Bonn, Germany – The UN climate negotiations in Bonn will be a critical moment to sustain emerging political momentum towards a just transition away from fossil fuels and efforts to end forest destruction by 2030 amid new warnings of a looming 1.5°C exceedance.

The Bonn Climate Change Conference (SB64) comes 100 days after the US-Israel war on Iran sparked a global energy shock and after 57 countries met in Santa Marta, Colombia in April for the world’s first conference on the transition away from fossil fuels – a landmark moment signalling political winds of change. 

It also comes in the wake of a milestone UN General Assembly resolution aimed at advancing implementation of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion on climate change and state responsibility, making it clear that climate action is an irrefutable legal obligation.

Tracy Carty, Climate Politics Expert, Greenpeace International said: “In the midst of an energy crisis that has exposed the risks of fossil fuel dependence, some countries remain rusted onto the ‘drill, baby drill’ approach. But elsewhere, momentum is progressively building for a just transition from countries ready to plan for and implement a post-fossil-fuel future.

“The task now for all of these willing states is to spearhead ambitious national action at home and, in a turbulent geopolitical space, drive concrete progress at COP31 and beyond. That involves the development of national fossil fuel phase out roadmaps as part of fair, fast and funded transition plans that protect people and build long-term climate and energy stability.” 

Ahead of SB64, Greenpeace International has produced a policy briefing outlining the core elements of a just transition away from fossil fuels and the urgent, priority actions needed from national governments and through global co-operation to make it a reality.[1]

The Bonn conference also comes after the World Meteorological Organization warned in May it’s “very likely” the global average temperature increase will temporarily exceed 1.5°C for at least one year between 2026 and 2030.[2] Greenpeace is calling for that scenario to become a rallying call to action, especially for developed countries, to urgently ramp up climate and biodiversity ambition.

An Lambrechts, Biodiversity Politics Expert, Greenpeace International said: “Ending deforestation and forest degradation is an essential element of the 1.5°C solution and it’s now mission critical that we maximise synergies across a fragmented landscape of current climate, biodiversity and finance initiatives to secure an end to forest destruction by 2030. 

“The COP30 presidency-led forest roadmap is a major opportunity that can help accelerate delivery of forest protection commitments. Bonn is a crucial moment to build a coalition of frontrunner countries and ensure the roadmap becomes a practical pathway to align existing and emerging actions to not only ensure forests remain standing, but whether they remain functioning. The time to act is now.”

Greenpeace International has also produced a policy briefing Beyond Deforestation, outlining how the 2030 forest and biodiversity targets are increasingly not only a political aspiration, but also significant benchmarks that inform State and corporate legal obligations as part of an emerging legal-policy paradigm centered on ecosystem integrity.[3]

ENDS

Notes:

[1] A Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels: Policy Briefing

[2] WMO: Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update 2026-2035

[3] Beyond Deforestation: Ecosystem Integrity and the Emerging Legal Paradigm

Contacts:

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

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

At a time of geopolitical instability, economic uncertainty and growing competition for strategic resources, gold has re-emerged as a symbol of a secure investment. Investors buy it. Central banks stockpile it. Luxury brands sell it.

But behind part of this global trade lies a hidden cost: one measured in destroyed forests, contaminated rivers and Indigenous territories under attack.

A new Greenpeace Brazil investigation, Gold Laundering in the Amazon: Anatomy of a Fraud, reveals how illegally mined gold from the Brazilian Amazon can be laundered into legal supply chains and reach markets around the world. 

How gold laundering happens in Brazil

At the centre of the scheme, revealed by the report, are the permits provided by the Brazilian Mining Agency, a licensing system originally created to regulate artisanal mining. Because the permits can be granted without prior geological surveys and rely on self-declared estimates of a site’s productive potential, there are no reliable technical parameters to verify whether reported production volumes are realistic. According to the report, this loophole allows gold extracted illegally from Indigenous Territories and conservation areas to be laundered into legal supply chains.

