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The Living Planet Report 2022 documents a severe decline in global wildlife populations and emphasizes the interlinked nature of the biodiversity and climate crises. It advocates for a global 'nature-positive' goal by 2030, requiring transformative shifts in economic systems, production, and consumption to move beyond current conservation efforts and address the root drivers of environmental degradation.

Friends of the Earth International highlights a global rise in authoritarianism and neoliberal economic expansion that has increased violence against environmental defenders, citing 227 deadly attacks in 2020 alone. The organization details its support for specific struggles, including the Garifuna people in Honduras facing land grabbing, social movements in Colombia resisting neoliberalism, Palestinians fighting for food sovereignty under Israeli occupation, and fishing communities in Mozambique affected by Total's LNG project. The document advocates for national protections for defenders and a binding UN treaty to hold multinational corporations accountable for human rights and environmental violations.

The document provides a comprehensive set of recommendations for the design and operation of Independent Accountability Mechanisms (IAMs) within financial institutions. It argues that effective IAMs must have a dual mandate of preventing harm and ensuring remedy for affected people and the environment, while fostering institutional learning. The guide details essential structural requirements for independence—such as direct reporting lines to the Board and restrictions on 'revolving door' employment—and outlines best practices for information disclosure, outreach, and the handling of complaints. It specifically analyzes three core functions: Compliance Review, which investigates policy violations to recommend remediation; Dispute Resolution, which facilitates voluntary, party-driven solutions; and Advisory, which uses systemic trends to improve institutional performance. The authors emphasize the need for low barriers to entry for complainants, protection against retaliation, and the requirement for management to implement remedial action plans.

The European Commission's proposed regulation aims to minimize the EU's impact on global forests by establishing a 'deforestation-free' standard for cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, soya, and wood. The framework relies on mandatory supply chain due diligence, requiring full traceability to the point of production via geolocation coordinates. While it improves upon the EU Timber Regulation by introducing objective science-based standards and stronger penalties (up to 4% of annual turnover), it contains a 'simplified due diligence' loophole for low-risk countries. ClientEarth identifies critical gaps compared to the European Parliament's 2020 INL Report, specifically the lack of mandatory human rights protections, the exclusion of non-forest ecosystems like peatlands, the omission of the financial sector, and the absence of civil liability for victims of deforestation.

The document examines the expansion of transnational corporations (TNCs) in Latin America and the Caribbean, specifically within the energy and agriculture sectors. It argues that neoliberal reforms, free trade agreements, and the dismantling of state institutions have enabled TNCs to control territories, leading to widespread dispossession, environmental degradation, and human rights violations. The report highlights a systemic pattern of anti-democratic governance and a specific, severe impact on women's rights and land tenure. It concludes by proposing strategies for resistance, including the promotion of food sovereignty, agroecology, and the establishment of a UN Binding Treaty on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations.

A group of German youth successfully challenged the Federal Climate Protection Act, leading the Federal Constitutional Court to rule that the law violated fundamental rights by failing to specify sufficient emission cuts beyond 2030.

The 'Klimaatsaksie Handboek' is a practical guide designed to empower South African communities to combat climate change using legal tools. It explains the science of climate change, identifies specific vulnerabilities and potential impacts—such as water scarcity and food insecurity—and outlines a framework for 'climate action.' The document details South Africa's constitutional rights, relevant environmental legislation, and international commitments. It provides a step-by-step toolkit for community organizing, including methods for gathering evidence, accessing government information via PAIA, participating in Environmental Impact Assessments, lobbying, and taking legal action as a last resort.

The Climate Action Handbook is a guide designed to empower South African communities to respond to climate change by combining scientific understanding with legal action. It defines climate vulnerability and resilience, outlines South Africa's specific climate risks and legal framework—including constitutional rights and environmental legislation—and provides a ten-step practical framework for community-led climate action, ranging from advocacy and information gathering to formal legal proceedings.

