This story was originally posted by Greenpeace Australia Pacific.

In mid January 2026, Australians watched in disbelief as an extreme downpour and violent flash flood swept cars on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road into the sea. Just days earlier, the state was in the grip of catastrophic fire conditions and the most dangerous heatwave since the infamous Black Summer of 2019-20. Once again, Victoria is in the grip of an extreme heatwave, this one even more intense than the last.

These wild swings between weather extremes – between hot and dry to heavy rains and back again – have become all too familiar to Australians and to vulnerable communities around the world.

So what is driving this new world of violent weather extremes?

Sometimes climate science can seem fiendishly complex. But in essence things are very simple. By burning coal, oil, and gas we have thickened up the blanket of heat trapping gases in our atmosphere, meaning that today our atmosphere is not only hotter, but also wetter and packing more energy.

It means that heatwaves are hotter, longer and more frequent, rainfall is more intense, and fire seasons are longer and more dangerous. Moreover, with more energy to fuel powerful storms, and the ability of our warmer atmosphere to soak up more moisture, the swing from one extreme to another has become more rapid and intense.

The past is no longer a guide for the future

The change in the background conditions driving our weather means that past weather patterns are no longer a good guide for the present. We are seeing extreme events unfold in places and at times where they never have before, at least not in living memory, meaning communities are more likely to be caught off guard. Cyclones are tracking further south, large wildfires are happening way outside of the usual season, shifting rainfall patterns are wreaking havoc with food production.

From Melbourne to Mozambique

The term “climate whiplash” emerged during our 2023-24 summer, when an early and ferocious fire season, driven by an El Niño pattern, gave way unexpectedly to record breaking rains. A deadly Queensland blaze in October 2023 destroyed more homes in that state than the infamous Black Summer fires did. Just weeks later, nearby weather stations registered their highest November rainfall on record. Down south, early and highly destructive fires in Gippsland, Victoria were followed almost immediately by extreme rainfall and flash flooding.

For many, this has come to epitomise the lived experience of climate change. And not just in Australia. On the east coast of the US, 2025 saw many communities face multiple spells of dangerous heat and humidity. Today, many of those same communities are gripped by a deadly winter storm and extreme low temperatures.

On the west coast, in California, years of severe drought were followed by exceptionally wet winters in 2022-23 and 2023-24, leading to explosive growth of vegetation. When this record wet period was followed by California’s hottest summer on record and a record-dry start to 2025, the conditions were set for the horrific LA fires.

On the other side of the world, in Mozambique, a prolonged dry period in 2024 and 2025 saw the country face significant food insecurity due to crop failure. In January 2026, Mozambique is tragically facing a severe humanitarian situation due to extreme downpours and catastrophic flooding. Over a hundred people have died, and close to a million affected.

Adding fuel to the fire

Put simply, climate change, driven by the burning of coal, oil and gas, is catapulting vulnerable communities from one catastrophe to another. Hit by a succession of compounding disasters, with little or no time to recover, many are seeing their resilience pushed beyond its limits. The toll on our mental health has been profound.

The first duty of governments is to keep our communities safe. But right now, many are doing exactly the opposite. In Australia, our State and Federal Governments continue to enable the dangerous expansion of fossil fuel production. In December 2025, the Victorian Government, alongside Federal authorities, opened new areas for gas exploration in the Otway Basin, off the Victorian coast.

Every new fossil fuel project increases the future risks for communities in Australia, the Pacific and around the world.

Time for a fair, fast fossil fuel phase out

2026 will be a defining year for the world’s transition away from fossil fuels.

Pacific Island countries have been working for many years to spearhead a global phase-out of coal oil and gas. In a few short weeks, Vanuatu and Tuvalu will be among dozens of countries gathering in the coal port Santa Martha for the First International Conference on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuel, a powerful new initiative led by the Government of Colombia.

