In times when genocide, wars, extreme weather and the largest World Cup ever can coexist, the world’s biggest football tournament inevitably becomes a stage for geopolitical tensions and contradictions. Even more so when it is co-hosted by a country that has threatened to annex a fellow host country and started a war against one of the competing nations.

While football has been historically considered a working-class sport, the 2026 World Cup goes far beyond football tactics and the performance of national teams, and it has put the sport’s inclusive nature to the test. It places not only a magnifying glass on the global social and economic divide, but also exposes the brutal reality that countries are falling behind on many indicators, and remain far from the victory their people truly seek: a dignified life in a safe and liveable environment.

The “people’s game” in a world of visa walls and fossilflation

The US hard-line immigration and border policies affecting players from competing countries, as well as fans, showed that teams do not compete under equal conditions and standards. A Somali referee was denied entry into the country. An Iraqi striker was held for seven hours of questioning. Iran’s players were subject to unfair treatment, from visa denial (to at least fifteen officials and team staff) to different travel arrangements between training and matches. The US has barred or restricted citizens from 39 countries and halted immigrant visa processing for 75 countries; out of 150 Ghanaian fans who applied for visas, 147 were refused. The divide is clear.

For those fortunate enough to pass the entry barriers, another layer of privilege for those attending the matches is related to the attendance costs: the most expensive in the World Cup’s history. This year’s tournament has made it as clear as ever that fans are not merely supporters; they are treated as consumers and a revenue stream for an industry that becomes more and more elitist. The dynamic pricing system and the sophisticated profit tactics adopted by FIFA led category 1 tickets to reach more than US$10,000, flights from abroad to reach $2,000 roundtrip, and average hotel price on matchdays $400. For fans in competing countries going through high domestic inflation (an increasingly common trend around the globe), attending a match has become financially impossible. 

This reflects however a broader social problem: the unprecedented global income inequality in an era in which the world has for the first time a trillionaire (a status Elon Musk reached the day after the World Cup kicked off), while over 673 million people face hunger, and society is treated as a marketplace. A strong social safety net and fair income distribution are at least as important as people being able to enjoy and afford World Cup matches, because dignity off the pitch and joy on it should go hand in hand.

Nations short scoring on democracy, inequality and the cost‑of‑living crisis

Besides the tournament itself exposing deep paradoxes from the host nation’s foreign diplomacy, from strict borders to price discrimination, other issues underscore the effect that geopolitics has on current inequality and rising cost-of-living. Countries around the world — competing or not to the World Cup — have been falling short in many other social, economic, and climate indicators. 

As latest data from the independent research institute V-Dem shows, nearly 74% of the world’s population now live under autocratic rule, including many of the competing countries. This number is likely to increase next year as recent developments in countries like Colombia and Peru show, from Colombia’s razor‑thin election of a Trump‑backed far‑right president promising US‑backed airstrikes and mega‑prisons to Peru’s ongoing post‑electoral crisis and weakened democratic institutions. The “third wave of autocratization” is fast spreading through both democratically fragile and traditionally stable nations: also in the United States itself, which according to the analysis in a timeframe of a bit more than one year is rapidly moving from electoral democracy towards electoral autocracy. 

The world is taken by a widespread affordability crisis driven by increasing inflation, whose cause is manifold: the war-driven energy shock, pressure on global food supplies because of crop failures caused by extreme weather, increased defense and fiscal spending amid rising global tensions, as well as core inflation by housing and rent, which in many countries make up the largest chunk of consumer price indexes; all this while the wages fail to keep the pace with price shocks on top of structural cost of living. In 2026, the energy shock has put significant pressure on key regions such as Europe and Asia, which are dependent on oil and gas from West Asia and North Africa (the Middle East) and facing industrial recessions and high utility bills, with countries facing deep energy shortages, soaring prices and tight supplies. 

War, energy shocks and fossilflation: who is actually winning?

