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greenpeace
Trump Administration declares pristine Alaskan seafloor “open for business,” mocks environmental safeguards
Jan 28, 2026
Trump Administration officials used the Offshore Critical Minerals Exploration & Development Forum to push forward seabed mining in U.S. waters, announcing steps that could pave the way for the first mining operation on Alaska’s Outer Continental Shelf while openly dismissing environmental safeguards. In response, John Hocevar, Greenpeace USA Oceans Campaign Director, said: “Trump is as much of a menace to our oceans as he is to our communities. This rush to mine the seafloor reflects a bankrupt 19th-century extractive ideology, not genuine national security needs or sound business strategy. Deep sea mining does not exist for many good reasons — it is economically speculative, scientifically reckless, and environmentally destructive. At a time of accelerating ocean, climate, and biodiversity crisis, the priority should be on protecting these ecosystems, not opening new frontiers of extraction.”
The administration’s disregard for science, data-driven decision-making, and environmental oversight was underscored at the conference when D. Lee Forsgren, acting assistant secretary at the Army Corps of Engineers, dismissed review requirements, saying, “God forbid we have to go to an actual environmental impact assessment.” Erik Noble, deputy assistant secretary for oceans and atmospheres, declared the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) “open for business.”
Hocevar continued: “When senior officials openly mock environmental impact assessments, it shows how little respect they have for science, public process, or even the law. Environmental review is not red tape — it’s how we protect the very fisheries, coastal communities, and ecosystems, livelihoods and industries the administration has claimed it wants to ‘unleash.’”
The push towards launching the industry advanced today when the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced a request for information to gauge industry interest in seabed mining across Alaska’s Outer Continental Shelf—part of the administration’s broader effort to advance deep sea mining before the science, the law, and affected communities can fully weigh in. Past BOEM actions, including in American Samoa, where widespread public opposition was ignored, suggest this approach prioritizes momentum over precaution.
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Merchants of Myth: new report exposes plastic recycling as costly failure
Dec 03, 2025
A new report from Greenpeace USA reveals plastic recycling has largely failed after decades of being touted by corporations as a solution to the pollution crisis. The report uncovered that only a fifth of the 8.8 million tons of the most commonly produced types of plastics — found in items like bottles, jugs, food containers, and caps — are actually recyclable. Moreover, plastic recycling rates in the United States have been cut in half since 2014, from 9.5% to roughly 5–6% today. The report concludes that plastic recycling is no more of a viable solution now than it was in the 1950s.
Our team of researchers also uncovered the effort by the plastic industry, retailers, prominent plastic-reliant brands, and related trade associations — the so-called “Merchants of Myth” — to mislead the public, protect their profits, and delay regulatory action.
Major brands like Coca-Cola, Unilever, and Nestlé have been quietly retracting sustainability commitments while continuing to rely on single-use plastic packaging. On top of this, the U.S. plastic industry is undermining meaningful plastic regulation by making false claims about the recyclability of their products to avoid bans and reduce public backlash. As global plastic production continues to climb and is projected to triple by 2050, our report investigates the ineffectiveness of voluntary measures without regulatory support.
John Hocevar, Greenpeace USA oceans campaigner director, said: “Recycling is a toxic lie pushed by the plastics industry that is now being propped up by a pro-plastic narrative emanating from the White House. These corporations and their partners continue to sell the public a comforting lie to hide the hard truth: that we simply have to stop producing so much plastic. Instead of investing in real solutions, they’ve poured billions into public relations campaigns that keep us hooked on single-use plastic while our communities, oceans, and bodies pay the price.”
Despite growing public awareness of the environmental and health concerns posed by plastics and microplastics, Merchants of Myth reveals many corporations have ramped up their disinformation campaigns and aggressive lobbying – and are being backed up by a compromised government.
While the Make Americans Healthy Again (MAHA) platform pledged to address chronic illnesses linked to toxic chemicals, its recent health report largely sidestepped plastics — one of the most pervasive sources of chemical exposure. Despite growing scientific consensus on the health risks and economic costs of plastic pollution, the report offered only vague commitments to develop a framework to study chemical exposures, including microplastics, allocate limited funding for safer farming, and launch a public pesticides awareness campaign.
Jo Banner, executive director of The Descendants Project, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving Black history and fighting environmental racism in the frontline communities of Louisiana’s River Parishes, said: “It’s the same story everywhere: poor, Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities turned into sacrifice zones so oil companies and big brands can keep making money. They call it development — but it’s exploitation, plain and simple. There’s nothing acceptable about poisoning our air, water, and food to sell more throwaway plastic. Our communities are not sacrifice zones, and we are not disposable people.”
