Belém, Brazil – Brazilian artivist Mundano delivered, in partnership with Greenpeace a striking art installation to demand world leaders take bold action for forests at COP30, today. Mundano wrote the message “COP30: Rise for Forests” with transparent ink, and used ashes taken from forest fires in the Amazon to reveal the text. The ashes used in the performance were taken from the Anambé Indigenous land, near Belém, in 2024, when the territory was impacted by forest fires.
Carolina Pasquali, Executive Director, Greenpeace Brazil said: “Time is running out at COP30. We cannot leave this COP with symbolic gestures, voluntary commitments or vague promises. We need a concrete, time-bound action plan to end deforestation in all forests by 2030. The Global Stocktake at COP28 recognised this goal, but recognition is not action. This artwork stands here today as a warning and an invitation to negotiators, ministers and governments: the future is burning, and the world is watching. Deliver real action now.”
Mundano, Brazilian artivist said: “Human greed is turning entire ecosystems into ashes, and that is unacceptable. I have walked through burned forests, and the sadness there is profound. That is why, for the past four years, I have been bringing these ashes as a cry to turn burned forests into standing ones.”
At COP 30, Greenpeace and WWF are calling for a new, dedicated 5-year Forest Action Plan to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation by 2030.
Mauricio Voivodic, Executive Director, WWF-Brazil said: “Mundano turns into art a warning that science, Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities have been sounding for decades: without protecting native vegetation, we jeopardise the very continuity of life on Earth. The Amazon is on the brink of a tipping point — a moment after which forest loss becomes irreversible — and there is no room left for hesitation. In the coming days, Parties must show real commitment and deliver an ambitious, concrete and urgent roadmap to end deforestation and the conversion of native forests by 2030.”
Mundano is a Brazilian artivist and advocate for environmental and human rights causes. In recent years, he has been collecting residues from some of the biggest environmental crimes in Brazil, creating his own paint from toxic mud, ashes from forest fires, and oil spilled on the beaches of Brazil’s Northeast. Through his artivism, he works to fight the climate emergency.
The world’s shared promise to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels is hanging by a thread. The 2024 global temperature exceeded the 1.5°C threshold for the first time, and scientists now warn that we may temporarily overshoot this critical limit in the years ahead. This is not the moment to surrender. It is the moment to act.
There is no climate cliff at 1.5°C and no single point of no return, but there is no safe level of warming either. Every fraction of a degree avoided means lives, cultures, and ecosystems preserved. Each tonne of carbon we prevent from entering the atmosphere and each hectare of forest we protect could mean the difference between safety and devastation for millions of people.
We’re midway through one of the most important COPs in years and governments must seize the moment to deliver a Global Response Plan that closes the 1.5°C ambition gap, phases out fossil fuels, ends deforestation, and ensures that those most responsible for the crisis finally pay for the damage they have caused.
The threat is real and the difference between 1.5°C and 3°C is enormous
The world remains on a dangerous path. Currently, we’re facing a predicted global temperature rise of up to 2.5°C by the end of the century. That would mean mass displacement, severe food and water shortages, irreversible ecosystem collapse, and unbearable heat across large parts of the planet.
We are already seeing a glimpse of this future. Unprecedented heatwaves, floods, wildfires, and droughts are devastating lives and livelihoods across every continent. For the most climate-vulnerable communities, a fraction of a degree can decide whether families can remain on ancestral land or are forced to flee.
The solutions are known and achievable. To keep 1.5°C within reach, the world must phase out coal, oil and gas, and end deforestation once and for all.
Fossil fuels are the single biggest driver of climate chaos. Governments must agree to a fair and fast phase-out, while ensuring a just transition for workers and communities. The fossil fuel industry has known about its destructive impact for decades and continues to profit while pushing false solutions such as carbon capture and offsets that delay real change. These distractions cannot replace urgent emission cuts.
At COP30, governments must agree on a five-year Forest Action Plan to protect and restore forests and other vital ecosystems while upholding Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ rights. Protecting forests is protecting our collective future.
The Paris Agreement was built on solidarity, fairness, and shared responsibility. Its 1.5°C limit represents a global safety aspiration for people and the planet. Yet too many governments are failing to meet their own promises.
