. What matters is ensuring their genuine influence over its governance, their meaningful participation, equitable representation and ability to take decisions affecting their territories, rights and future. Those who protect biodiversity must not be denied the power to shape its future. Without their rights, leadership and self-determination, the 2030 targets will remain out of reach.” 

Camila Jardim, Political Expert, Greenpeace Brazil said: “COP17 sends an important signal for the protection of the world’s forests. The climate and biodiversity crises are twin emergencies requiring aligned responses – and forests are at the crossroads of those crises. Halting and reversing deforestation by 2030 is essential to limit global heating, build climate resilience, and protect high-integrity forests. 2030 is fast approaching and governments must accelerate progress towards climate and biodiversity targets to avoid surpassing non-negotiable limits. In this critical context, the upcoming launch of the 2030 Forest Roadmap right before COP31 offers a key opportunity to start solving fragmented forest governance. Operating at the intersection of climate and nature, this roadmap can generate the political momentum needed to enhance transparency, ensure inclusive participation – especially for Indigenous Peoples and local communities – and drive meaningful change.”

Jehki Härkönen, Senior Policy Advisor, Greenpeace Nordic said: “The results of the CBD’s Global Review make clear that governments have made woefully slow progress in protecting the ocean, and that they need to urgently accelerate actions at home and on high seas to be on track to achieve the 2030 biodiversity targets. Today, only a tiny percentage of our ocean is fully protected from the enormous industrial fishing boats that take millions of tonnes of marine life every single year. That’s why governments must use the first ocean COP in New York this January to turn commitments into concrete protection, creating large marine protected areas that are off limits to industrial fishing and other destructive activities. This is a critical opportunity to make up for lost time and give ocean life the space it needs to recover from decades of destruction.”

ENDS

Notes:

[1] Global review of collective progress in the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework

Photo and Video are available in the Greenpeace Media Library.

Contacts:

Diego Gonzaga, Communications Lead at CBD COP17, Greenpeace International, +1 415 527 9440, dgonzaga@greenpeace.org

Jaqueline Sordi, Media Lead at CBD COP17, Greenpeace International, +55 51 99678 9048, jsordi@greenpeace.org

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

Amsterdam – The world’s biggest fossil fuel corporations continue to report staggering profits, running into tens of billions every quarter, while households and businesses face soaring energy costs, exposing how fossilflation makes ordinary people pay for a system that destroys the climate and rewards oil and gas giants when crises hit.

BP, Chevron and ExxonMobil today reported third-quarter profits of US$8.5 billion, US$ 10.4 billion and US$ 17.5 billion, respectively. Together with results reported earlier this month by Shell, TotalEnergies, Eni and Equinor the seven corporations’ combined third-quarter profits  amount to almost US$63 billion.

Rebecca Newsom, Global Political Lead at Greenpeace International, said: “Every time a crisis pushes up the prices, the same oil and gas giants are there to cash in. This is fossilflation. The rest of us pay, at the pump, at the checkout, and again through the climate disasters driven by the fuels the industry intends to extract down to the last barrel. This is where decades of fossil fuel dependence have led us, and governments that keep letting these corporations off the hook are leaving households to foot the bill.

“It doesn’t have to be this way. If governments permanently increase taxes on oil and gas profits and clamp down on corporate profit shifting, hundreds of billions of dollars could be raised, while supercharging a shift in investment towards cleaner, more secure renewable energy. That revenue should protect communities from price shocks and extreme weather, and accelerate a just transition away from fossil fuels.”

Across the seven corporations, third-quarter profits were around US$38 billion higher than in the same period last year. The combined total for the first three quarters of 2026 now stands at US$150 billion. 

The profits come as inflation puts renewed pressure on already stretched household budgets. Euro area annual inflation rose to 3.8% in September, up from 3.2% in August, with energy prices rising 18.8% year on year.[1] Disruptions to global fuel supplies following the war on Iran have pushed up fuel costs, with the effects reaching transport, agriculture and freight, and threatening to feed through to food and other essentials.