When the US–Israeli war on Iran shut down shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and pushed oil prices up, ordinary people paid more for fuel, food and transport, but fossil fuel corporations turned the chaos into a jackpot. Greenpeace analysis shows the world’s biggest oil and gas companies raking in tens of billions of dollars in windfall profits during the first months of the Iran crisis, with major European firms booking some of the highest quarterly earnings in their histories and making more than 80 million euros per day in “war profits” from inflated diesel and petrol margins.

The same pattern is playing out in our food system. As gas supplies tightened, fertiliser prices soared and big agribusiness and agrochemical giants reported windfall profits, while farmers struggled with higher input costs and households faced rising food bills. These companies use crises like the war on Iran and the global energy shock to demand more subsidies and weaker environmental rules, turning “food security” into corporate welfare while people and ecosystems pay the price.

If people are to win, it is time to change the tactics

While football remains a universal language that unites people around the world, breaks down cultural barriers and offers relief when everything else feels upside down, the World Cup is a timely moment to remind our leaders that goals on the pitch are not enough to guarantee a life with dignity on a livable planet. What truly decides that future is whether countries can rebuild what has been lost amid deep economic and political crises, straining public services, collapsing democratic foundations and a trapping dependence on fossil fuels that keeps causing repeated economic disruptions.

New outcomes cannot be expected when outdated tactics are in place. People are eager for justice, equality, and economic stability. It is time for our leaders to stop defending a broken system and start playing for a different kind of victory.

Marília Monteiro is a Senior Campaign Strategist with Greenpeace International, working on socioeconomics analysis and responsiveness, based in the Netherlands.

A world cup message in New York, to the oceans treaty projection in Switzerland. Here are a few of our favourite images from Greenpeace work around the world this week.

USA – A ferry passes by the New York skyline that is enveloped in wildfire smoke shortly before a rain shower. Most of the Tri-State Area, including New York City, is under an air quality alert on July 15 and 16 due to smoke from Canadian wildfires. The alert is also due to ground-level ozone. New Yorkers can expect to see smoke over the five boroughs during the mid-morning hours. New York City is in a Code Red as heat indices are expected to reach triple digits. 

USA – Greenpeace USA projects a message for World Cup fans onto the Verizon Building and Brooklyn Bridge. Activists lit up the New York skyline days ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup final at MetLife Stadium with the message “Defend Your Balls. Dove, Kick Plastic Out,” as part of its campaign calling out Dove, an Official 2026 FIFA World Cup Personal Care Sponsor, for selling itself as a brand that cares about men yet consistently ranking as one of the world’s top plastic polluters amid growing concerns about the role plastics may play in men’s reproductive health. Greenpeace USA is calling on Unilever to phase out plastic packaging, transition to plastic-free reuse and refill systems, and support a strong Global Plastics Treaty that cuts plastic production. Projections include the messages: “Defend Your Balls,” “Sperm Count Down,” “Microplastics In Semen,” and “Dove, Kick Plastic Out.

Indonesia – Greenpeace Indonesia held a public discussion to mark the launch of the paper, “Reassessing Coal in Islamic Finance: Ethical Imperatives for Divestment and Sustainability in Indonesia.” This paper encourages a reassessment of the tayyib principle of coal, which has negative impacts on health, the environment, and the economy, in the Islamic finance screening methodology.

Switzerland – Greenpeace activists have projected a video at five symbolic locations across Switzerland highlighting the Swiss company Allseas’ involvement in deep-sea mining. The visual shows what the tranquil village of Châtel-St-Denis has to do with Donald Trump and one of the greatest plundering operations in modern history.

Greenpeace has been a pioneer of photo activism for more than 50 years, and remains committed to bearing witness and exposing environmental injustice through the images we capture.

To see more Greenpeace photos and videos, please visit our Media Library.

Star-narrated film, Groundswell ends on a breathtakingly beautiful note. Narrated by Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson, the film paints a picture of a world where a better food system for people and the planet is possible. But what’s blocking this vision of regenerative farming from taking off? Industrial agriculture and Big Ag’s corporate greed.

