Johannesburg, South Africa – Greenpeace has called on the G20 to ramp up their plans to cut emissions and make progress on global tax reform by taxing the super-rich to unlock public finance for climate mitigation, adaptation and social justice.
Ahead of the G20 Heads of States Summit, Greenpeace Africa activists also painted ‘Tax The Super-Rich’ on a major road leading to the Johannesburg Expo Centre, where world leaders will be gathering.
The action comes at a pivotal moment as the UN climate conference COP30 in Belém, Brazil, winds down after difficult negotiations on efforts to transition away from fossil fuels, end forest destruction and to progress climate finance for vulnerable countries. In Nairobi, the latest round of UN Tax Convention negotiations, which could unlock vital climate funds, have shown little interest in the proposal for a global minimum tax on the super-rich. The G20 Summit in South Africa now offers President Cyril Ramaphosa a critical opportunity to lead globally on climate justice, including advancing discussions on a wealth tax and raising ambition among G20 leaders.[1]
Fred Njehu, Fair Share Global Political Lead, Greenpeace Africa, said: “Public momentum to tax the super-rich is fast growing – the political will has to follow with concrete actions. Billionaires in Africa and beyond are getting wealthier by the day, while billions are struggling with rising cost of living and escalating climate crisis. Making the wealthiest pay their fair share is essential to fund the fight against the climate crisis, mobilise domestic revenues for public services, and advance sustainable development. The G20 Summit is President Ramaphosa’s opportunity to turn words into action and show that South Africa – and Africa – can lead the world, and secure a place in history.”
New analysis published in a recently released G20 report shows that between 2000 and 2024, the world’s wealthiest 1% captured 41% of all new wealth, while just 1% went to the 50% of humanity at the other end of the scale. An Oxfam report found that over the last five years in Africa, the five richest African billionaires have increased their wealth by 88%.[2][3]
At the INC-3 of the UN Tax Conventions in Nairobi this month, Greenpeace called for stronger commitments to secure much-needed public finance for climate mitigation, nature protection, and sustainable development by ensuring the super-rich and corporate polluters pay their fair share in taxes. These measures could deliver on the COP29 finance commitment for developed countries to mobilise at least US$300 billion per year by 2035, and to scale up to at least US$1 trillion in public finance in line with needs.[4][5]
Cynthia Moyo, Lead Campaigner, Greenpeace Africa, said: President Ramaphosa must seize this G20 moment to back a Fair Share approach that makes the super-rich and big polluters pay what they owe. We cannot keep socialising costs while privatising profits. African citizens deserve transparency and a tax system that truly serves them. We cannot fund a green and equal future with a broken tax system. Tax justice is climate justice and without bold action on a global wealth tax and making polluters pay, the resources needed to protect people and the planet will remain out of reach.”
Ahead of the G20 Summit, Greenpeace International launched a new report, revealing the insufficient climate ambition in new 2035 emissions targets (Nationally Determined Contributions – NDCs) of the G20 countries. The report, 2035 Climate Ambition Gap, revealed the 2035 climate action plans of the G20 would yield just a 23-29% cut in emissions towards the 60% global reduction that is needed.
Attending COP30 in Belém, Tracy Carty, Climate Politics Expert, Greenpeace International said: “When the G20 countries – responsible for 80% of global emissions – deliver collective climate action plans that fall dangerously short, the world has a problem. Given their historic responsibility for emissions and greater financial capacity to act, developed G20 countries should be out front, cutting emissions far in excess of the 60% global average needed. The choices of G20 countries, especially developed ones, will make or break the 1.5°C goal, and it’s time to hold them to account.”
Do you know how many people in the world are dependent on small-scale fisheries for their livelihoods?
According to recent research, it’s roughly 492 million. Small scale fisheries provide jobs for 60 million people, which represents 90 percent of total fisheries employment worldwide; and four of every ten people engaged in small-scale fisheries are women. Small-scale fishers play a critical role in sustaining food security and livelihoods, and also in protecting the ocean and climate. Grounded in sustainable practices and traditional knowledge, small-scale fisheries feed the world while caring for healthy fish stocks and marine biodiversity. They also protect vital ecosystems in the fight against climate change, like mangroves, that capture carbon.