Meanwhile, the corporations that have driven this crisis—the fossil fuel giants, industrial agribusinesses, and financial institutions that bankroll them—must be held accountable. Polluters must pay for the damage they have caused, and governments must ensure that public money supports solutions, not destruction.
At COP30, countries must now come together to deliver a global response plan to bridge the 1.5°C ambition gap, phase out fossil fuels and close the gap between words and deeds. The world is watching.
Hopelessness only serves those who profit from destruction. The real power to change course lies with people: in Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities defending their forests, in young people taking to the streets, and in movements demanding justice and accountability.
Hope is not naïve optimism. It is courage in motion. Across the world, renewable energy is growing faster than ever, Indigenous leaders are protecting their territories, and courts are delivering landmark rulings holding governments to account. Each of these examples shows that collective action works.
During this second week of COP30, we carry both the weight of responsibility and the strength of solidarity. We can still secure the safest climate possible, but only if we act now, with honesty, urgency, and hope.
Every government at COP30 must now rise to the challenge of keeping 1.5°C within reach.
Belém, Brazil – Ten years after the Paris Agreement, Greenpeace International has launched a new report at COP30, revealing the insufficient climate ambition in the 2035 NDCs of the G20 countries.
The report, 2035 Climate Ambition Gap, was released at the UN climate change conference in Belém as part of Greenpeace’s call for governments to agree on a Global Response Plan to ensure the 1.5°C limit remains in reach.
Tracy Carty, Climate Politics Expert, Greenpeace International said: “When the G20 countries – responsible for 80% of global emissions – deliver collective ambition that falls dangerously short, the world has a problem. With 85% of the global economy behind them, the G20’s decisions shape trade, investment and technology worldwide. Their choices will make or break the 1.5°C goal, but their plans amount to just a 23-29% cut in emissions towards the 60% reduction globally that is needed.”
“Given their historic responsibility for emissions and greater capacity to act, developed G20 countries should be out front, cutting emissions far in excess of the 60% global average needed. But taken together, G20 developed country NDCs amount to only a 51% – 57% cut from 2019 levels – a striking failure to lead from those expected to drive global ambition.”
The Greenpeace analysis also assessed the energy related content of G20 NDCs and found that none of them have credible plans to phase out the fuels driving the climate crisis.
Carty added: “G20 countries are home to the world’s largest producers and consumers of fossil fuels which are driving the climate crisis, yet none of their 2035 NDCs include credible plans to phase them out. Developed countries in particular have the greatest responsibility to lead and move first, but their NDCs fall far short of what science and fairness demand.”
Jasper Inventor, Deputy Programme Director, Greenpeace International said: “At this COP we are fighting for a Global Response Plan to bridge the 1.5°C ambition gap. That must include a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels and include an action plan to end deforestation. We’ve seen progress in week one, but we need an outcome that leads to change and not just another roadmap to nowhere.”
“We must ensure COP30 leads to urgent action to phase out fossil fuels and fast-track renewables. But it must also yield progress for crucially needed climate finance, including steps towards making polluters pay for climate damages and a just transition. COP30 must deliver an outcome that accelerates real action.”
Belém, Brazil — Greenpeace joined more than 40,000 people at the Global Climate March in Belém to end the first week of the UN climate conference, today.
Activists carried messages demanding respect for the Amazon and to make polluters pay using a giant climate polluters bill showing projected loss and damage attributed to top oil and gas corporations[1]. The Global Climate March was organised by civil society organisations and Indigenous Peoples groups from several parts of the world.
Photos and videos of the Global Climate March will be available in the Greenpeace Media Library.
Carolina Pasquali, Executive Director, Greenpeace Brazil said: “We are tens of thousands here today, on the streets of Belém, to show negotiators at COP30 that this is what people power looks like. Yesterday we found out that one in every 25 COP30 participants is a fossil fuel lobbyist, proportionally a 12% increase from last year’s COP. How can the climate crisis be solved while those creating it are influencing the talks and delaying decisions? The people are getting fed up – enough talking, we need action and we need it now.”
