Amsterdam, Netherlands — Greenpeace International’s landmark anti-SLAPP lawsuit against Energy Transfer continues in the Netherlands after the North Dakota Supreme Court today largely rejected the pipeline company’s attempt to avoid accountability under Dutch and EU laws. The court’s opinion calls for a “narrowly tailored” anti-suit injunction, but expressly does not “foreclose all related litigation by GPI in the Netherlands.”[1] The first hearing in Greenpeace International’s anti-SLAPP case against Energy Transfer, for its back-to-back bullying lawsuits in the US, took place on 16 April 2026 in the Amsterdam District Court. 

Daniel Simons, Senior Legal Counsel Strategic Defense, Greenpeace International said: “Today’s North Dakota Supreme Court opinion does not enable Energy Transfer to escape accountability under Dutch and EU law for their unlawful actions against Greenpeace International. The legal fight to remedy the harms suffered as a result of Energy Transfer’s intimidation tactics continues.”

The North Dakota Supreme Court’s order clears the way for Greenpeace International to continue pursuing its anti-SLAPP case in the Netherlands on multiple grounds. It imposes no restriction on arguments that Energy Transfer’s failed federal lawsuit was a SLAPP and that out-of-court statements made by the pipeline company are defamatory. Greenpeace International will be permitted to continue arguing Energy Transfer has acted abusively in the pending District Court case that resulted in a US$345 million judgment against Greenpeace International and Greenpeace organisations in the US.[2] The “narrowly tailored” injunction will pertain only to Greenpeace International asking for a finding that the North Dakota case lacks “legal foundation” or is “manifestly unfounded”. Greenpeace International has 14 days to file a petition for re-hearing.

ENDS

Notes:

1. 7 May 2026 State Supreme Court Opinion on Energy Transfer’s Petition for Supervisory Writ
2. Energy Transfer has been waging abusive lawsuits against Greenpeace International and Greenpeace entities in the US for nearly a decade in a blatant attempt to silence free speech, erase Indigenous leadership of the Standing Rock movement, and punish solidarity with peaceful resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline. Energy Transfer’s first lawsuit was filed in US federal court in 2017 and was dismissed in 2019, with the judge stating the evidence fell “far short”. Energy Transfer promptly filed a new but similar case in a North Dakota state court. Despite no sound legal basis for any liability, that case returned a US$345 million judgment in favor of the company in February 2026. The Greenpeace parties involved are seeking a new trial and, if that fails, will appeal this judgment to the North Dakota Supreme Court.  

Contacts:

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

Join the Greenpeace SLAPP Trial WhatsApp Group for our latest updates

Amsterdam, Netherlands – Shell made a US$6.9 billion first quarter profit, more than double last quarter’s, as the US-Israeli war on Iran drives oil prices above US$100 a barrel, delivering windfall profits to the fossil fuel industry and repeating a pattern last seen when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Together, Europe’s four largest oil majors – Shell, TotalEnergies, BP and Equinor – reported more than US$18 billion of adjusted earnings after tax in Q1 2026, up 80% quarter-on-quarter.[1][2][3][4] They swiftly moved to reward shareholders: TotalEnergies raised its dividend by 5.9% and doubled buybacks, and Shell announced a 5% dividend increase alongside a US$3 billion share buyback.

Rebecca Newsom, Global Political Lead at Greenpeace International said: “Every time a crisis hits, the bill for energy, food, transport, and rent goes to ordinary folks and families. Meanwhile, the same companies that built our dependence on fossil fuels are reporting higher profits and rewarding their shareholders and CEOs. This system is broken but it is designed this way – and it will continue like this until governments decide that protecting people matters more than protecting oil company profits.”

“More than 50 countries just reiterated their commitment to ending coal, oil and gas dependence at the world’s First Conference on Transitioning Away From Fossil Fuels in Santa Marta, Colombia. Record levels of solar and wind power have helped keep the lights on while gas supplies have been blockaded. The solutions exist. What we need now is for governments to stop letting fossil fuel corporations off the hook, and start permanently increasing taxes on their profits so we can build renewable energy systems that protect people and reduce bills.” 

