Climate Justice and Energy


Let’s talk about human rights and corporate impunity

Over 20 social organisations and networks from Latin America and the Caribbean are convening an open dialogue with government representatives and civil society to develop an international and mandatory tool to protect human rights against corporate abuse. Real World Radio interviewed Iván González, Political Coordinator at the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA), member of the movement Continental Day…

Climate litigation cases in Asia Pacific: a step closer to climate justice

Climate litigation is an increasingly common area of environmental law that people are using to hold countries and public corporations to account for contributing to the climate crisis. In 2021, Friends of the Earth Netherlands, known locally as Milieudefensie, won a landmark victory for climate justice in the People VS Shell climate case. Now, Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific…

Waters of March: Action for Rivers in the Philippines

The Philippines has 421 principal rivers spread across 119 proclaimed watersheds. Aside from providing water to drink for 110 million Filipinos, these are also the source of irrigation for almost a million hectares of agricultural lands across the nation, and a significant source of electricity, comprising 10% of the current power mix. But the Philippine government’s emphasis on big dam…

Perspectives from Asia Pacific on the outcome of the COP27 climate talks

The annual UN climate talks took place in the Egyptian coastal town of Sharm el-Sheikh this year, from 6 to 20 November. This was the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, better known as “COP27”. In a press release issued at the end of the talks, Friends of the Earth International celebrated…

“The devil will actually be in the details”: UN climate change negotiations kick off

30 years after the adoption of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the 27th Conference of the Parties to this Convention opened on Sunday, to negotiate potential solutions to the climate crisis. Better known as the COP27, this year’s event is held in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh. Friends of the Earth International, the world’s largest grassroots…

Communities in Asia united in the fight against coal

For many years, communities and civil society organisations in Japan have been repeatedly calling on their government to suspend support for new coal-fired power projects in Indonesia and Bangladesh, notably the Indramayu and Matarbari power plant projects. Not only would these projects fuel the climate crisis, they would also damage the livelihoods of local people and worsen the oversupply of…

Reviving indigenous agroecology in the Philippines: “Sulagad”

Agriculture is the main source of livelihood for many in the Philippines. 25-30% of working people are involved in cultivation, animal rearing or fish farming, and the sector contributes around one tenth of the country’s economy. The industrial food system, with its focus on monocropping and chemical inputs to maximise harvests for export, is devastating the environment and livelihoods of…

Colombia: An energy-hungry country, fed on coal

Over the past 30 years, Colombia has seen eight presidential terms, six presidents, and the steady ascent of neoliberalism which is, today, firmly established. During these three decades, political and legislative transformations in the country have embraced the national and transnational private sector and changed the rules of the game for the local economy. From the early 1990s, a trade…

Small-scale farming in the European Union: youth voices from the ground

Farming in Europe is increasingly dominated by monocultures and factory farms. So what does it mean to be a young small-scale farmer in this context? How can they get the power and resources to produce and distribute food sustainably? Three young farmers from Denmark, Malta and Sweden have shared with us their story: why they became farmers, the agricultural situation…

Costa Rica: A greenwashed country

Costa Rica is internationally renowned as a “green country” for several reasons, including its extensive forest cover and “clean energy” generation. However, some of its agricultural and energy sector policies and laws, many of which are based on various Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and over 15 bilateral agreements, contradict the environment and national sovereignty principles. Comunidades Ecologistas La Ceiba – Friends…