Abdoulaye Diallo, Co-Head of Greenpeace International campaign, Make Polluters Pay said: “We are taking to the streets because, while governments are not acting fast enough to make polluters pay for their climate damages at COP30, extreme weather events continue to wreak havoc across the globe. That is why we are here, carrying the climate polluters bill, showing the projected economic damages of more than US$5 trillion from the emissions of just five oil and gas companies over the last decade. Fossil fuel companies are destroying our planet, and people are paying the price. Negotiators must wake up to the growing public and political pressure to make polluters pay, and agree to new polluter taxes in the final COP30 outcome.”
Rômulo Batista, Forest Solutions Project Co-Lead, Greenpeace Brazil said: “From the Amazon to the Congo Basin to Indonesia, our world’s tropical forests are vital in the fight against the climate crisis. Yet, they continue to be destroyed, and Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPs & LCs), the true protectors of our forests, are outnumbered in the negotiations. We are here in solidarity with IPs & LCs, who must have their voices heard, their territories protected, and their rights guaranteed.”
At COP30, Greenpeace is calling for a Global Response Plan to address the 1.5°C ambition gap and accelerate emissions reductions in this critical decade; a new, dedicated 5-year Forest Action Plan to end deforestation by 2030; and the establishment of a new standing UNFCCC agenda item to drive New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) delivery, particularly scaling-up public finance from developed countries, and advance polluter-pays taxation to unlock scaled-up public finance for developing countries.
ENDS
Notes:
[1] The quantification of economic damages since 2015 was provided to Greenpeace International by Prof. James Rising of the University of Delaware and Dr. Lisa Rennels of Stanford University. The analysis uses data from the Carbon Majors Database and the SCC methodology. The SCC was used by former US administrations and policy analysts to assign a dollar value to future damages from an additional ton of CO₂ between the year of its emissions through to the year 2300.
Emissions data for the oil and gas companies was provided by the Carbon Majors Database, which in turn sources emissions data from publicly available company reports.
Belem, Brazil — Greenpeace has called on negotiators at the end of week one at COP30 in Belém to accelerate and implement climate and forest promises by ensuring they agree on an action plan to end deforestation and close the 1.5°C ambition gap.
Jasper Inventor, Deputy Programme Director, Greenpeace International said: “At this COP we are still hoping it will deliver a global response plan to bridge the 1.5°C ambition gap and that needs to involve a roadmap, or a plan, to phase out fossil fuels, an action plan to end deforestation and much needed climate finance. We’ve seen progress in week one, but we need an outcome that leads to change and not just another roadmap to nowhere.”
“We must ensure COP30 delivers a clear plan to phase out fossil fuels and one that fast-tracks renewables. But it must also make polluters pay for climate damages and a just transition, with clear timelines and an immediate fossil-fuel decline to keep the 1.5°C limit alive. COP30 must deliver an outcome that accelerates real action.”
The UNFCCC’s updated annual report card, the NDCs Synthesis Report 2025, exposed the glaring lack of ambition, projecting only a 12% reduction in emissions by 2035. This was far short of the 60% global reduction needed (compared to 2019 levels).[1]
Greenpeace carried out a projection in the UN venue with images of climate impacts, urging country delegates to act now.
A growing ‘forest gap’ was also exposed in the 2025 Land Gap Report, underscoring the urgent need for an action plan to implement the UNFCCC’s 2030 target to end deforestation.[2]
An Lambrechts, Biodiversity Politics Expert, Greenpeace International, said: “It’s clear we are failing to protect our forests, but as they’re a critical piece of the 1.5°C solution, COP30 must result in an action plan to end deforestation by 2030.”
“While we’ve seen some cautious steps week one, after worldleaders travelled to the first COP ever in the Amazon, governments must now ensure this pivotal COP delivers for people and forests by ensuring forest destruction finally comes to an end.”
At COP30, Greenpeace is also calling for a new standing UNFCCC agenda item to drive NCQG delivery, particularly scaling-up public finance from developed countries, and advance polluter-pays taxation to unlock scaled-up public finance for developing countries.