With COP31 opening in Türkiye on 9 November, the next round of Global Tax Treaty negotiations beginning in Kenya on 30 November, and two major EU Council Summits in November and December where this issue is likely to be discussed, governments face a clear choice: continue an energy system that leaves people vulnerable to fossil fuel price shocks, or speed up and properly fund a just transition away from coal, oil and gas. 

Greenpeace International is calling for an end to new fossil fuel expansion and science-based timelines for phasing out production and consumption, faster deployment of decentralised renewable energy, and permanently higher taxes on fossil fuel profits at the national, regional and global level.[2]

ENDS

Notes

[1] https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-euro-indicators/w/2-16102026-ap 

[2] Greenpeace is calling on governments to permanently increase taxes on oil and gas profits to reduce our dependence on this polluting industry for good. 

[3] Greenpeace International’s new ’fossilflation’ report examines how oil and gas price shocks drive inflation and expose households to geopolitical crises. The report argues that accelerating decentralised renewable energy and electrification can reduce this risk.

Contact:

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

The latest oil price shock has exposed a problem that goes far beyond the war on Iran and its devastating human and environmental consequences. New Greenpeace International analysis shows how dependence on fossil fuels leaves household budgets exposed to volatile international markets, with price shocks feeding through into the wider economy.

Between January and August 2026, fossil fuel prices accounted for the entire 1.5 percentage point rise in eurozone inflation, according to the analysis. Without the oil price shock, eurozone inflation in August would have been 2.2 per cent, rather than 3.2 per cent.

This is fossilflation. And it is a problem that will keep returning for as long as our economies depend on fossil fuels.

When oil and gas prices rise, people can end up paying more for essentials. The war on Iran has exposed this vulnerability again. Dependence on fossil fuels leaves people’s living costs tied to conflict, disrupted supplies and volatile international markets.

Download the Report

Fossil fuels keep exporting crises into our homes

People around the world already know what fossilflation feels like. When oil and gas prices rise, the effects reach far beyond the petrol station or the energy bill. They ripple through transport, food production, manufacturing and the cost of everyday goods and services.

The latest price shock has been felt globally, but not equally. While the analysis focuses on Europe and the US, the consequences extend to regions such as Southeast Asia and Africa, where households and economies often have less capacity to absorb higher prices. Rising costs can push essential goods and energy further out of reach, compounding existing inequalities.

The result is an economic system in which people have little control over the forces driving their living costs. A war or disruption thousands of kilometres away can send prices soaring at home, regardless of whether households have changed how much energy they use.

An inherent feature, not a bug

The new analysis shows just how strongly energy prices have shaped inflation in recent years. Energy prices drove 100 per cent of changes in inflation in the US and in the Eurozone so far in 2026.

Before the pandemic, the figures were already high: 71 per cent in the eurozone and 93 per cent in the US. This suggests fossilflation is not simply a temporary consequence of an exceptional crisis. It is a recurring vulnerability built into an economy that remains dependent on volatile fossil fuel markets.

Interest rate rises cannot fix the underlying problem. Central banks can try to dampen inflation by reducing demand, but they cannot stop wars, prevent disruptions to oil and gas supplies or make international fossil fuel prices predictable. Higher borrowing costs can add pressure for households and local businesses without removing the source of the shock.

As long as fossil fuels remain central to our energy systems, the next disruption will trigger another wave of price rises. The trigger may change, but the vulnerability remains.

Electrification and renewables offers a way out

The analysis also points to a different future: one in which households are less exposed to fossil fuel price shocks because they generate and use clean energy.

In a simulation, a fully electrified German household using an electric vehicle, heat pump, rooftop solar and battery storage experienced a 1.5 per cent price increase between January and August 2026, compared with 2.5 per cent for the official consumer basket.

This is an illustration of the protection that electrification and locally generated renewable energy can offer. Rooftop solar and batteries can reduce reliance on volatile energy markets. Electric vehicles and heat pumps can replace oil and gas consumption with electricity, increasingly supplied by renewable sources.

The benefits extend beyond individual households. A decentralised renewable energy system, built around clean power generated closer to where it is used, can reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels and give communities greater control over their energy supply.

But these benefits will not reach everyone automatically. Governments must accelerate the transition and ensure households can access the technologies, infrastructure and support they need. People already struggling with energy costs should not be left behind while others benefit from cheaper, cleaner energy.