Meanwhile, as Australia prepares to take on the role of President of Negotiations for COP31, we have the responsibility to lead. Now more than ever.

The science is unequivocal: we must transition away from fossil fuels at emergency speed, while doing far more to support our communities with adapting to this new era of climate whiplash.

The future is ours to choose. Get involved.

Dr Simon Bradshaw is the Climate Advisor at Greenpeace Australia Pacific.

“Today, we are making history. Finally, The Hague can no longer ignore us. The court is drawing a line in the sand. Our lives, our culture, and our country are being taken seriously. The State can no longer look the other way.” – Onnie Emerenciana, plaintiff in the Bonaire Climate Case

On 28 January, residents of Bonaire won a historic victory, not just for themselves and their island, but for communities everywhere who are rising up for climate justice.

In a landmark ruling, the District Court of The Hague found that the Netherlands is violating Bonaire residents’ human rights by failing to protect them from the climate crisis. 

The judgment makes clear that the Dutch state cannot treat residents of Bonaire, a Caribbean island with 25,000 inhabitants, as second-class citizens and must effectively protect them from the impacts of climate change.

This case was led by eight courageous residents of Bonaire and supported by Greenpeace Netherlands. 

This victory belongs first and foremost to the people of Bonaire, who took their lived experiences of climate impacts from their island home to a courtroom thousands of kilometres away and demanded justice. The stories of these courageous community members motivate movements, their cultural interventions inspire our imagination and protect more than their heritage, their victory becomes a stepping stone for others. 

A breakthrough years in the making

Bonaire is already on the frontline of the climate crisis. Extreme heat, disappearing corals and rising sea levels are affecting daily life on the island. Yet while the Dutch government has been proactive about protecting people living in the Netherlands in Europe, it has failed to offer the same level of protection to the people of Bonaire.

That stark inequality is at the heart of this case.

In January 2024, Bonaire residents and Greenpeace went to court to challenge this injustice. They argued that the state’s climate policies fell short of its human rights obligations, and that people living on Bonaire were paying the price.

The court agreed.

In its ruling, the judges recognised what residents of Bonaire have long known: Climate change already poses a real and growing threat to their lives and livelihoods. The Court clearly said that “the State has a legal obligation to protect the right of Bonaire’s inhabitants to life, health, well-being and the enjoyment of their own culture against the negative effects of climate change”. 

Part of a growing global momentum

Around the world, communities are turning to the courts to demand climate justice, and they are winning.

From senior women to concerned youth challenging weak climate laws, to Indigenous communities defending their lands, culture and traditions, to island nations seeking accountability for climate damage, the message is growing louder: governments and corporations cannot ignore the climate crisis without legal consequences.

The Bonaire ruling builds on this momentum. It shows that courts are increasingly willing to listen to climate-vulnerable communities, to take science seriously, and to recognise that climate inaction is a violation of fundamental human rights.

Each case builds on the last, and strengthens the next. Each victory sends a signal that climate action is a human regard for people and the planet, and is a legal and moral obligation.

People power at the heart of change

What makes this win especially powerful is the leadership shown by Bonaireans themselves,they spoke up about their homes, their health, and their children’s futures.

Greenpeace Netherlands supported people from Bonaire by commissioning research that showed how climate risks in Bonaire will intensify under current policies, by amplifying residents’ voices, and by standing with them every step of the way. The legal teams from Kennedy van der Laan and Prakken d’Oliveira, Greenpeace International and strategic allies provided vital expertise, helping turn lived experience into legal force.

This is what can happen when people power harnesses the law. Across the world, those who are most impacted are rising and synchronising their struggles: from the streets to schoolyards, from courtrooms to cafés, from extraction sites to exhibitions, from homes to halls of power. Their resistance crosses borders, disciplines and generations. 

What happens next?

This ruling is a milestone, but it is not the end of the story.

The Dutch state must immediately comply fully with its obligations. That means stronger climate action, faster emissions cuts, and an adaptation plan that protects people in Bonaire from the worsening impacts of the climate crisis.