As regenerative agricultural expert Natalie Topa powerfully states in the film:

At Greenpeace, we agree: food systems are one of our greatest sources of hope. The way we produce food right now through intensive industrial farming is destroying the Earth, but a diverse, regenerative system could restore it. While the film successfully mainstreams the crucial idea of living soil, we have to look closely at the forces holding this future back.

But as inspiring as Groundswell is, it leaves out a critical question: If a better food system is entirely possible, what is blocking us from achieving it?

Big Ag’s corporate greed is blocking regenerative farming

Early in the documentary, Woody Harrelson says that technology and policies haven’t done enough to fix our heating planet. That’s because they don’t challenge the root cause: corporate greed and Big Ag’s grip on our food systems. 

From seeds and fertiliser to consumption, a handful of giant agribusiness corporations monopolise the food market. Today, global agriculture is locked down by a handful of massive corporate monopolies – which means just a few giant companies control almost everything.

From seeds and fertilisers to meat processing and supermarkets, a tiny group of multi-billion-dollar corporations control the market, squeezing farmers on both sides. They use their massive wealth to lobby governments, making sure laws protect their profits rather than the planet or regular people.

This leaves farmers trapped in a vicious cycle. They have to take out massive bank loans just to buy expensive chemical fertilisers and sprays. Then, they are forced to overproduce just to pay off their debts, destroying the land in the process.

Do you ever feel like the world is breaking, but the people in charge aren’t doing anything to fix it? We see the alarm bells ringing every day through erratic weather, floods, and droughts. Yet, the solutions are right in front of us. This corporate bottleneck is exactly why those solutions aren’t being put into action.

Beware of Big Ag’s “regenerative” greenwashing

Because of documentaries like Groundswell the public is demanding change. We know it’s making a difference because industrial giants can no longer ignore the word “regenerative.” But instead of changing their practices, these companies are trying to hijack the term Regenerative Agriculture to protect their usual destructive practices. This is called greenwashing – using eco-friendly language as a marketing shield to cover up environmental harm.

Corporate giants like Nestlé are increasingly using these catchphrases. Even governments are getting in on the action. A few years ago, I attended a regenerative agriculture conference hosted by the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries. From the opening speeches, the goal was transparent: rebrand existing, intensive farming to cash in on the global eco-hype.

New Zealand’s massive dairy producers love to boast that their farming is pasture-based (meaning cows eat grass outside), compared to the cramped feedlots often seen in Europe and America. But don’t buy the hype. Grass-fed can still mean highly industrial:

• It is still a monoculture: Vast landscapes have been stripped of wild trees and biodiversity to create giant fields filled with just one animal and only one or two species of grass.
• It relies heavily on chemicals: You can only cram that many cows onto a field if the grass is supercharged by millions of tonnes of synthetic (artificial) fertiliser, made using fossil fuels.
• It is a massive climate polluter: Pasture-based or not, New Zealand’s intensive dairy industry remains the country’s single biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Real regenerative agriculture means diverse plants and animals, living soil, fewer chemicals, shorter supply chains and communities in control. Big Ag’s “regenerative” branding usually means business-as-usual factory farms with new labels. We need to support lots of smaller-scale, local producers, processors and retailers who live in and care about our communities – and are fighting factory farms.

Industrial agriculture is busting Earth’s planetary boundaries

Groundswell ends on a high note with a beautiful montage of regenerative initiatives and hopeful graphs showing how eco-friendly farming practices are growing globally. Yes, there is a real reason for hope in the rising number of farmers pushing for this change. But the dark flipside is that conventional industrial agriculture is expanding too – and fast. It is swallowing up ecosystems, belching out massive greenhouse gas emissions, and blowing past more planetary boundaries than any other industry.

