Desde la Amazonía hasta Belém: la lucha por la justicia climática requiere acabar con la impunidad de las grandes empresas

An opinion piece by Pablo Fajardo of the Union of Affected People by Texaco (now Chevron) and Friends of the Earth Ecuador, arguing that climate justice is impossible without ending corporate impunity, specifically citing Chevron's environmental devastation in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

• The author asserts that the climate crisis is a direct result of unchecked corporate power and a global system that protects polluters while punishing those who resist.
• Chevron is accused of causing extensive environmental damage in the Ecuadorian Amazon over nearly four decades, including the intentional discharge of over 60 billion liters of toxic waste into rivers and leaving 880 open poison wells across 480 hectares of tropical forests.
• Despite Ecuadorian courts ordering Chevron to pay $9.5 billion for cleanup and compensation, the company has allegedly used international arbitration and retaliatory lawsuits against Indigenous leaders, lawyers, and NGOs to avoid payment.
• The author criticizes Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) systems as pro-corporate mechanisms that allow transnational companies to intimidate governments and prioritize profits over human rights and environmental regulations.
• In 2024, the Ecuadorian Amazon experienced one of its worst droughts in history, which forced residents to drink water contaminated with oil and mining waste due to the drying of rivers.

APA

Fajardo, P. (2025). Desde la Amazonía hasta Belém: la lucha por la justicia climática requiere acabar con la impunidad de las grandes empresas. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/es/la-impunidad-empresarial-y-la-lucha-por-la-justicia-climatica/

Chicago

Fajardo, Pablo. Desde la Amazonía hasta Belém: la lucha por la justicia climática requiere acabar con la impunidad de las grandes empresas. Friends of the Earth International, 2025. https://www.foei.org/es/la-impunidad-empresarial-y-la-lucha-por-la-justicia-climatica/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Fajardo |first1=Pablo |title=Desde la Amazonía hasta Belém: la lucha por la justicia climática requiere acabar con la impunidad de las grandes empresas |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=1 July 2025 |url=https://www.foei.org/es/la-impunidad-empresarial-y-la-lucha-por-la-justicia-climatica/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{fajardo2025desde, author = {Fajardo, Pablo}, title = {{Desde la Amazonía hasta Belém: la lucha por la justicia climática requiere acabar con la impunidad de las grandes empresas}}, publisher = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2025}, month = jul, url = {https://www.foei.org/es/la-impunidad-empresarial-y-la-lucha-por-la-justicia-climatica/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }