NEWCASTLE, Sunday 30 November 2025 – Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists have scaled and blocked a coal ship, bound for the Port of Newcastle today, during the Rising Tide People’s Blockade, deploying a banner with a message to the Australian government: “Phase Out Coal and Gas”.
Photos and video here – footage to be uploaded by 2pm AEDT
Three activists are secured to the anchor chain and sides of the ship, stopping its operations, and have unfurled the five-metre-long banner in a peaceful protest demanding the Australian government set a timeline to phase out fossil fuels including exports, and stop approving new coal and gas projects.
Australian musicians Oli and Louis Leimbach from Lime Cordiale joined the action with Greenpeace while activists painted a message to the Australian government on the ship’s side, using non-toxic soluble paint, reading: “TIMELINE NOW!”
It comes after Australia signed onto the significant Belém Declaration for the Transition Away From Fossil Fuels on the sidelines of COP30 in Brazil last week, but then doubled down on its support for coal and gas.
Oli Leimbach from Australian band Lime Cordiale, who performed at Rising Tide’s Climate Concert and joined the Greenpeace action said: “Rising Tide’s Climate Concert last night was such a beautiful festival; so many passionate people came together in a peaceful way to demand change from the government. By taking action today, we added another little exclamation mark on their voices. Stoked to be here with Greenpeace — it’s time to phase out coal and gas.”
Dr. Elen O’Donnell, doctor and Greenpeace activist who boarded the vessel, said: “We are taking action today, alongside thousands of people who have joined Rising Tide’s blockade, to show Australia’s leaders that if the government won’t act, the people will. Australia is the world’s third-largest fossil fuel exporter, and its outsized role in the climate crisis calls for serious action. Every shipment of coal that leaves this port contributes to more devastating bushfires, floods and cyclones. As a doctor, I have seen first-hand the impacts of climate disasters on people in Australia and around the world — I’ve seen how our government’s obsession with fossil fuels is harming people and killing our planet.
“From the side of this vessel we can see ships far out to the horizon, many of them on their way to collect coal. These industries, and the Australian people, are owed a clear plan and timeline for the phase out of coal and gas. We are risking arrest because we don’t want a future reliant on coal and gas.”
Joe Rafalowicz, Head of Climate and Energy at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “The urgency of the climate crisis cannot be understated. Fossil fuel production is soaring and pushing climate pollution to deadly new highs.
“At COP30 in Brazil, the Australian government joined the landmark Belém Declaration — its strongest statement yet that acknowledges our international commitment to limit warming to 1.5°C means no new fossil fuels. But just days later the Albanese government doubled-down on coal and gas — completely at odds with Australia’s obligation and responsibility to address emissions as one of the world’s largest coal and gas exporters. It’s a joke.
“The Albanese government continues to approve new coal and gas projects at breakneck speed, expanding production faster than any other country, and with no clear exit strategy. Australian workers, communities and the public have been left in the lurch and deserve better.
“The clean energy transition is here and there is no going back. We have the solutions and what matters is what we do now — Australia must deliver a clear timeline to phase out fossil fuels, including exports, and commit to no new fossil fuel projects. Real leadership is judged on action, not talk.
“Greenpeace, alongside Rising Tide and thousands of everyday people, are taking actions big and small this weekend to send a united message to the Albanese government — we don’t need new fossil fuels, and we will continue to hold you to account.”
The ship was due in to port at around 12:15pm AEDT. Newcastle is the world’s biggest coal port. The Rising Tide People’s Blockade is a week-long annual peaceful protest at the Port of Newcastle calling for an end to new coal and gas projects and increased funding to support workers during the transition away from coal.
—ENDS—
For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Kimberley Bernard: +61 407 581 404 or kbernard@greenpeace.org or Lucy Keller: +61 491 135 308 or lkeller@greenpeace.org
Greenpeace activists block coal ship from entering world’s largest coal port at Rising Tide blockade
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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
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Greenpeace organisations to appeal USD $345 million court judgment in Energy Transfer’s intimidation lawsuit
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