The Albanese government has just caved in to pressure from mining executives. As a result, the long-promised reformed nature laws and national independent environment watchdog will not be legislated this term of government. It’s a bitterly disappointing back down where our wildlife, natural environment and communities stand to lose most.
A Decision with Real Consequence for Nature
Australia has one of the worst deforestation rates in the world. We are in the middle of an extinction crisis, with iconic species like the koala pushed to the brink of local extinction in Queensland and New South Wales.
Labor’s positive plan was supposed to address this accelerating environmental decline. It was meant to provide better protection for wildlife and forests and include an independent environment watchdog with real power to hold corporations accountable for environmental destruction.
This was based on years of discussion, consultation and an independent review conducted way back in 2020 that uncovered how broken our national system of environmental protection really is.
Yet instead of following through on these desperately needed nature law reforms, the government has walked away, at least for this term.
This decision follows heavy lobbying from fossil fuel and mining corporations as well as political pressure from Western Australia’s Premier Roger Cook who faces his own re-election in March this year.
A Compromise Deal Ignored
The government needed the votes of a combination of the Greens and independent Senators to get its proposed legislation through parliament. The legislation had already passed the lower house last year and negotiations had apparently led to a compromise deal.
But this was quashed following a concerted campaign from mining and fossil fuel interests, particularly in Western Australia.
A last ditch attempt to get this critical deal done in early February was made over the past week in the hope these reforms could finally be legislated just before the next election. But once again vested interests stood in the way and the reforms have been dumped for this term of government.
The government is now heading into an election without delivering on this critical promise.
“Rather than standing up for nature and wildlife, Prime Minister Albanese and WA Premier Roger Cook have caved to big fossil fuel and mining executives railing against environmental protection in the interest of profits. The outcome will be devastating — more forest and habitat destruction, more wildlife killed, and a diminished natural environment for all Australians.”
– Glenn Walker, Head of Nature at Greenpeace Australia Pacific
Australians Want Real Environmental Protections
Australians care deeply about nature. We love our beaches, forests, and unique wildlife. We don’t want to see koalas driven to extinction or ancient forests bulldozed for logging or mining projects.
The government cannot afford to ignore the public’s demand for real action on nature protection.
A recent poll showed that 75% of Australians support strengthening national environmental law to protect nature, with just 4% opposing and the rest undecided.
As we head rapidly towards another federal election, it’s time all political parties acted on the strong public support and demand for nature laws that work.
What You Can Do
Together, we won’t let fossil fuel and mining companies dictate Australia’s nature laws.
We’re demanding that all parties make these critical nature law reforms a priority in the first 100 days of parliament.
Here’s how you can take action:
- Add your name to our petition calling on the Albanese government to implement strong nature protection laws that will end Australia’s deforestation crisis
- Contact your local MP and demand they stand up for nature, not corporate polluters.
The case shows that climate change is a fundamental human rights violation—and the victory of Bonaire, a Dutch territory, could open the door for similar lawsuits globally.
From our collaborating partner Living on Earth, public radio’s environmental news magazine, an interview by Paloma Beltran with Greenpeace Netherlands campaigner Eefje de Kroon.
A Tiny Caribbean Island Sued the Netherlands Over Climate Change, and Won
Climate Change
Greenpeace organisations to appeal USD $345 million court judgment in Energy Transfer’s intimidation lawsuit
SYDNEY, Saturday 28 February 2026 — Greenpeace International and Greenpeace organisations in the US announce they will seek a new trial and, if necessary, appeal the decision with the North Dakota Supreme Court following a North Dakota District Court judgment today awarding Energy Transfer (ET) USD $345 million.
ET’s SLAPP suit remains a blatant attempt to silence free speech, erase Indigenous leadership of the Standing Rock movement, and punish solidarity with peaceful resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline. Greenpeace International will also continue to seek damages for ET’s bullying lawsuits under EU anti-SLAPP legislation in the Netherlands.
Mads Christensen, Greenpeace International Executive Director said: “Energy Transfer’s attempts to silence us are failing. Greenpeace International will continue to resist intimidation tactics. We will not be silenced. We will only get louder, joining our voices to those of our allies all around the world against the corporate polluters and billionaire oligarchs who prioritise profits over people and the planet.
“With hard-won freedoms under threat and the climate crisis accelerating, the stakes of this legal fight couldn’t be higher. Through appeals in the US and Greenpeace International’s groundbreaking anti-SLAPP case in the Netherlands, we are exploring every option to hold Energy Transfer accountable for multiple abusive lawsuits and show all power-hungry bullies that their attacks will only result in a stronger people-powered movement.”
