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Global Witness reports that 200 land and environmental defenders were murdered in 2021, contributing to a ten-year total of 1,733 killings. The report identifies land inequality, corruption, and shrinking civic space as primary drivers of this violence, with Indigenous peoples disproportionately targeted. Analysis focuses on high-risk regions including Latin America, where over three-quarters of 2021 attacks occurred, and specific countries like Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and the Philippines. The document advocates for the implementation of the Escazú Agreement and the strengthening of the EU's Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive to end corporate impunity.

The report examines the relationship between ENTSOG, a body that influences EU gas infrastructure funding, and GIE, a gas industry lobby group. It highlights significant membership overlap and a lack of transparency regarding meetings and conflict-of-interest policies. Global Witness asserts that this relationship has led to billions in EU subsidies flowing to industry-favoured projects, some of which are failing, while contradicting the EU's climate targets.

Global Witness calls for an ambitious Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) to hold EU companies accountable for environmental and human rights harms. The brief highlights a $15 billion airport project in the Philippines involving Dutch companies that resulted in mangrove destruction and family displacements. It recommends that the EU include comprehensive definitions of environmental harm, mandatory scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions due diligence, and the incorporation of international standards like the Paris Agreement and the Ramsar Convention.

Global Witness calls for the UK, US, EU, and China to end the 'money pipeline' driving deforestation by replacing voluntary initiatives with binding national laws. The organization warns that the Amazon is approaching a tipping point and criticizes the failure of previous pledges, such as the 2014 New York Declaration on Forests. It specifically urges the UK to implement its Environment Act, the EU to finalize laws stopping bank funding for deforestation, the US to include financiers in due diligence regimes, and China to prohibit illegal timber imports and regulate commercial banking risks.

The report examines how the jade industry in northern Myanmar, particularly in Kachin and northern Shan states, is intertwined with armed conflict. It asserts that military elites and their cronies maintain control over high-value mines to secure billions of dollars in profits, which incentivizes continued fighting and undermines the efforts of the civilian-led government to establish peace. The document highlights the displacement of approximately 100,000 people since 2011 and the marginalization of local communities who suffer from environmental degradation and human rights abuses while the wealth is extracted by powerful networks. It concludes that a sustainable peace requires transparent management of natural resources and a fair distribution of jade profits.

The document highlights the ongoing state-led intimidation and violence against the Garífuna people in Honduras, specifically citing the July 2020 abduction of four men from the community of Triunfo de la Cruz. It describes a pattern of harassment and criminalization used to displace Indigenous people for commercial interests, such as luxury tourist developments. The text emphasizes that Honduras was the most dangerous country per capita for land and environmental defenders in 2019 and asserts that protecting Indigenous territorial rights is essential for global biodiversity and climate crisis mitigation.

The report finds that all forecast capital expenditure in new oil and gas fields is incompatible with limiting global warming to 1.5°C. It warns that relying on unproven carbon capture and removal technologies to justify continued investment increases the risk of a 'disorderly transition' and systemic financial instability, potentially leading to global economic losses of $23 trillion per year if the world fails to transition.

The document alleges a systemic pattern where oil and gas companies fund police and political entities to silence opposition to fossil fuel infrastructure. It highlights the Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota, where Enbridge is permitted to invoice police for security, and notes a trend of increasing criminalization of climate protests across the US, UK, and Australia. The text also cites historical allegations of corporate-backed state violence by Shell and Chevron in Nigeria, and Frontera Energy in Colombia.

The report details how armed groups in the Central African Republic, specifically the Seleka and anti-balaka, have systematically exploited diamond resources to fund violence. It highlights the failure of the Kimberley Process suspension to stop the flow of diamonds, which are 'naturalised' in neighbouring countries like Cameroon to enter international markets. The document warns that the introduction of 'compliant zones' for legal exports risks legitimising conflict diamonds, particularly those amassed in stockpiles by buying houses like Sodiam and Badica during the export ban.

Global Witness reports that Veolia has been secretly filming and testing sediment at a Colombian landfill site, finding mercury levels 25 times above safe limits. The report alleges that untreated leachate is being pumped into wetlands that provide drinking water to hundreds of thousands of people in Barrancabermeja. While Veolia denies causality and claims its internal monitoring shows no mercury, expert analysis suggests the company's testing was insufficient. The report also highlights the danger faced by environmental defenders in the region and argues for the strength of the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive to hold such companies accountable.