Replace the system that keeps making people pay

Fossilflation reveals a fundamental contradiction in the current energy system. Governments are expected to protect people from rising living costs, yet continued dependence on fossil fuels leaves people exposed to price shocks governments cannot control.

The answer cannot be to wait for the next crisis and then try to cushion its effects. Nor can it be to treat every price spike as an isolated event. The underlying vulnerability must be addressed.

Governments must speed up the replacement of fossil fuels with decentralised renewable energy and electrification. That means expanding access to clean electricity, accelerating the rollout of solar and batteries, supporting the shift to electric transport and heating, and ensuring the transition benefits households and communities.

The latest data makes clearer what people across the world are already experiencing: fossil fuel dependence is a source of economic instability, not security. The war in Iran has exposed that vulnerability once again. Unless we replace the system that creates it, another shock will come, and people will be left paying the price.

A renewable energy system offers a way to break that cycle: cutting climate pollution while giving people greater protection from volatile international markets and more control over the energy they depend on. 

Martin Zavan is a freelance communications strategist at Greenpeace International, based in Sydney.

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Amsterdam, Netherlands – An alternative greenhouse gas accounting metric being aggressively backed by agribusiness lobbyists would allow major meat and dairy exporting nations to conceal their livestock sector’s impact on global warming by massively overstating methane emissions reductions, new research commissioned by Greenpeace International has revealed.

Sophie Nodzenski, Campaigner at Greenpeace International, said: “Rapid methane cuts give us our best shot at keeping global heating overshoot to a minimum while we decarbonise the global economy. Yet, while temperature overshoot takes center stage at COP31, the industrial livestock lobby is pushing a dangerous accounting trick to shirk its fair share. Changing the metrics to hide real emissions isn’t climate action – it’s shifting the bill for massive pollution onto those least responsible for it.”

The report investigates GWP*, a controversial metric that tracks whether methane emissions are going up or down rather than counting total emission changes. It assumes that steady methane emissions cause no extra warming because methane breaks down quickly – even though it traps 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide in the short term and is responsible for approximately 0.5°C of global heating. 

According to modeling by the think-tank Cerulogy, GWP* allows countries to present negligible cuts in emissions as significant climate victories. A cut of a mere 0.6% in actual methane emissions by the world’s ten largest meat and dairy exporters between 2020 and 2030, could be reported as a 30% reduction under the GWP* metric.

A 30% reduction of actual emissions would allow these countries, if adopting the GWP* metric, to claim their emissions are actually cooling the planet – logging 898 million tonnes of “negative emissions” without making any real change. Under the standard metric, 2030 would still see 640 million tonnes of methane released by livestock into the atmosphere, continuing to massively drive climate heating.[1]

This bookkeeping trick wipes away real-world climate-heating gases, creating a massive 1,538 million tonne gap between reported figures under GWP* and atmospheric reality in a single year. The investigation highlights the extreme scale of these artificial ‘paper’ reductions. 1,538 million tonne of carbon is:

• More than Indonesia’s total national greenhouse gas emissions in 2024.
• 86% of total global aviation emissions recorded in 2023.
• About 6.4 times the annual greenhouse gas footprint of JBS, the world’s largest meat producer, in 2023.
• Equivalent to three times the passenger cars driving across Europe’s streets each year (780 million vehicles).

If some countries unilaterally decide to report their methane emissions using GWP* within the framework of a global climate agreement that was built with absolute reductions in mind, this would effectively wipe massive emissions off the global emissions balance sheet, surreptitiously eating up our remaining carbon budget for limiting warming to 1.5°C. Over the 2020-2030 period, systemic GWP* reporting from these 10 countries would create a cumulative gap of obscured emissions equal to nearly a fifth of the world’s current total annual global greenhouse gas emissions.

The report also highlights a risk of governments using these paper savings in agriculture to justify slower decarbonisation in heavy-polluting fossil fuel sectors. Australia, for example, could use GWP* to report 76 million tonnes of negative emissions to justify continued pollution in its dirty coal sector equivalent to 20 coal-fired power stations running for a year. Meanwhile, the United States could hide emissions equivalent to 86 million passenger cars.

