New York, United States – The United Nations General Assembly voted with overwhelming support to adopt a landmark resolution led by Vanuatu and 12 other countries which will advance implementation of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion on climate change and state responsibility, today.

The resolution passed with 141 votes in favour, 8 against and 28 abstentions. The outcome formally reaffirms the Court’s findings and calls on governments to align their policies with their legal obligations to limit global warming to 1.5°C – including by delivering deep, rapid and sustained emissions cuts, regulating fossil fuel companies, and protecting the right to a healthy environment. The resolution also requests the UN Secretary-General submit a report in 2027 on how to advance compliance with all obligations in relation to the Court’s findings – ensuring that pressure and scrutiny on governments will be sustained to deliver their legal obligations.[1]

Shiva Gounden, Head of Pacific, Greenpeace Australia Pacific said: “The world has followed the Pacific’s lead. Vanuatu and Pacific nations have once again shaped the global climate agenda, turning the voices of frontline communities into international action.”

“Governments can no longer ignore their legal responsibilities while backing the expansion of the fossil fuel industry. Pacific communities have fought for this moment because we are already living with the consequences of the climate crisis, and we will continue fighting until there is a fast, fair and funded phase-out of fossil fuels. This outcome is for the realisation of human rights of current and future generations to experience a life of dignity and to stand proudly on the righteous legacies of the past.”

Rebecca Newsom, Global Political Lead, Greenpeace International said: “The world’s highest court made clear that climate action is an irrefutable legal obligation, and today’s outcome shows that governments are increasingly committed to taking action to reflect that reality.”

“Voted for by the vast majority of the world’s governments, this resolution urges a just transition away from fossil fuels less than a month after a coalition of 57 countries gathered in Santa Marta, Colombia, to reiterate their commitment to ending coal, oil and gas dependence. The political momentum is clearly growing.” 

“Governments must now translate this resolution into tangible roadmaps to equitably phase out fossil fuel exploitation, production and consumption. The transition should be funded by higher taxes on the world’s biggest corporate and ultra-rich polluters to pay for their climate damages, alongside Global North countries’ international climate finance obligations. The era of fossil fuel companies making billions while communities face climate disasters and rising living costs must end.”

In July 2025, the ICJ issued an advisory opinion outlining that states have legal obligations under international law to take urgent, equitable action to protect the climate system, including through emissions reduction, international cooperation, holding corporate polluters to account, and preventing climate harm.[2]

The UNGA resolution is expected to strengthen the political and legal weight of the Advisory Opinion across international negotiations, national policymaking, and climate litigation, while increasing pressure on governments to align their actions with their obligation to  limit global warming to 1.5°C.

ENDS

Notes

[1] Greenpeace Media statement: World’s highest court delivers historic protections for climate-impacted communities 

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

Contact

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

Hamburg, Germany – As Amazon holds its virtual Annual Meeting of Shareholders, Greenpeace Germany is exposing the systematic role of its cloud subsidiary Amazon Web Services (AWS), in supporting some of the world’s most controversial companies such as Shell and Palantir. A new Greenpeace Germany study, Amazon’s Toxic Web Services, reveals that the world’s largest cloud provider acts as a critical technological backbone for climate chaos, human rights violations, or attacks on democratic institutions.

On May 20, 2026, Greenpeace Germany activists protested the reckless business practices of Amazon’s cloud division at the Hamburg AWS Summit. The activists disrupted the event during a morning keynote by displaying a giant banner on stage bearing the message “Leave the Toxic Cloud”.

Mauricio Vargas, economic policy expert in Greenpeace Germany, said: “Whether it is rainforest destruction, fossil fuel expansion or human rights violations, wherever there is money to be made, Amazon’s cloud division looks the other way. AWS profits from companies that even mainstream financial investors refuse to touch on ethical grounds. A cloud built on this kind of business is not neutral infrastructure, it is complicity at industrial scale.”

Greenpeace research reveals that the Amazon Cloud maintains business relationships with at least 38 percent of the companies flagged on global ethical and environmental exclusion lists. This includes Big Oil giant Shell, the Brazilian meat corporation JBS, the surveillance firm Palantir and the autonomous weapons systems specialist Anduril. Using exclusion criteria used by the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund and organisations like Urgewald and PAX, researchers identified that AWS provides infrastructure to at least 100 high-risk entities.[2][3][4][5]

The authors point to a glaring contradiction: while other sectors like finance and pharmaceuticals are bound by strict regulations and voluntary commitments, the Amazon Cloud and the wider Big Tech industry operate largely in an ethical vacuum, despite their immense systemic influence on society.

Sanna Ghotbi, Global Tech Campaigner for Greenpeace International, said: “Amazon is a clear‑cut example of big tech’s overreach, concentrating unprecedented power, wealth and influence at the expense of people’s rights, climate, biodiversity and peace. As we have seen in Europe and now in China, Donald Trump is acting as a personal lobbyist for this sector, using tariffs and open threats to bully states’ digital sovereignty. It is time to put an end to Big Tech’s impunity and to make sure that tech is serving the public good.”

In response, Greenpeace Germany has proposed a new framework of environmental and ethical minimum standards for cloud providers demanding that they:

1. Restrict services for fossil fuel expansion, lethal autonomous weapons, and unacceptable surveillance practices like social scoring or biometric scraping.
2. Ensure political integrity by ending the obstruction of tech and climate regulations.
3. Implement independent oversight via external ethics councils to review high-risk client relationships.