Global Witness calls on the new UK government to address its role in global deforestation by making the 2030 target to halt biodiversity loss legally binding, expanding import laws to cover all deforestation regardless of legality, and stopping financial institutions from funding deforesting companies.

The statement asserts that elections in Brazil, the Philippines, and Colombia are fundamentally climate elections due to these countries' roles as 'crucial bulwarks in the fight against climate breakdown'. It highlights the intersection of climate action with public health, racial justice, and poverty reduction, while noting that these nations suffer intense climate impacts and high rates of violence against environmental defenders. The text calls for leaders who support democratic institutions, human rights, and science-based policies aligned with the Paris Commitments to avoid further climate delay and denial.

Global Witness calls on China to use the current revision of its Forest Law to prohibit the import of illegal timber. The organization argues that as a major importer of wood products, China's domestic policies significantly impact global deforestation and climate stability. The statement highlights that China is the largest economy without such a prohibition and suggests that implementing one would align with its international commitments under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and its role in global governance.

In 2022, Global Witness documented at least 177 killings of land and environmental defenders, bringing the total since 2012 to 1,910. Latin America remains the most dangerous region, accounting for 88% of 2022 deaths, with Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico as the most lethal countries. The report highlights a critical pattern of violence in the Amazon, where 22% of global killings occurred, often linked to illegal mining and agribusiness. Indigenous peoples are disproportionately targeted, representing over one-third of the victims. Beyond lethal attacks, the report details the increasing use of criminalization and harassment to silence activists, particularly in Asia and Africa. It calls for stronger corporate accountability, specifically urging the European Union to implement the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) to hold companies responsible for human rights abuses in their global supply chains.

Global Witness advocates for Amendment 36 to the Financial Services and Markets Bill, which would require UK financial institutions to conduct due diligence to prevent funding illegal deforestation. The organization argues that existing government proposals for a Treasury review and reliance on the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosure (TNFD) are insufficient, citing that UK banks and asset managers provided an estimated $16.6 billion to businesses implicated in deforestation between 2015-2020. The amendment is supported by financial institutions representing £2.7 trillion in assets and aligns with the UK's commitments under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use.

Global Witness traced the journey of Russian oil from the port of Primorsk to the UK via India, highlighting the use of a 'shadow fleet' of aging tankers and a refining loophole that allows Russian crude to be imported into the UK as refined products. The report identifies the role of Gatik Ship Management and the St Kitts and Nevis ship registry in facilitating this trade, and notes that refineries in Vadinar and Jamnagar process Russian crude for re-export to Western markets, including purchases by Shell and BP.

Global Witness reports that heavy rare earth mining has exploded in Myanmar's Kachin Special Region 1, driven by China's need to offshore its polluting mining industry. The process, primarily in-situ leaching, causes severe environmental degradation, including water poisoning and deforestation, while funding militias affiliated with Myanmar's military regime. These minerals, specifically dysprosium and terbium, are critical for permanent magnets used in electric vehicles and wind turbines, linking global green energy goals to human rights abuses and ecological collapse in Myanmar.

Global Witness proposes that the U.S. and Brazil collaborate to protect the Amazon by centering Indigenous rights, passing the FOREST Act to end illegal deforestation imports, and stopping U.S. financial institutions from funding deforestation-risk commodities.

Global Witness reports that industrial agriculture is accelerating biodiversity loss in Brazil, with over 27 million hectares of jaguar habitat converted to agricultural land in Mato Grosso and Pará as of 2023. The investigation highlights JBS's role, finding that 75% of identified farms in JBS's supply chain overlapping jaguar territory in these states violated environmental laws between 2018 and 2023. The report specifically identifies the Canoeiro farm as having cleared over 1,200 hectares of protected jaguar territory between 2013 and 2023, using 'cattle laundering' to enter JBS's supply chain. Global Witness argues that stronger supply chain and finance regulations are necessary to prevent the extinction of keystone species and meet global climate goals by 2030.

The report alleges that the Trump Ocean Club in Panama was used to launder illicit funds from Colombian narcotics trafficking and Russian criminal networks. It highlights the role of broker Alexandre Henrique Ventura Nogueira in facilitating these sales through anonymous shell companies and 'special purpose vehicles'. The document argues that Donald Trump and his family benefited financially from these transactions while failing to conduct due diligence on buyers, reflecting a broader pattern of licensing his brand to high-risk projects in jurisdictions with weak anti-money laundering controls.