Anna Carcamo, Climate Politics Specialist, Greenpeace Brazil said: “This COP has been called the COP of Implementation and the COP of truth. To live up to those names, it must deliver climate finance that is real, accessible, and fair. Developed countries must provide public climate finance to developing nations to put climate action into practice – from NDCs and adaptation measures to the response to loss and damage. For millions, it is not a question of opportunity – it is a question of survival. Climate finance is, above all, a matter of climate justice.”
In September 2025, Greenpeace East Asia’s Beijing office presented the exhibition Lighting the Future: People’s Hope and Power in China’s Green Energy Future at the 25th Pingyao International Photography Festival (PIP). Curated by Na Risong, Art Director of Image Gallery, and featuring photographer Chu Weimin, the exhibition showcased aerial photographs of China’s renewable energy landscape—solar farms, wind turbines, and hybrid energy projects—alongside stories of people and communities living amid the country’s massive energy transformation. The exhibition drew widespread attention, receiving both the PIP Outstanding Photographer Award and the Outstanding Curator Award.
Stepping into the exhibition hall, visitors were first greeted by a breathtaking photograph: a temple perched high in the mountains, framed by the rhythmic silhouettes of wind turbines — an image that seems to merge past and future, nature and technology.
Photographer Chu Weimin has spent the past three years documenting China’s clean energy transition using drones. His most striking images resemble Chinese traditional Shanshui ink paintings — mountains and clouds now joined by rows of turbines. In these surreal, poetic landscapes, wind farms rise from mountains like brushstrokes and an ancient temple stands quietly against a backdrop of renewable infrastructure.
“I started out just shooting landscapes,” Chu recalls. “But when I traveled to places like Guizhou, Yunnan, and Qinghai in 2022, I kept seeing wind farms and solar power plants appear in my camera frame. I realized this is the story of our time — and almost no one is documenting it in a systematic way.”
For Chu, drone photography was essential. “From the ground, it’s hard to grasp the scale of these power plants,” he explains. “But when you rise into the air, you can see the geometry, the rhythm — and their relationship with the mountains, the desert, the sea.”
His project deliberately spans diverse terrains, ranging from the deserts of Qinghai to the coasts of Zhejiang and the rural villages of Shandong. In Gansu’s abandoned copper mine, wind turbines now rise next to a hillside temple built decades ago by miners praying for safety. In Ningbo’s tidal flats, rows of solar panels coexist with fishing boats. In rural Shandong, villagers install rooftop solar to power their homes — and even their electric scooters.
Beyond the monumental landscapes, China’s energy transition is also reshaping livelihoods and local economies. According to recent research, the clean energy sector has become one of the most dynamic engines of national growth, contributing nearly 40% of GDP growth in 2023.
Chu’s photographs capture glimpses of this transformation at the human scale. In Shandong, villagers install rooftop solar panels that not only power their homes but also generate extra income. “Many of the farmers told me their electricity bills have dropped to almost nothing,” Chu recalls. “Some even use solar power to charge their scooters or run small workshops.”
These scenes—quiet yet profound—reflect how renewable energy is no longer just a national project of heavy industry, but something deeply connected to people’s everyday lives.
In places like Qinghai’s Tala Desert, Chu also observed how solar projects can reshape ecosystems. Panels reduce heat and wind, allowing grasses to regrow beneath them. In partnership with herders, sheep graze under the panels, turning the site into a working landscape.
While his photographs center on landscapes, Chu’s travels also brought him into contact with people living within this transformation. Some villagers welcome solar projects as new sources of income — working as security staff, leasing land, or installing panels for household use. Others express concerns about noise or misconceptions about radiation. “People’s reactions are complex,” Chu notes. “This is real change happening on the ground, and not everyone experiences it the same way.”
Shanshui for a new era
What makes Chu’s work distinctive is not just what he photographs, but how he frames it. Drawing inspiration from classical Chinese Shanshui painting, he overlays a traditional visual language onto modern infrastructure. He enhances tones and textures to evoke the feeling of ink on paper, but without altering the underlying reality of the images.