Greenpeace International warns that GWP* is a threat to global climate goals and is urging governments to reject GWP* for national target setting and reporting, establish binding agricultural emissions reduction targets aligned with 1.5°C, and support a just transition toward ecological farming.

ENDS

Notes:

Download the Report: The Methane Scam Briefing
Download the Summary: The Methane Scam Summary

[1] CCAC Secretariat. (2022, April 8). New IPCC report bolsters evidence that methane reductions are key to preventing climate catastrophe. Climate & Clean Air Coalition. 

Contacts:

Joe Evans, Global Comms Lead at Greenpeace UK, +44 7890 595387, joe.evans@greenpeace.org

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

People power in Brazil is what hope looks like. 

For three intense weeks, the people of Brazil took to the streets and ensured their voices were heard when it mattered most. Despite disinformation, denialism, and interference by Big Tech companies, Brazil decided for Brazil to re-elect President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The people power on display in this historic election — it was the first time in Brazil a candidate who finished second in the first round has turned the tide and secured a victory —  matters to the entire world. It strengthens democratic regimes, maintains the commitment to a protected Amazon and the fight against climate change, and joins other governments that already recognise the threat Big Tech poses to national sovereignty and electoral processes.

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Resisting Big Tech’s election interference 

Leading up to the election, Greenpeace Brazil joined CTRL + Z and dozens of other civil society organisations and individuals in signing an open letter calling out the Big Tech for tipping the scales towards far right candidate Senator Flávio Bolsonaro. From AI deepfakes to shadowbans, platforms were violating Brazilian election laws and tilting the scales. 

• Unlabelled Deepfakes: A MonitorA study found 1 in 4 offensive images targeting female candidates showed signs of AI generation circulating with zero labeling.

• Foreign Ad Money: Ekō and NetLab UFRJ documented Meta reportedly accepting foreign payments for ads containing deepfakes and direct attacks on democratic institutions.

• Mass Shadowbans: Student unions, journalists, and voter rights groups reported sudden account suspensions and shadowbans after posting electoral content, without an effective or meaningful process to appeal. 

Autocrats, tech billionaires, and the far right rely on public confusion, exhaustion and cynicism to keep power. But an informed and united movement shatters that playbook every single time. ⁣

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The people have the power 

The autocrats are losing. Not just in Brazil. The same day, Serbia also rejected longtime autocrat Aleksandar Vucic in elections, following a years-long student-led opposition movement.

Autocrats and far right politicians and their tech billionaire enablers rely on public exhaustion to keep their grip. But an organised, united movement shatters their playbook every single time. Remember: we don’t just watch history happen, we build it. ⁣

Lu Sudré is Head of Communications with Greenpeace Brazil.

It’s early morning on Tuesday 20 October and in the heart of Jakarta, a small group of activists scale the iconic statue at Bundaran HI to stage a peaceful protest. They’re demanding urgent climate action and lower cost of living. Two giant banners unfurl bearing messages in Bahasa Indonesia: “Take Action on the Climate Crisis, Bring Down the Cost of Living” and “Disasters are Getting Worse, the People are Struggling, What is the Government Doing?”.

Two women in climbing harnesses and helmets rappel down the Selamat Datang (Welcome) monument, holding spherical signs bearing the slogan, No Progress Without Protest. The internet swiftly crowns them “Queens” for their bravery as they climb to defend our planet and make people look up.

Within hours, photos and videos of the protest are viral on social media prompting a government response, and media coverage has spread around the world. 

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Why are people protesting?

People around the world are protesting to demand justice, equality and a liveable planet.⁣ As the climate crisis accelerates and the everyday cost of living supercharged by fossilflation continues to rise – along with outrage at perceived ineptitude or corruption and inaction of authorities – people are filling the streets to call for change. From Indonesia to France and Albania, students are at the forefront of demonstrations to demand accountability.

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In Indonesia, millions of people are facing the worsening impacts of climate disasters such as flash floods, El Niño-charged drought, and forest and land fires that have triggered prolonged transboundary haze. It’s a crisis that requires governments and companies to accelerate a just global energy transition away from fossil fuels, the biggest driver of climate breakdown, and to end and reverse forest destruction.