Among the report’s other key findings on the ineffectiveness of plastic recycling:
- Recycling access gaps: Up to 43% percent of U.S. households lack access to basic recycling services. Participation in recycling is also decreasing.
- Infrastructure limits: Of the 380 municipal recycling facilities nationwide, only 46 are capable of processing common consumer plastics.
- Technological limits: Only 1 of 6 “advanced recycling” plants can handle mixed post-consumer waste — and even at full capacity, these facilities cannot meet the 60% recycling rate required by law.
- Cost to taxpayers: The public has to pay to collect and sort plastics, while most of it ends up in the landfill with the rest of the trash.
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UN Tax Talks Could Push Polluters and Billionaires to Pay for Harm to Climate and Nature
Aug 04, 2025
New global tax rules that could help fund climate action, protect nature, and reduce inequality are being negotiated at the historic UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation (UNFCITC), which kicks off a 2-week round of negotiations in New York today.
Commenting on what’s at stake, the Greenpeace International delegation said the UN process could reform global tax rules so that the richest individuals and multinational corporations like oil and gas companies are forced to pay their fair share for the pollution they cause. Practices like tax dodging and profit shifting are depriving countries of vital resources needed for development and climate goals.[1]
Fred Njehu, Global Political Lead for Greenpeace International’s Fair Share campaign, said: “We’re at a turning point in history. Billionaires and corporations must finally pay their fair share of tax to fund climate action, protect nature, and invest in the wellbeing of people and the planet. World leaders must listen to what the people want and deliver a fair tax system that works for everyone, not just the powerful few.”
Rebecca Newsom, Global Political Lead for Greenpeace International’s Stop Drilling, Start Paying campaign, said: “Climate resilience must not depend on voluntary donations, or on market-rate loans that exacerbate the debt crisis already facing many countries. The costs of rebuilding from devastating floods and storms, and adapting to increasingly brutal heat waves should be financed by taxing the fossil fuel polluters who caused the problem in the first place. The UN Tax Convention provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to properly tax the global profits of multinational oil, gas and coal corporations and raise vital revenues to fill the financing gap for communities facing disasters on the frontlines of the climate crisis – this is what we’re here to demand.”
European countries make up the bulk of OECD, the club of rich countries who currently set global tax rules in an exclusive and unrepresentative process. Commenting on the role of Europe in negotiations to change this system, Clara Thompson, climate and tax justice lead, Greenpeace International, said: “You can’t tackle the climate crisis while the super-rich stash billions in tax havens. The UN Tax Convention is a historic chance to rewrite the global rules and to make polluters and profiteers finally pay their fair share. In their written submission, Germany has recognised the need to explore taxing high-net-worth individuals as part of the commitment to sustainable development. Now is the time to turn that recognition into action. Europe must step up and help build a fairer global tax system that puts people and the planet first.”
Ahead of negotiations in New York, Greenpeace organisations have written to ministers in key countries taking part in this process, calling for their leadership and speaking out in favour of three key demands. [2] The demands call for:
- progressive environmental taxation to ensure the biggest polluters pay their fair share;
- a surtax on the profits of fossil fuel and other high polluting corporations, with revenue channeled towards global climate and development financing obligations;
- higher tax rates for billionaires and super-polluters in line with their ecological debt, with funds raised going to support climate action and sustainable development.
Greenpeace International is also calling for governments to make fossil fuel corporations and the super-rich pay their fair share for the damages they cause through the Polluters Pay Pact and the global movement to #TaxTheSuperRich.[2][3]
ENDS
Notes:
[1] New global tax rules in an UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation are being negotiated, from now until 2027. It aims to take control of global tax rules from the rich OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries to place it in the hands of the 193 member states of the United Nations.
[2] Greenpeace’s detailed demands for negotiators are:
- Adding a sub-commitment under the overall tax and sustainable development commitment on progressive environmental taxation in line with the Polluter Pays Principle, covering both polluting corporations and high-net-worth individuals.
- Introducing a specific mechanism under the Convention in the form of a polluter pays surtax on the global profits of multinational oil, gas and coal companies and multinational companies from other polluting industries, with revenues channelled towards global climate and sustainable development financing obligations under existing UN agreements and mechanisms.
- Committing to the effective taxation of high-net worth individuals – with progressively higher rates for billionaires and super-polluters – recognising their climate accountability and ecological debt, with revenues channelled towards climate action and sustainable development.
[3] The Polluters Pay Pact is a global alliance of more than 235,000 people on the frontlines of climate disasters, concerned citizens, first responders like firefighters, humanitarian groups and political leaders.