“Shanshui paintings aren’t just about describing landscapes,” Chu says. “They’re about harmony between humans and nature. But today, harmony doesn’t mean returning to a pre-industrial world. It means finding new ways for human development and the environment to coexist.”
In this sense, Chu’s “new Shanshui” embodies the very spirit of the exhibition title. In his images, mountains, turbines, and sunlight flow together like brushstrokes in motion — revealing a nation’s search for balance between people and planet, tradition and innovation.
A future seen today
Greenpeace has a long history of collaborating with photographers to document China’s energy story—from coal pollution to community solutions. This year’s exhibition marks a new chapter: a nation in the midst of the world’s largest clean energy transition.
“We want to show the world that China’s energy future is not just about heavy industry or government megaprojects,” says Zhang Kai, Deputy Program Director of Greenpeace East Asia. “It’s also about landscapes, communities, and people’s everyday lives.”
Chu plans to continue documenting the evolution of China’s energy transition — exploring new storage technologies, emerging landscapes, and the changing relationship between people and energy.
His lens doesn’t just capture infrastructure. It offers a glimpse of what a low-carbon future might look like—not decades from now, but already unfolding across China’s deserts, coasts, and villages today.
Qilin Liu is an International Communications Officer for Greenpeace East Asia, based in Beijing.
Protecting and restoring tropical forests—including the immense diversity of species and the carbon they store—is fundamental to addressing the biodiversity and climate crises, as well as ensuring a habitable planet for future generations.
The key lies in the hands of Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPs & LCs), who have been the most effective protectors of ecosystems, curbing deforestation and recovering degraded areas. Direct access to financing has proven essential, as well as promoting a decolonised approach to conservation, along with the fundamental recognition of the rights of IPs & LCs.
In this report published during COP30, a selection of existing Indigenous and local communities-led Forest Solutions are presented, examples to be strengthened and multiplied:
Oslo, Norway – Today, the Borgarting Court of Appeal agreed with Greenpeace Nordic and Natur og Ungdom (Young Friends of the Earth Norway) that three oil fields in the Norwegian North Sea are illegal.
The case was initiated by Greenpeace Nordic and Natur og Ungdom (Young Friends of the Earth Norway), who successfully challenged the awarding of the oil concessions in 2024, a decision that was appealed by the Norwegian Government.
Frode Pleym, Head of Greenpeace Norway, said: ”We are relieved and happy, but not surprised. Looking at recent court decisions on climate, they are not just about the global nature of the crisis but also about what States need to do. The need for governments to protect their citizens from climate harm has now become far too obvious to ignore, and thankfully, judges around the world are realising this.”
In January 2024, the Oslo District Court found the approvals of three oil and gas fields in the North Sea invalid due to the lack of impact assessments.[1] The District Court also issued temporary injunctions forbidding the State from granting any new permits necessary to develop and produce from the fields. The Norwegian State appealed both the judgement and the injunctions.[2] Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal requested advice from the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Court in Luxembourg on the matter.
In May of this year, the EFTA Court in Luxembourg issued its advisory opinion on the interpretation of the EU Project Directive.[3] The EFTA Court sided with Greenpeace Nordic and Natur og Ungdom on all points. In its recent judgment, the Appeal Court has reaffirmed the EFTA courts’ advisory opinion.
In an October 2025 judgement from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the Court confirmed the obligation of States to assess climate effects from the burning of oil and gas outside of Norway before approval.
Today, the Appeal Court has confirmed both of these rulings.
Sigrid Hoddevik Losnegård, head of Natur og Ungdom, said: “This is a huge victory. Today’s children and future generations will reap the benefits of the courage the judges showed today. It proves that our struggle for climate justice has real force, and it is profoundly affirming to see the Court of Appeal stand with us on every single point. Now it’s up to the politicians to act accordingly and cease all activity on the fields.”
Attorney Jenny Sandvig of the law firm Simonsen Vogt Wiig said: “The Court of Appeal’s decision is crystal clear. The state and the companies have, in violation of the law, failed to inform the population about the harmful effects of these fields. Further development is now taking place at the companies’ own risk. The permits are unlawful.”
Sandvig represents the environmental organisations in the court case.
