Citizens win the second round of an air pollution lawsuit in Jakarta, French president supports a ban on deep sea mining and Greece runs entirely on clean, renewal energy for the first time. These plus more good news for the planet in November!
Norway/Arctic
In November, Equinor announced they are postponing going forward with the Wisting oil field – the world's northernmost oil field in the pristine Arctic. According to oil analysts, that means the oil field will never be built. This keeps million tonnes of CO2 in the ground, and saves the vulnerable Arctic from a potential oil catastrophe.
Now, we celebrate this win, and we continue to fight to keep fossil fuels in the ground!
Indonesia
We have a second win for a citizens' air pollution lawsuit in Indonesia!
In 2019, a group of Jakarta residents filed an air pollution lawsuit against President Joko Widodo, the Jakarta governor, and other senior government officials to improve the air quality of Jakarta. In 2021, the Central Jakarta District Court ruled that the Indonesian government was guilty of failing to uphold the citizens' right to clean air. The historic decision obliges the government to establish ambient air quality standards that can protect vulnerable groups and develop air pollution control strategies that involve the public.
The President and the other defendants had submitted an appeal but in October this year, the high judicial council upheld the initial decision.
This is a second win of the air pollution lawsuit, a legal way for citizens and their right to breathe healthy air.
France
French President Emmanuel Macron announced at COP27 that he supports a ban on deep sea mining. This means France joins the growing number of countries opposed to deep sea mining and calling to stop this destructive activity before it starts. As the first Head of State to call for an outright ban on deep sea mining in international waters, Macron leads the way for more ambitious positions from governments to put the deep ocean permanently off-limits to mining.
Greenpeace France has spent months working on this issue with the Stop Deep Sea Mining campaign and other NGOs in France, and welcomes this announcement that strengthens France's position against deep sea mining. Greenpeace continues to call on the French government to oppose the adoption of mining regulations and the approval of any permit to mine at the International Seabed Authority, and will hold the government to account on working together with other countries who are actively looking for ways to ensure that deep sea mining is not allowed to ever start.
Greece
For the first time in its history, Greece ran entirely on renewables. The country has been loosening its reliance on fossil fuels over the last decade while boosting the capacity of renewables. On 5 October, for about five hours, the country's electricity demands were completely covered by renewable energy – a significant milestone in the journey away from fossil fuels!
New York, United States
New York expedites efforts to ban the sale of new gas cars by 2035, following California's vote to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles starting in 2035. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is ordering regulators to require all new vehicles sold in the state to be zero emissions by 2035. The regulation would require 35% of sales in model year 2026 to be zero-emission vehicles, 68% of sales by 2030 and 100% of sales by 2035.