Right now, the world’s largest meat empire – JBS – is planning an absolutely enormous expansion of industrial meat farming into a brand new frontier: sub-Saharan Africa. For decades, JBS has been the market leader in Brazil’s beef industry, which is the primary engine behind the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. Now, it plans to use Nigeria as a gateway to export its destructive mega-farm model to the African continent.

JBS is not acting alone. From Nigeria to New Zealand, Mexico to Spain, industrial meat and dairy giants are aggressively expanding production. Often to produce foods that aren’t even nutritious. In the case of the New Zealand dairy industry, its biggest customers make chocolate bars.

Just as the Groundswell documentary makes clear, we do not need conventional industrial agriculture to feed the world. These expansions are not about feeding people; they are about lining shareholders’ pockets – at seemingly any cost to people and planet. JBS is run by two billionaire brothers and the company is right now being sued by the Brazilian government for labour abuses.

But, at a time when logic, science, and public opinion say we must move away from chemically-dependent monocultures, the industry still holds so much power. And it is using its wealth and influence to lobby for environmental deregulation and massive corporate handouts. Unless we break the power of Big Ag, we’re on a direct path to more industrial destruction.

More plant-based meals and buying local food is good. But to break Big Ag’s grip we need people power

If giant corporations stand between us and the world envisioned by Groundswell, how do we break their grip?

Yes, we can and should support local: buy our produce at farmers’ markets instead of the big supermarket chains. Eat less meat and dairy and replace it with more plants, which use far less land and water to produce. If we have the time and space, we can even grow some of our own veggies in gardens and allotments or keep backyard chickens.

But change doesn’t come from consumer choices alone. History shows us that the biggest changes occur through people power. They happen when everyday people stand up together against industrial giants – and win. And there are reasons for hope – we are already seeing the cracks in the system:

• In Denmark: Following relentless public pressure to protect drinking water and animal rights, the Danish government has officially committed to regulating industrial pork production and supporting regenerative, ecological farming methods. This is a huge turnaround for a country whose meat industry churns out more pigs per person than anywhere else in the world.
• In Croatia: Local communities have mobilised a massive grassroots coalition to fight a toxic mega-project – an industrial factory farm aiming to slaughter 100 million chickens a year. Europe’s largest poultry producer has pulled out of the project, citing local opposition as its main reason.
• Taking on the behemoths: Greenpeace recently disrupted the shareholder meeting of JBS – the world’s largest meat empire and one of the key engines behind the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. We are taking legal action to block them from exporting this destructive model to sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.

Time to take our power back – with healthy soil and a food system that heals not harms people and planet

Groundswell shows us a beautiful destination, but we have to build the road to get there.

To heal the planet, we absolutely need to build healthy soil and recloak our Earth in greenery. But we cannot get there unless we dismantle the political stranglehold of the small number of massive corporations who profit from keeping things broken.

We have the power to fix our food system, but it requires all of us standing together. Join Greenpeace today and help us fight for a food system that heals the Earth and belongs to people, not corporations.

Stop Big Ag: End Toxic Greed

Join the global movement putting people and the planet before corporate profit. 

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Amanda Larsson is the Global Project Lead for Agriculture at Greenpeace Aotearoa 

The Stakes for the ISA and Deep Sea Mining in 2026 and Beyond

Deep sea mining isn’t just an environmental disaster—it is a unilateral power grab disguised as a resource war, and a modern iteration of colonial history in the Pacific.

This report exposes how a speculative industry is trying to colonise the ocean floor—and highlights the critical, fleeting window the international community has to stop this resource grab before it starts.

From Norway to New Zealand, efforts to exploit the seabed have crashed into a
wall of opposition: legal challenges, parliamentary blocks, and fierce resistance from local communities, scientists, the fishing industry, and environmental groups. The world is not waiting for deep sea mining; it is actively mobilising against it.

Download the report:

Power Games in the Deep: The Stakes for the ISA and Deep Sea Mining for 2026 and beyond – Full Report