[4] The #TaxTheSuperRich global movement is powered by a diverse network of organisations from across the globe, united by a shared commitment: to create a fairer and greener world by taxing the super rich.
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Indonesian Fishers Respond to Bumble Bee's Attempt to Dismiss Forced Labor Suit
Aug 01, 2025
Indonesian fishers who sued Bumble Bee, alleging years of forced labor while catching fish sold by the U.S. tuna brand, responded to the company's motion to dismiss their suit, arguing in the U.S. legal filing on July 31 that they have a right to have their allegations heard in court. This image was taken by Greenpeace USA activists in solidarity with these fishers. (Photo: Sandy Huffaker/Greenpeace)
On July 31, Indonesian fishers who sued Bumble Bee, alleging years of forced labor while catching fish sold by the U.S. tuna brand, responded to the company’s motion to dismiss their suit, arguing that they have a right to have their allegations heard in court.
The reply contends that, the plaintiffs plausibly allege, and Bumble Bee does not dispute, that the plaintiffs were forced to labor by the vessel owners and argues the company was long specifically aware of such abuses in its supply chain, asserting this meets the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) standard. The reply also defends the plaintiffs’ negligence claims, stating Bumble Bee’s actions created both risk of forced labor and incentive for the vessel owners to abuse the plaintiffs.
The fishers filed suit against Bumble Bee in March under the TVPRA, one of the first times the seafood industry has been challenged under this Act in a U.S. court. The four fishers allege conditions of forced labor: that they were held in debt bondage, denied fair wages, isolated at sea for months, and subjected to both physical and psychological abuse while catching tuna that was sold by Bumble Bee in the U.S.
Sari Heidenreich, senior human rights advisor at Greenpeace USA, said: “The plaintiffs’ reply is clear — their case meets the high standards required by U.S. law and should be heard by the court. I am confident they will prevail.”
According to the reply, Bumble Bee sources 95% to 100% of its albacore through its Taiwanese parent company, Fong Chun Formosa (FCF), and a ‘trusted network’ of vessels. The reply argues that many of the vessels in that network, including those “the plaintiffs were forced to work” on, fish exclusively for Bumble Bee. The plaintiffs argue their experiences reflect a broader pattern, partially enabled by Bumble Bee’s continued use of transshipment — a practice widely criticized by experts and increasingly abandoned by other major seafood companies due to its links to forced labor.
Heidenreich continued: “Rather than act to ensure that workers in their supply chain are protected from forced labor and abuse, Bumble Bee has attempted to sweep them aside through a procedural motion. This move is more than just a legal strategy; it is an attempt to avoid accountability, silence vulnerable workers, and protect corporate interests over human dignity. Without attempting to remedy any harms that occurred on these vessels and improving that workplace for current and future workers, this is akin to the practice of ‘cut and run’, which experts agree is irresponsible and leaves workers in an even more vulnerable situation.
“In response to consumer demand, Bumble Bee has allowed customers to trace each can of tuna they buy back to the boat that caught it. But in its Motion to Dismiss, it attempted to distance itself from these same suppliers. Bumble Bee cannot have it both ways. The TVPRA and trade law make clear that corporate responsibility doesn’t stop at the U.S. border. Companies that cannot take responsibility for the products they sell have no business profiting from them.
“A just and sustainable seafood industry must prioritize the well-being of all its stakeholders — from the migrant fishers working under dangerous conditions to the American consumers who have made it clear: they do not want seafood tainted by modern slavery or environmental destruction.”
A letter expressing solidarity with these individuals was released today by 45 organizations from eight countries. The signers, which include the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), Friends of the Earth, and Freedom United, condemn human trafficking, while expressing support for the right of all individuals to seek justice and demand accountability. They also highlight the essential and inseparable relationship between healthy oceans and decent work.
Greenpeace USA continues to call for decisive action from every actor in the seafood supply chain to help end isolation at sea. This includes mandating:
- Free, accessible, and secure wifi on all fishing vessels to allow fishers to have contact with their families, unions, and governments;
- Capping time at sea at three months to reduce the risk of human rights abuse, forced labor, and human trafficking; and
- 100% human or electronic observer coverage to ensure vital data on catch composition, bycatch, interactions with protected species, and overall fishing practices are reported by independent and impartial parties.
In addition, unionization and the right of association are essential to empowering workers across all parts of the seafood supply chain. Accessible, secure, and responsive grievance mechanisms — available both on land and at sea — must become a standard in the industrial fishing industry. These tools are critical not just for addressing abuses when they occur but also for preventing them in the first place.
At least 128,000 fishers worldwide are victims of forced labor, which is strongly connected to other fisheries-related crimes, such as illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. These activities significantly contribute to the worsening of the ocean and climate crises.
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