What the investigation found

Greenpeace Brazil analysed 187 mining permits between 2018 and March 2026, and identified 98 with signs of irregularities. Together, they accounted for 25.3 tonnes of declared gold worth approximately US$3,66 billion at current market prices. 

The Greenpeace Brazil investigation shows a gold laundering scheme that, for decades, has used a legal instrument to insert gold stolen from Indigenous Territories and other protected areas in the Amazon into national and international markets. 

The impacts of illegal gold mining in the Amazon

The consequences of this system reach far beyond the mining sites themselves. Between 2023 and 2025 alone, more than 5,249 hectares of rainforest were destroyed by gold mining inside Indigenous Territories in the Brazilian Amazon, an area equivalent to around 7,500 football fields. Illegal mining contaminates rivers with mercury, destroys biodiversity, fuels violence and accelerates invasions into protected areas.

The impacts are particularly severe for Indigenous communities. Mercury contamination threatens food systems and water sources, while violence associated with illegal mining disrupts community life and undermines territorial security. Indigenous women often face some of the harshest consequences, including increased harassment, exploitation and violence. In the Munduruku Indigenous Territory, a recent study found that 98.5% of pregnant Indigenous women examined had mercury levels above safe thresholds in their bodies.

We want to live in a standing and living Amazon, with our rights protected, with clean rivers, with fish free from contamination, and without the constant threat of invasions.

– Alessandra Korap Munduruku, Indigenous Leader

How Indigenous Peoples are resisting and taking action

For generations, Indigenous Peoples and local communities have stood on the frontline of forest protection. Through ways of life deeply connected to and respectful of nature, they have safeguarded the most important ecosystems on Earth long before the world began discussing climate negotiations, biodiversity frameworks or rights-based solutions. Despite representing only 6% of the global population, Indigenous Peoples manage or hold tenure rights over 25% of the earth’s surface and at least 37% of the remaining natural lands worldwide.

As illegal gold mining advances across the Amazon, Indigenous Peoples are once again leading the response. This June, prominent Indigenous leaders are traveling across France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy as part of “The True Cost of Gold” tour. 

The group includes: 

• Alessandra Korap Munduruku, winner of the Goldman Prize Award in 2023 for her fight against a mining company in her territory

• Juma Xipaia, founder of the Juma Institute, an organisation dedicated to environmental conservation, Indigenous self-determination and women’s empowerment, and the first woman leader of the Xipaya Tukamã village

• Megaron Txucarramãe, a key figure in the modern Indigenous rights movement and the official successor of Chief Raoni

• Beptuk Metuktire, Indigenous Youth leader and coordinator of the Raoni Institute 

Together with Greenpeace, they are meeting political leaders, journalists, decision-makers and other influential actors to demand stronger accountability in global gold supply chains, greater protection for Indigenous territories and increased support for Indigenous-led forest protection.

Their message is simple: protecting Indigenous rights is not only about justice for Indigenous Peoples. It is about protecting some of the most important ecosystems left on Earth, preserving climate stability, safeguarding water systems and defending the conditions that make life possible for everyone. 

Because in the end, what is truly priceless is not gold. It is the possibility of a livable planet for all of us.

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Jaqueline Sordi is the Communications and Engagement Lead for the Tropical Forests campaign at Greenpeace International.

This World Oceans Day, we are celebrating a truth that global policy keeps ignoring: the people who have lived closest to the ocean for centuries are often the ones keeping it alive. But while governments keep signing deals to “save the ocean,”  the people actually doing the work are rarely in the conversation.

Greenpeace’s latest report documents what coastal communities already know, and what global policy keeps getting wrong: the path to a healthy ocean runs through the people protecting it. Here is what the people, and the data, are telling us.

1. Ocean protection has been happening for millennia

Expertise built over millennia of stewardship should be hard to ignore. And yet governments somehow keep managing to do so.

From the Kawésqar people in Chile, who have navigated and cared for the waters of Patagonia for more than 6,000 years, to the artisanal fishers of southern Thailand – Indigenous Peoples and local communities hold generations of knowledge about how marine ecosystems work, what keeps them healthy, and what puts them at risk.