For supporters around the world, it shows that change is possible. It shows that when communities organise, when their stories and science are brought into the courtroom, and when people refuse to accept injustice, even powerful governments can be held to account and forced to change.

A victory for all

Today, we celebrate the people of Bonaire, their courage, their tenacity and their belief that justice is worth fighting for.

And we take this victory as a resounding endorsement of the path we are on. We’ll keep pushing, keep rising with climate-vulnerable communities, and keep demanding a world where climate action is fast, fair and grounded in human rights.

When people fight for their future, it changes what’s possible for everyone.

Eefje de Kroon is a campaigner at Greenpeace Netherlands, based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Martin Zavan is a freelance communications strategist at Greenpeace International, based in Sydney, Australia

Maria Alejandra Serra is Legal Counsel Climate Specialist at Greenpeace International, based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

A huge victory for climate justice for Bonaire, the Rainbow Warrior in Cape Town, and a call to end the tyranny of fossil fuels in Belgium. Here are a few of our favourite images from Greenpeace work around the world this week. Comment below which you like best!

The Netherlands – This week, in a major victory for climate justice, the District Court of The Hague ruled that the Dutch State’s climate policy violates the human rights of residents of Bonaire and treats them unequally compared to people in European Netherlands. With its current climate targets and measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the State is failing to comply with international agreements. As a result, the State is acting unlawfully toward the residents of Bonaire.

The court also found that The Netherlands has not taken sufficient measures to protect the residents of Bonaire in the climate crisis. The court orders the Dutch State to draw up an adaptation plan and implement it no later than 2030. In addition, within 18 months, they must set new binding targets for the entire Dutch economy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to make a fair contribution to the goal of limiting global warming to a maximum of 1.5 degrees.

Belgium – Greenpeace Belgium activists inflated 10-metre-long representations of Putin and Trump sitting on a gas tanker in front of the EU Council headquarters in Brussels, to symbolise Europe’s dependence on fossil fuel imports from autocrats. They are warning EU leaders not to replace Putin’s gas with Trump’s gas, but instead to protect Europe’s political independence and achieve true energy security by phasing out fossil gas and accelerating the shift to a fully renewable energy system.

Switzerland – On Wednesday evening, Greenpeace Switzerland activists projected a film and a series of messages onto the cooling tower of the decommissioned Gösgen nuclear power plant. The aim is to denounce the decades-long cover-up of the safety breach in the plant’s feedwater system and the associated danger to the population.

South Africa – Greenpeace Africa hosted Open Boat Days aboard the iconic Rainbow Warrior while docked in Cape Town, welcoming over 1,200 members of the public onboard. Visitors toured the ship, met crew members and Greenpeace teams, learned about non-violent direct action, and engaged in conversations about climate justice, ocean protection, and people-powered change.

Taiwan – Greenpeace Taiwan staged a protest outside CPC Corp, Taiwan headquarters, warning that CPC is pushing the “New Fourth Naphtha Cracker” expansion despite five consecutive years of deficits. Greenpeace estimates the project could generate additional losses of over NT$11 billion annually from 2030, based on market pricing amid petrochemical oversupply. Greenpeace urged CPC to halt the project, reassess its petrochemical strategy, and develop a credible transition roadmap.

Australia – Activists stage a peaceful protest in front of the Sydney Opera House, Australia in solidarity with Greenpeace International and Greenpeace in the USA, facing a meritless SLAPP lawsuit from fossil fuel company Energy Transfer. Greenpeace USA was one of many organisations showing solidarity with peaceful Standing Rock activists and the Indigenous-led prayer camps against Energy Transfer and the Dakota Access Pipeline.

South Africa – Members of the public and crew of the Rainbow Warrior aboard the iconic Rainbow Warrior while docked in Cape Town, hold signs calling for an end to the age of plastic.

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, visit our Media Library.