The viral banners dropped by Greenpeace Indonesia at Bundaran HI came on a day of protests in several cities across the country, fuelled by anger over the worst toxic haze in over a decade that has engulfed Southeast Asia. Indonesians are demanding action to tackle the fires and toxic smoke that are harming health and claiming lives, including in Central Kalimantan, one of the worst hotspots, and West Kalimantan where conservation groups have evacuated dozens of critically endangered orangutans.

No progress without protest

As crowds and cameras gathered below Jakarta’s landmark Welcome Monument watching banners carrying their messages unfurl, Atha Rasyadi, head of Greenpeace Indonesia’s Social & Economic Campaign, explained why protest is crucial to keep up the pressure for progress: “We cannot continue to remain silent when economic growth only enriches a handful of people, especially with the greedy exploitation of nature, while the others are forced to struggle to survive.⁣”

The protest is another reminder of what hope in action looks like.⁣ In the words of one of the viral banners shared widely across social media, and even rendered as animated illustrations, No progress without protest.

We cannot continue to remain silent when economic growth only enriches a handful of people, especially with the greedy exploitation of nature, while the others are forced to struggle to survive.⁣

Timing is everything

The peaceful protests in Indonesia mark the second year of the current presidency, a time when sentiments are running high around food prices, air pollution and the climate crisis. Sentiments that resonate, not only across Indonesia, but in countries around the world. 

Extreme weather and ecological disasters not only threaten public safety and health but also disrupt livelihoods, suppress incomes and drive up food prices.

“We are amplifying the voices of the public who are urging the Prabowo-Gibran administration to acknowledge the climate crisis, which is increasingly degrading people’s quality of life,” said Jeanny Sirait, a climate justice campaigner with Greenpeace Indonesia. “Extreme weather and ecological disasters not only threaten public safety and health but also disrupt livelihoods, suppress incomes and drive up food prices.”

This is what HOPE in action looks like around the world

Courage and hope are contagious. Across the world, young people are filling the streets to defend each other, their future, and the planet. This generation resists and we’re just starting to see its power!⁣

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People are refusing to accept futures they didn’t choose. From unaffordable homes and underfunded schools to systemic corruption, police brutality, and restrictions on the right to protest, people are organising to demand change. ⁣⁣

While elites feast, people are too often told to tighten their belts and stay quiet. Across Indonesia, and in countries from Albania to Brazil, Kenya, France, Serbia, the UK and the USA, protesters are demanding an end to corruption and the freedom to speak out without intimidation. An informed, united movement is unstoppable and these huge mobilisations bring hope. 

Hope isn’t something you watch, it’s something you DO. This is what HOPE looks like – share this post to help amplify beautiful moments of people rising for a different future.

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Using creativity and conversation, we can challenge the billionaires and companies trying to silence us. Here are a few ideas.

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Amsterdam, Netherlands – Between January and August 2026, energy prices accounted for the entire rise in eurozone inflation from 1.7% to 3.2%, according to new Greenpeace International analysis that exposes the scale of fossilflation.

Without the oil price shock driven by the US-Israel war on Iran, eurozone inflation in August would have been 2.2%, rather than 3.2%. The findings show how fossil fuel dependence leaves households exposed to price shocks, which in turn have an impact on the wider economy.[1]

John Noël, campaigner at Greenpeace International, said: “The problem is bigger than any single conflict or oil price spike. As long as economies remain tied to volatile fossil fuel markets, repeated disruptions are hitting household costs. Governments must protect people from rampant fossilflation by replacing the fossil fuel system with decentralised renewable energy and electrification.”

The report found that energy prices accounted for 97% of fluctuations in eurozone inflation since 2024, when the temporary distortions of the pandemic years had cleared, demonstrating that fossilflation is a recurring source of economic instability that needs to be addressed by governments and central banks, rather than being treated as a temporary phenomenon that is outside of their scope.