During her testimony, Elvira Gomez Snerte, one of the case witnesses, expressed deep concerns for the future of her family farm, which has been in her family for generations and which she hopes to inherit someday.
“I am very relieved today,” said Snerte. “Even though the case “only” concerns three oil fields, we know that emissions from them alone can have major consequences for the climate. They contribute to more extreme weather, which, among other things, threatens my family’s farming business. Today’s ruling gives me hope and confidence that we are on the right track for the future.”
The environmental organisations were represented by Jenny Sandvig at the law firm Simonsen Vogt Wiik.
[3] The “EU project directive”, formally known as the “Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive (2011/92/EU)”, requires public and private projects likely to have significant environmental effects to be assessed before approval. This assessment evaluates a project’s potential impact on factors like human health, biodiversity, land, air, and climate, and requires public participation and transparency in the decision-making process.
San Diego, US — The case of a group of Indonesian fishers who sued US tuna brand, alleging forced labor, will move forward, according to a judgment released by the Southern California federal district court on Wednesday (12/11). The case, which cites years of research from the Greenpeace global network, alleges years of forced labor while catching fish sold by the tuna brand Bumble Bee.
Syafi’i, a plaintiff in the case, said: “I’m actually in tears. I am happy and overwhelmed. This gives me hope for justice for me and my fellow plaintiffs as we struggle for justice and change for the better. Our fight and sacrifice are not in vain in order to get justice for all of the fishers. I remain steadfast, strong, and enthusiastic.”
The four fishers filed suit against Bumble Bee in March 2025 under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). Investigations and supply chain research from the Greenpeace global network’s Beyond Seafood fisheries campaigns were used by the litigants’ attorneys to support this complaint. It is believed to be the first case of its kind against the seafood industry in the US, and one of only a few TVPRA supply chain cases to move past the motion to dismiss stage.
Sari Heidenreich, Senior Human Rights Advisor, Greenpeace USA, said: “This is a historic moment and an incredible victory for the fishers and the ocean. By allowing this case to move ahead, the court has given these fishers’ voices the space they deserve. We celebrate that the fishers will be allowed their day in court, recognizing this is monumental — not only for these four men, who are brave enough to stand up to a giant US corporation — but for hundreds of thousands of fishers globally.”
The court ruled that the fishers presented sufficient allegations of forced labor as defined by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, noting that Bumble Bee did not contest the fishers were subject to forced labor. The court also found that Bumble Bee “likely had ‘notice about the prevalence’ of forced labor on the vessels from which it sourced tuna, ‘failed to take adequate steps to train staff in order to prevent its occurrence,’” had an “active role in obtaining albacore tuna from the vessels on which Plaintiffs were subject to forced labor,” and resold the tuna for profit.
Heidenreich continued: “This ruling once again affirms that seafood companies have a responsibility to ensure the products they sell — including tuna that they market for unsuspecting consumers to pack for lunch — were not produced with the abhorrent crimes of forced labor and modern slavery. Allegations as horrific as those in the suit should never happen to these fishers or anyone else. Seafood companies cannot continue to put profits over all else; they cannot continue this rabid exploitation of workers, the oceans, and marine life. They must act now to address the root causes of modern slavery and end isolation at sea. The global Greenpeace network’s Beyond Seafood Campaign has been working for over a decade to hold Big Seafood to account. It is an affirmation of the importance of this work that the campaign’s reports documenting these abuses were cited by the judge in her ruling.”
The judge’s ruling also cited numerous reports from Greenpeace East Asia and Greenpeace Southeast Asia as evidence that the company knew or should have known about forced labor on its supplying vessels. [1]
Arifsyah Nasution, Global Project Lead for Beyond Seafood Campaign, Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said: “With this ruling, all of Big Seafood is officially on notice: exploitation at sea could land you in court at home. It is well known that physical violence, excessive working hours, and lack of payment — all conditions alleged in this lawsuit — are prevalent in the fishing industry and exacerbated by the overexploitation of our oceans.”
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 at three months to reduce the risk of human rights abuse, forced labor, and human trafficking.
100% human or electronic observer coverage to ensure vital data on catch composition, bycatch, interactions with protected species, and overall fishing practices are reported by independent and impartial parties.