“When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Big Oil’s profits jumped 125% over the course of that year. Governments introduced temporary windfall taxes that delivered a fraction of what was promised, because the industry shifted profits out of reach. Three years later, another fossil fuel crisis has returned, and the same companies are laughing all the way to the bank. Enough is enough: governments must introduce permanent surtaxes on oil and gas company profits now to reduce our dependence on this damaging industry altogether and raise hundreds of billions for a safe future powered by renewables.” Newsom said.

Greenpeace International is calling on governments to introduce new permanent taxes on oil and gas profits – applied to all profits, not just temporary windfalls – and back a global polluter profits tax under the UN Tax Convention, with binding rules to prevent profit shifting to tax havens. Revenues must support households facing rising bills, fund renewable energy projects, and support the most climate-impacted communities around the world.

ENDS

Photos are available in the Greenpeace Media Library – among them, see Greenpeace projection action at Shell’s London HQ and a Shell petrol station.

Notes:
[1] Shell Q1 2026 results
[2] TotalEnergies Q1 2026 results
[3] BP Q1 2026 results
[4] Equinor Q1 2026 results

Contacts:

Franck Mithieux, Communications Specialist, Greenpeace International, +33 (0)6 73 89 23 19 (Signal, Whatsapp), franck.mithieux@greenpeace.org 

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

Ever heard of the 8-hour movement? In the 1880s, workers in the US protested against dangerously long days, demanding “eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, and eight hours for what we will.” Their bravery was met with violence, and May 1 became a global day of solidarity to remember those who fell in the struggle for dignity and safety. That was 140 years ago. While in some places we have won the weekend and the abolition of child labor, just working conditions are still not met and so workers are still standing together, demanding better. Here are five ways that demonstrate how climate justice is also worker justice.

The fossil fuel lock-in: A century of control

The demand for worker justice is more urgent than ever because, as workers were rising in the late 1800s, so were the “robber barons” and the engineered dependence on fossil fuels. This system was locked in to power industrial growth, but it created a fragile world where our daily needs are held hostage by the volatility of war. Today, geopolitical shocks and corporate greed dictate the rising cost of our energy, transport, and food.

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Crisis is a business model

While the war in Iran and the closure of the Hormuz Strait takes the lives of innocent civilians and causes workers everywhere to face a “cost-of-working” crisis, oil giants remain insulated. As shipping chokepoints fail, prices soar—eating up wages and leaving less for rent and healthcare. This isn’t an accident; it’s the system working as designed. By keeping the world dependent on a resource that is easy to monopolize, the polluting elite builds crisis into their business model.

Breaking the “Jobs vs. Climate” myth

For too long, we’ve been told that we must choose between a healthy planet and a stable job. This is a false choice, engineered by the same polluting elite who benefit from keeping us divided. In reality, the fossil fuel industry has spent years automating jobs and cutting worker protections to maximize shareholder returns, all while leaving communities to deal with the toxic fallout. Climate work isn’t “anti-worker”—it is the ultimate labor demand. It is the demand for a Just Transition where workers aren’t just an afterthought, but the architects of a new economy. We aren’t fighting for “fewer jobs”; we are fighting for better jobs—roles in homegrown energy, expanded transit, and resilient housing that offer dignity, long-term security, and a life free from the boom-and-bust cycles of oil.

Where do climate solutions come in?

Climate solutions are the tools we use to break the grip of this common enemy. Just as the labor movement of 1886 rose up against the industrial elite who squeezed workers for profit, today’s climate movement is taking on the fossil fuel giants thriving on war and extraction. We are fighting for the same goal: sovereignty. Whether it is a union demanding a living wage or a community demanding a decentralized solar grid, we are seeking to shift power back to the people. Because transport accounts for 60% of global oil use, reclaiming our mobility is a worker’s right. Climate solutions like mass public transport, energy-efficient housing, and homegrown renewables are the modern frontlines of justice.

#WorkersDeserveBetter

Stability is only possible when we redirect public funds away from fueling war and padding corporate subsidies, and toward the essentials for a good life: universal healthcare, affordable housing, and clean, reliable public transport. By dismantling our dependence on the volatile, combustible fuels controlled by autocrats and billionaires, we aren’t just cutting emissions—we are winning back the dignity and peace of mind that workers have been marching, and dying, for since the very first May Day.

Check out how workers around the world fight together to demand improved labor rights.