The Court’s final judgment today rejects some of the jury verdict delivered in March 2025, but still awards hundreds of millions of dollars to ET without a sound basis in law. The Greenpeace defendants will continue to press their arguments that the US Constitution does not allow liability here, that ET did not present evidence to support its claims, that the Court admitted inflammatory and irrelevant evidence at trial and excluded other evidence supporting the defense, and that the jury pool in Mandan could not be impartial.[1][2]
ET’s back-to-back lawsuits against Greenpeace International and the US organisations Greenpeace USA (Greenpeace Inc.) and Greenpeace Fund are clear-cut examples of SLAPPs — lawsuits attempting to bury nonprofits and activists in legal fees, push them towards bankruptcy and ultimately silence dissent.[3] Greenpeace International, which is based in the Netherlands, is pursuing justice in Europe, with a suit against ET under Dutch law and the European Union’s new anti-SLAPP directive, a landmark test of the new legislation which could help set a powerful precedent against corporate bullying.[4]
Kate Smolski, Program Director at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “This is part of a worrying trend globally: fossil fuel corporations are increasingly using litigation to attack and silence ordinary people and groups using the law to challenge their polluting operations — and we’re not immune to these tactics here in Australia.
“Rulings like this have a chilling effect on democracy and public interest litigation — we must unite against these silencing tactics as bad for Australians and bad for our democracy. Our movement is stronger than any corporate bully, and grows even stronger when under attack.”
Energy Transfer’s SLAPPs are part of a wave of abusive lawsuits filed by Big Oil companies like Shell, Total, and ENI against Greenpeace entities in recent years.[3] A couple of these cases have been successfully stopped in their tracks. This includes Greenpeace France successfully defeating TotalEnergies’ SLAPP on 28 March 2024, and Greenpeace UK and Greenpeace International forcing Shell to back down from its SLAPP on 10 December 2024.
-ENDS-
Images available in Greenpeace Media Library
Notes:
[1] The judgment entered by North Dakota District Court Judge Gion follows a jury verdict finding Greenpeace entities liable for more than US$660 million on March 19, 2025. Judge Gion subsequently threw out several items from the jury’s verdict, reducing the total damages to approximately US$345 million.
[2] Public statements from the independent Trial Monitoring Committee
[3] Energy Transfer’s first lawsuit was filed in federal court in 2017 under the RICO Act – the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a US federal statute designed to prosecute mob activity. The case was dismissed in 2019, with the judge stating the evidence fell “far short” of what was needed to establish a RICO enterprise. The federal court did not decide on Energy Transfer’s claims based on state law, so Energy Transfer promptly filed a new case in a North Dakota state court with these and other state law claims.
[4] Greenpeace International sent a Notice of Liability to Energy Transfer on 23 July 2024, informing the pipeline giant of Greenpeace International’s intention to bring an anti-SLAPP lawsuit against the company in a Dutch Court. After Energy Transfer declined to accept liability on multiple occasions (September 2024, December 2024), Greenpeace International initiated the first test of the European Union’s anti-SLAPP Directive on 11 February 2025 by filing a lawsuit in Dutch court against Energy Transfer. The case was officially registered in the docket of the Court of Amsterdam on 2 July, 2025. Greenpeace International seeks to recover all damages and costs it has suffered as a result of Energy Transfers’s back-to-back, abusive lawsuits demanding hundreds of millions of dollars from Greenpeace International and the Greenpeace organisations in the US. The next hearing in the Court of Amsterdam is scheduled for 16 April, 2026.
Media contact:
Kate O’Callaghan on 0406 231 892 or kate.ocallaghan@greenpeace.org
The Trump administration’s relentless rollback of public health and environmental protections has allowed widespread toxic exposures to flourish, warn experts who helped implement safeguards now under assault.
In a new report that outlines a dozen high-risk pollutants given new life thanks to weakened, delayed or rescinded regulations, the Environmental Protection Network, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group of hundreds of former Environmental Protection Agency staff, warns that the EPA under President Donald Trump has abandoned the agency’s core mission of protecting people and the environment from preventable toxic exposures.
Former EPA Staff Detail Expanding Pollution Risks Under Trump
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Greenpeace organisations to appeal USD $345 million court judgment in Energy Transfer’s intimidation lawsuit
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