Freedom of association and access to unions for workers are key enabling rights to ensure a strong worker voice and protections across the various stages of the supply chain. It is essential to have accessible grievance mechanisms, including those available at sea, that are secure and responsive. These mechanisms should allow workers to raise issues as they arise, and companies must respond promptly, providing remedies and directly addressing the root causes of the problems.
The lawsuit, Akhmad v. Bumble Bee Foods LLC, No. 3:25-cv-00583, was filed in March 2025 in U.S. federal court in San Diego, California, and is currently before chief judge Cynthia Bashant. In addition to Greenpeace Inc., the plaintiffs in the suit are represented by the law firms of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC and Schonbrun Seplow Harris Hoffman & Zeldes LLP.
While world leaders rode on their private planes to Brazil to attend COP30, there is a 16-year-old in the town of Pandan in Catanduanes, Philippines, frantically texting her teacher that she could not attend class the next week. This, after their house got flattened by Super Typhoon Uwan’s (Fung-Wong) 185-kph winds that blew through the island last November 10. Her family lives along the coast of the island and had to evacuate in the middle of the typhoon in fear of storm surge. They came back to their house when the winds started to dwindle, but Uwan wasn’t done yet. As the last gales of the typhoon whipped, their roof flew away and they were left with no choice but to wait out the storm without cover. When it was finally over, their house was no more.
For the people of Catanduanes, stories like these are normal. Extreme weather is deeply intertwined in our lives, and we have grown accustomed to the neverending cycle of destruction and rebuilding; of preparing for the worst and accepting the reality that typhoons will come, no matter how much we pray that they don’t. In 2020, there was Rolly (Goni), in 2024 Pepito (Man-yi), this year, Uwan. In the next years, more typhoons with names to be remembered in fear.
When the Loss and Damage Fund was operationalized during last year’s COP29, and the Philippines named chair of the board months later, it felt like hope. Finally, we have funding for the climate vulnerable communities who face the worst extreme weather events. But the development is slow. World leaders are still arguing over who should pay for what and oil executives are still denying liability while a growing population is scrambling to survive this fossil fuel-caused climate chaos.
For Filipinos, the issue of climate funding is especially relevant now. This year’s rainy and typhoon seasons uncovered billions of dollars worth of corruption. Controversial flood control projects that were never finished or done with poor quality despite an over budget have been the cause of anger and sparked a series of protests across the country. Just a week before Uwan entered the Philippines, the provinces of Cebu and Negros were badly hit by Typhoon Tino (Kalmaegi) and hundreds have died due to severe flooding. Locals are blaming faulty flood control infrastructure and lack of leadership.
The broad strokes of climate action happen in climate conferences like COP, where big decisions like the creation of the Loss and Damage Fund or the Paris Agreement happen. But these big plans feel distant to the plight of those living in vulnerability. Every year in COP, we see wealthy carbon emitting nations and their Big Oil friends try to rid themselves of responsibility; meanwhile children in far-flung islands are crying amidst their ruined homes.
Over the course of Uwan’s 7-hour rampage, I found myself staring at the coconut tree in my backyard. This sturdy and towering tree, an icon for strength and function for Filipinos, swaying with the wind while staying rooted to the ground. The many disasters that hit the Philippines have made us resilient just like this tree, but with this innate need to survive came an acceptance that there is nothing else that can help us but each other. Every year we are failed by the greed of those who profit from ruining the planet, and we are left to fend for ourselves when calamity hits. We are tired of rebuilding our lives, but what else can we do but try to survive?
As negotiations for COP30 begin, we can only hope that our leaders remember the people who are living the reality that they deem hypothetical. The people who, despite not understanding the intricacies of global talks, know that typhoons are becoming fiercer every year, and are growing weary of fighting to survive. Those who stand to represent us should be reminded that the climate crisis does not know borders or wars — what affects us, affects everyone. And while our typhoon-stricken lives may seem so far removed from the looming halls of government buildings and corporate towers, may they be reminded that we live on the same planet and there is nowhere else for us to live but here.
Respect the Amazon
Polluters Pay Pact