Greenpeace Africa activists, together with Joal villagers and local fishermen express their commitment to sustainable fishing after the departure of foreign pelagic trawlers.
Yet the very communities sustaining the ocean are being pushed to the frontline of its destruction.
From Patagonia to Senegal, Thailand, and the Indian Ocean, coastal communities are facing escalating pressures. In Chilean and Argentinian Patagonia, the rapid spread of salmon farms pollutes waters, harms local ecosystems, and displaces artisanal fishers, while driving a global demand for fishmeal and fish oil. In Senegal and across West Africa, industrial fishmeal and fish-oil plants are stripping coastal waters of wild fish, pushing communities into deepening food insecurity and eroding long-standing livelihoods. In Thailand, overfishing and illegal practices are depleting coastal fish populations, just as communities fight destructive industrial mega-projects. And across Sri Lanka and India, repeated maritime incidents have caused severe environmental damage and long-term social and economic distress. Climate change is also having devastating impacts on vulnerable regions and hitting harder coastal communities through sea level rise, increasingly intense heatwaves, cyclones, and loss of fishing grounds and tourism opportunities.
Addressing the threats their communities are facing, coastal representatives from around the world said:
“The destruction of endangered marine species and the depletion of essential ocean ecosystems are increasing at an alarming rate. This threatens both the sustainability of the sea and the survival of the coastal communities that rely on it,” said Selvaratnam Dilaxan, Founder of the Happy Voice Hub, community member, Mannar Pesalai, Sri Lanka.
“Aquatic animals belong to everyone. Everyone has the right to access aquatic resources, but no one has the right to destroy the future of aquatic resources – those are juvenile fish and young aquatic animals,” said Piya Thedyam, President of the Federation of Thai Fisherfolk Association.
“The situation is critical: if we do nothing, the sea risks becoming a liquid desert,” said Abdou Karim Sall, President of the Marine Protected Area’s Management Committee.
Activists and youth organizations hold a protest against illegal gold mining activity and display a banner with a message “Our Seas, Our Rights” in commemoration of the World Fisheries Day in Kampung Bulo, Sangihe Islands, Indonesia.
Industrial exploitation of the ocean that harms both people and the planet.
These threats are not isolated incidents, they are all different pieces of the same system. Across countries, small-scale fishers and coastal movements are proving that they are the solution by asserting control over their waters, protecting fishing grounds from industrial pressure, demanding transparent governance, and strengthening the resilient livelihoods that safeguard the future of the ocean. Coastal communities’ knowledge and sustainable practices are essential to conserving the ocean’s richness, an ocean we all depend on as it provides half of the oxygen we breathe, regulates climate, and feeds billions of people around the world.
Supporting small-scale fishers’ call to action, Nichanan Tanthanawit, Global Project Lead for Ocean Justice Campaign, Greenpeace South East Asia, said:
“Today, we honour the leadership of coastal peoples, and we stand with them in urging governments to recognise coastal communities as rights holders in all coastal and marine matters, from one coastline to another. We call for policies that uphold accountability and transparency in fisheries management and safeguard the communities who protect the ocean, because a fair and just ocean is the future we must protect.”
On World Fisheries Day, A Call to Governments: recognize and center coastal communities
This World Fisheries Day, Greenpeace is calling on global governments to recognize and center Indigenous and coastal communities, including small-scale fishers, in decision making about oceans, supporting the global small-scale fishers call to action. Recognising coastal communities rights and knowledge, and centering them in decision making about the ocean is vital to achieving global biodiversity goals and safeguarding our shared future. Standing with coastal communities is crucial to help ensure their demands reach local and global decision-makers and that they are centered in decision making about the ocean, including during COP17 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2026, where the future of ocean protection, restoration, and governance will be shaped.
Laura Bergamo is the Global Communications and Engagement Lead for Ocean Justice at Greenpeace Southeast Asia