ENDS

Photos and videosavailable from the Greenpeace Media Library.

Notes:

[1] Amazon’s virtual AGM is scheduled at 9:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)
[2] Norges Bank recommends the removal of oil stocks from the benchmark index of the Government Pension Fund Global (2017)
[3] Urgewald’s Global Coal Exit list: https://www.coalexit.org/ and https://gogel.org/
[4] Slippery slope: The arms industry and increasingly autonomous weapons) and Don’t be evil? A survey of the tech sector’s stance on lethal autonomous weapons – PAX (2019)
[5] Since this analysis relies exclusively on public data, these figures represent only the “tip of the iceberg” according to Greenpeace Germany’s research.
[6] Greenpeace Germany’s full report Amazon’s Toxic Web Services and Ethics Policy for Providers of Critical Digital Infrastructure — a landmark framework setting minimum environmental and ethical standards (May 2026)

Contacts:

Guillaumine Lickel, Deputy Communications Lead with Greenpeace International,
+33 (0) 6 73 89 48 90 (Central Europe timezone), glickel@greenpeace.org

Andi Nolten, Press Officer Consumption Revolution with Greenpeace Germany, +49 175-2083755, (Central Europe timezone), andi.nolte@greenpeace.org

Madison Carter, Greenpeace USA National Press Secretary, +1 703-554-4842
mcarter@greenpeace.org

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

In recent weeks, severe winter storms tore through parts of my country, claiming at least 10 lives and devastating the lives of many of my fellow South Africans already living on the margins. From the flooded streets of major cities like Cape Town to informal and rural settlements left submerged under rising waters, thousands of families have watched their homes, belongings and any sense of security washed away. I watched the weather forecast closely as disaster unfurled in the provinces around mine; I wondered when the storm would hit us too.

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Days of relentless rain, powerful winds and even snowfall battered provinces including the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Free State and Mpumalanga. It forced our government to declare a national disaster for the second time this year. Schools closed, roads collapsed and entire communities were left stranded as floodwaters exposed the deep inequalities that continue to shape who suffers most during climate crises. For many, particularly those living in informal settlements and rural communities, extreme weather is not simply a natural disaster, it is a brutal reminder of how poverty and climate change collide to place the most vulnerable directly in harm’s way.

The extent of 2026 floods in Southern Africa

In the first quarter alone, heavy rains and devastating floods swept across Southern Africa, exposing our growing vulnerability to climate-driven disasters. Millions of people across my country and our neighbours (Madagascar,  Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe) have been affected by severe flooding. Since December 2025, La Niña-induced heavy rainfall has impacted more than 2.36 million people. 

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Two successive cyclones, Fytia and Gezani, tore through Madagascar and Mozambique, leaving behind destruction that claimed lives, displaced families and destroyed critical infrastructure and crops. In Mozambique alone, nearly 1.3 million people now require humanitarian assistance to cope with the subsequent displacement, healthcare crisis and food shortages. The increasing severity of climate extremes is no longer a distant warning, it is a lived reality for communities throughout the region. 

Food insecurity and malnutrition on the rise

As climate shocks intensify, food insecurity and malnutrition continue to tighten their grip on the region. The devastating imagery of submerged crops in South Africa’s agricultural provinces frightens me. I am well aware how floodwaters destroyed crops and disrupted already fragile food systems earlier this year, leaving behind numbers that are hard to read: an estimated 13.2 million people acutely food insecure and around 672,000 children suffering from severe malnutrition by the end of March. 

This crisis is unfolding within a volatile global economic climate that threatens tofurther deepen existing inequalities. Continued illegal attacks by the United States and Israel on Middle Eastern/West Asian countries have driven up oil prices; weakening exchange rates and limiting access to fertilisers ahead of the next planting season. For many Southern African countries already struggling with poverty and unemployment, these pressures could push basic food access even further out of reach. As it is, food costs since the beginning of this year have increased in my country at a rate double that of other first quarter inflation in previous years.  

Disease outbreaks stretch fragile healthcare systems

On top of this, disease outbreaks are compounding the pressure on already overstretched healthcare systems. Cholera outbreaks continue to spread across Angola and Mozambique, with recent flooding in Mozambique accelerating transmission and worsening sanitation conditions. Since January’s floods, it has recorded more than 9,000 cholera cases. We’ve also noticed a surge in malaria cases due to the heavy rains. 

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These healthcare issues are exacerbated by further damage to the already failing healthcare infrastructure within the region, particularly in its rural communities. In communities already battling displacement, food shortages and inadequate healthcare infrastructure, the spread of infectious diseases further exposes the deep inequalities shaping the region’s experience of the climate crisis. Despite our disproportionate experiences of climate impacts, the region remains underfunded in its response efforts. Of the US$602 million requested for relief operations since January, only a quarter had been received.

Make polluters pay for their climate chaos

Southern Africa stands at the intersection of climate instability, inequality and fragile governance. And while these disasters are often framed as natural tragedies, their devastation is shaped by political choices, economic systems and a global failure to adequately confront the climate crisis. 

We need bold new taxes on the profits of the fossil fuel industries exacerbating extreme weather with their climate-wrecking operations. Revenue raised can be used in the Global Majority world, which is struggling to keep up with escalating needs – as these crises are no longer seasonal, but constant. For millions across Southern Africa, survival increasingly depends not only on the strength of communities, but on whether the world is willing to act before the next flood arrives. We demand a fast fair phase out of fossil fuels and we can not allow climate culprits to continue profiting off our suffering.  

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