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Learn more about existing solutions through this Greenpeace interactive map.

Share this blog if you believe workers deserve better.

Yewande Omotoso is a Story Manager for Greenpeace International

On International Worker’s Day, Greenpeace activists and volunteers joined our trade union allies in the streets around the world because we are united by common values. 

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Greenpeace organisations all over the world are also facing the same coordinated attacks from the same forces seeking to undermine rights, protections and democratic freedoms. 

It will take a united movement to face down the corporate bullies and autocrats who are trying to grab control of our rights and freedoms. 

For too long, environmental activism has been viewed as a separate movement from trade unionism or human rights or press freedom. In reality, our struggles are interconnected and our successes are interdependent. We are stronger together.

The world is resisting a billionaire takeover and increasing corporate impunity: an insidious alliance of corporate bullies, oligarchs, and autocrats who are aggressively threatening our rights and freedoms. Billionaires and the reactionary forces they bankroll are actively trying to roll back decades of hard-won environmental, labour and civic protections, pointing the finger at the most vulnerable communities and seeking to divide the very people they exploit.

It’s time to resist. United!

Rising attacks on workers and environmental defenders 

Across the world, trade union leaders are facing charges, arbitrary arrests, and violent attacks merely for exercising their democratic freedoms. At the same time, massive fossil fuel corporations are using their vast wealth to prosecute environmental defenders with abusive lawsuits.

We know that freedoms are not isolated. Union-busting; crackdowns on the right to organise, protest and strike; attacks on press freedom or the use of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) are all part of the same pattern of intimidation by the same type of bullies. Our power to resist these attacks lies in our solidarity. We cannot stay silent when one sector is attacked. They want to isolate us from each other, as individuals but also as movements. 

Defending the rights to free speech, strike and protest

In mid-April, the inaugural hearing in Greenpeace International’s landmark anti-SLAPP case against Energy Transfer in the European Union took place in Amsterdam. With this case, Greenpeace International seeks relief from the ongoing harm caused by the oil pipeline giant’s absurd back-to-back SLAPP lawsuits against Greenpeace International and Greenpeace organisations in the US for displaying solidarity with the Indigenous-led Standing Rock movement. Energy Transfer’s SLAPP lawsuits are an attempt to silence a popular movement and we cannot let them win. Greenpeace International’s case in Amsterdam is the biggest test to date of the new EU anti-SLAPP directive. It is bigger than Greenpeace because it can set a precedent for all popular, social movements around the world. It is an act of resistance against the billionaire-backed corporate playbook that seeks to export abusive litigations worldwide. The transposition of the EU directive into national laws, which needs to happen in each member state by 7 May must serve as a crucial shield to protect civil society from silencing tactics.

Simultaneously, the global labour movement is fighting a historic battle to protect a crucial pillar of workers’ rights: the right to strike. In October 2025, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and other international organisations presented oral arguments before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in defence of the fundamental freedom of workers to withdraw their labour in order to stop abusive, unjust or unsafe working conditions and improve standards for all workers. Strikes have played a crucial part in history, winning for millions of workers worldwide the right to shorter working hours, safe contracts, vacation and better wages. Around the world, international labour organisations, like ITUC, Public Services International (PSI),and UNI Global Union are working tirelessly to defend workers’ rights and safety. Yet there are still two  billion workers who lack formal contracts and social protections. Among them are countless platform workers, many of them migrants, subjected to the tyranny of Big Tech billionaires and fighting alongside the ITUC to win an International Labour Organisation convention on platform work. In many workplaces workers still risk their lives, collapsing from heat or exhaustion. By fighting for the right to strike and a convention on platform work, we are facing down bullying employers everywhere.

Corporate bullies fear people power 

There is no doubt that billionaire corporate bullies and autocrats know that we, the people, can band together, face them down, and win. 

They want us isolated, but we are joining together, finding common ground, and forging deeper connections. This  International Workers’ Day, the  growing solidarity was on display as citizens around the world —including environmental activists and Greenpeace staff and volunteers — marched united. 

It’s time to resist! Together! 

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Tell Energy Transfer and other corporate bullies: Stop your attacks on free speech.

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Sanna Ghotbi & Kasey Valente are the Allyship co-leads for Greenpeace International’s Civic Resistance & Freedoms Programme