The analysis also found that households can be protected from that economic exposure by switching to renewable energy like wind and solar, and electrified technologies powered by electricity instead of fossil fuels. In an illustrative simulation, a fully electrified German household using an electric vehicle, heat pump, rooftop solar and battery storage faced a 1.5% price increase between January and August 2026, compared with 2.5% for a standard household using the official consumer basket.

Noël added: “While fossil fuel companies are making obscene profits, people are increasingly struggling to make ends meet. Renewable energy can protect households and give them more control over their bills. Rooftop solar, batteries, electric vehicles, public transport and heat pumps can reduce the exposure of countries, families and businesses to volatile fossil fuel markets. Central banks need to recognise fossil fuels as an economic risk and governments must accelerate the shift to decentralised renewable energy systems that shield people and local businesses from recurring price shocks, rather than leaving them exposed.”

Greenpeace is calling on governments to speed up the shift from fossil fuels to decentralised renewable energy and electrification, which can be funded by introducing permanent taxes on oil and gas companies’ profits. Replacing dependence on volatile international oil and gas markets with clean energy generated closer to home would help protect household budgets from future price shocks while cutting climate pollution as part of a just energy transition.

ENDS

Notes:

[1] Fossilflation: how oil and gas prices drive inflation and how households can be protected

The research relies on official consumer inflation datasets and recognised international commodity benchmark databases. Consumer price index (CPI/HICP) time series and basket weightings were sourced directly from Eurostat and the European Central Bank (ECB) for the Euro Area and Destatis for Germany. Global energy benchmark prices—including Brent crude in euros and Dutch TTF natural gas—were compiled via market databases like Macrobond. Using these official figures, the analysis used econometric methods—including variance decomposition, local projections, OLS regressions, and counterfactual index modeling—to isolate fossil energy pass-through and simulate household electrification savings.

Contacts:

John Noël, Campaigner, Greenpeace International, jnoel@greenpeace.org

Dr. Mauricio Vargas, Economist and Financial Expert, +49 151 11765567, mvargas@greenpeace.org

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

When oil and gas prices rise, people can end up paying more for essentials. The war on Iran has exposed this vulnerability again. Dependence on fossil fuels leaves people’s living costs tied to conflict, disrupted supplies and volatile international markets.

Download the Report

Written by Dr Mauricio Vargas, an economist at Greenpeace Germany, and published by Greenpeace International, this report examines fossilflation, the inflationary pressure caused by rising fossil fuel prices. Drawing on data for the eurozone and Germany, it investigates how energy prices drive changes in inflation and how renewable energy and electrification can reduce exposure to price shocks.

Key findings

• Energy drove the total rise in eurozone inflation in 2026. The annual inflation rate increased from 1.7% in January to 3.2% in August. Energy’s contribution more than accounted for that increase, while other components partly offset it.
  
• Without the oil-price shock, August inflation would have been substantially lower. The analysis estimates a eurozone inflation rate of 2.2%, rather than 3.2%, had oil prices remained at their January level.
  
• Energy has been a major source of inflation volatility. Energy accounted for 97% of fluctuations in the eurozone’s overall inflation rate between January 2024 and August 2026. This measures movements in the inflation rate, not the proportion of every price increase caused by energy.
  
• Electrification and renewables can help protect people from fuel-price shocks. In a German household simulation using electric heating and transport, solar panels and battery storage, the modelled mix of consumer purchases rose in price by 1.5% between January and August 2026, compared with 2.5% for the official consumer basket. The simulation excludes upfront investment costs and does not guarantee the same savings for everyone. 

Reducing fossil fuel dependence can help protect people’s budgets

The report argues that replacing oil and gas with renewable electricity should be part of governments’ response to rising living costs. Changing fossil fuel suppliers does not remove exposure to international fuel-price shocks. Investment in decentralised renewable energy, storage, electricity networks and electric heating and transport can help reduce that dependence. 

Greenpeace calls for peace and action to protect people from the costs of fossil fuel dependence. Governments must make the transition accessible, including to people who cannot afford the upfront costs of cleaner energy and transport. Renewable energy is not just a climate tool; it must be taken as an urgent measure for peace and economic security.

Download the report:

Fossilflation: how oil and gas prices drive inflation and how households can be protected