In the Los Lagos region of Chile, the local community manages their maritorio (their interconnected sea-land territory) through traditional seed collection and sustainable mussel and seaweed farming. In this area, they haven’t just revitalised their cultural traditions; they have successfully triggered the recovery of vulnerable species and created a natural barrier against the polluting activities of industries close by.

This is not just heritage. This is expertise. The kind that no corporate manual, no government decree, and no international framework has ever come close to replicating. And yet it is the first thing to get ignored when decisions get made.

2. Where communities lead, the ocean thrives 

Research tells us that marine ecosystems tend to be healthier when local communities hold real decision-making power over their territories. Unlike industries focused on short-term profit, these communities understand a fundamental truth: protecting their livelihoods means keeping the ocean healthy and full of life for generations to come. 

In Kawawana, Senegal, a decade of community-led stewardship brought back more than 20 fish species, along with manatees and dolphins, to waters that had been pushed to the edge.

These are not isolated success stories. It is a pattern repeated around the world: when communities have secure rights and the power to act on them, nature recovers.

3. People and nature can thrive together

We are constantly told that in times of crisis – war, inflation, energy insecurity – nature must be sacrificed in the name of economic survival.

Coastal communities are proving the opposite. They are not only defending what exists, they are building something better.

In Chana, southern Thailand, this knowledge is applied through the “Talae Na Baan” (Homefront Sea) programme, where communities act as primary guardians of their local waters. Together with other communities they created “Fish Homes” – traditional artificial reefs constructed from natural materials like bamboo poles and coconut fronds – to restore marine biodiversity, and implemented common regulations for coastal management. The result? Fish populations increased – and the communities’ income rose by 20% within one year. This is what ocean protection looks like when local people have real power, real resources, and real decision-making authority.

4. Protecting ecosystems can feed millions

Coastal communities are not just protecting the ocean. They are protecting the world’s food supply.

Small-scale fisheries account for at least 40% of the global catch and cover 20% of the diet of 2.3 billion people worldwide. Not only that, the fish they catch is often proven to be more sustainable and with a lower carbon emissions per kilo. 

Yet industrial fleets are stripping those same waters bare, diverting fish that could feed people into animal feed for export markets. In Senegal alone, enough fish to feed 33 million people disappears into the fishmeal industry every year.  

5. Standing with coastal communities means standing with women.

Protecting coastal communities is, at its heart, also a matter of gender justice. Women make up around 40% of the global small-scale fisheries workforce, sustaining local food systems, economies, and ecosystems, yet their labour and leadership are still too often overlooked.

In Sri Lanka, women are at the heart of one of the world’s largest community-led mangrove restoration programmes. Through more than 1,500 local communities, women are leading mangrove propagation, reforestation, and coastal protection, linking ecosystem recovery directly to economic independence for their families and communities.

In Senegal, women fish processors in Kayar recently helped lead historic legal action against a fishmeal factory accused of polluting local air and drinking water, while diverting fish away from local communities and into animal feed for export.

If governments are serious about ocean protection, women’s leadership in coastal communities must be recognised. 

Global ocean targets must include community leadership

These are not local disputes. They are part of a global struggle over who gets to shape the future of the ocean.

Less than 10% of the world’s oceans are protected right now. Most of that protection exists only on paper. The global target world leaders have committed to is 30% by 2030, but protected areas only work if they are actually protected. Too often, conservation exists on paper while destructive activities continue in practice. 

Industrial destruction does not just damage nature. When a fishmeal factory moves in and hoovers up the fish that feed a coastal town, that town loses everything: its food, its income, its future. But when industrial fishing, aquaculture, port developments, shipwreck disasters or fossil fuel projects threaten marine ecosystems, coastal communities are often the first to push back. 

Community-led conservation, whether through Indigenous and traditional territories, traditional fishing grounds, or community managed marine areas is already delivering real protection in many parts of the world. 

If governments are serious about meeting global biodiversity targets, they need to support and recognise these efforts, not work around or against them.

Learn more in our new report!

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Sara Bettinelli is an Engagement Manager with Greenpeace International.