Six NGOs sued TotalEnergies, alleging the company failed to adequately assess human rights and environmental impacts of its Tilenga oil project in Uganda and Tanzania, in violation of France's 2017 Duty of Vigilance Law. The project involves drilling 400 boreholes—some in Murchinson Falls National Park—and is expected to displace approximately 100,000 people. After lower courts ruled the case belonged in a commercial court, the Court of Cassation overturned those decisions on December 15, 2021, ruling that the NGOs, as non-commercial claimants, have the right to choose between a commercial or civil court. The court reasoned that the duty of vigilance is not a commercial act, meaning the case can be heard by a judicial court, which is viewed as less sympathetic to corporate interests than a commercial court.

The author examines the intersection of communication rights, human rights, and climate justice, arguing that 'communication poverty' prevents vulnerable populations from influencing climate policy. The text details how climate change disproportionately affects the Global South and racialized communities, often exacerbating existing systemic inequalities. It explores various frameworks of climate justice—including historical, per capita, and rights-based approaches—and highlights the role of the grassroots climate justice movement in challenging elite, market-based solutions. The document emphasizes that for Indigenous and marginalized groups to achieve 'parity of participation,' they must have access to media platforms and the ability to develop their own narratives to challenge dominant stereotypes and influence global decision-making processes.

Friends of the Earth International and other civil society organizations condemn the Israeli government's October 2021 decision to classify six Palestinian human rights organizations as 'terrorist organizations' and 'unauthorized'. The statement argues that this move is part of a broader trend of criminalizing defenders of land, water, and human rights. It specifically highlights the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) for its work in sustainable agriculture and seed preservation in the West Bank's 'Zone C'. The signatories call on the international community, including the UN Human Rights Council and European governments, to pressure Israel to reverse these designations and end the occupation of Palestinian lands.

ClientEarth criticizes the ECB's 2021 Climate Roadmap as being too vague and slow to address the carbon bias in its Corporate Sector Purchase Programme (CSPP) and Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP). The organization argues that the ECB continues to subsidize greenhouse gas-intensive companies and fails to meet its legal obligations under EU treaties. ClientEarth calls for the immediate exclusion of bonds from companies involved in coal, unconventional oil and gas, and new fossil fuel exploration, as well as the requirement for issuers to adopt credible Paris-aligned transition strategies by January 2023.

Carbon Market Watch advocates for a dual approach to carbon market activism, combining the exposure of 'brazen greenwashing'—such as 'carbon-neutral fossil fuels'—with active participation in governance bodies like the TSVCM and VCMI to ensure human rights and accounting integrity.

The report criticizes the COP26 Presidency and UNFCCC Secretariat for restricting observer access to negotiating areas, which the author claims undermines the monitoring of key discussions on finance, loss and damage, and Article 6, and risks the adoption of 'false solutions' due to the exclusion of frontline voices.

The report provides a comprehensive 'behind-the-scenes' look at the litigation brought by Milieudefensie and over 17,000 co-plaintiffs against Royal Dutch Shell. On May 26, 2021, the District Court of The Hague ruled that Shell must reduce its net carbon emissions by 45% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels. The court based its decision on a 'duty of care' and the necessity to respect human rights, aligning corporate policy with the Paris Agreement. The document serves as a manual for other climate litigants, detailing strategies for funding, community mobilization, and legal argumentation, while analyzing Shell's defenses and the broader implications for corporate accountability and the energy transition.

The report documents the legal victory of Milieudefensie et al. v. Royal Dutch Shell PLC, where the District Court in The Hague ordered Shell to reduce its net carbon emissions by 45% by 2030 relative to 2019 levels. It explains the use of the 'duty of care' and human rights arguments to hold a corporate actor liable for its contribution to climate change, including Scope 3 emissions. The document also provides a 'mini-toolkit' for other NGOs planning strategic climate litigation, covering research, fundraising, and media strategies.

The report analyzes the evolution of gender-related provisions in trade agreements, categorizing them into five types: reaffirmation of commitments, avoidance of adverse effects, preservation of the state's right to regulate, promotion of women's economic empowerment, and cooperation mechanisms. It highlights a shift toward dedicated 'trade and gender' chapters in recent agreements, such as those involving Canada and Chile, though it notes these often lack enforceable targets or budgets. The author argues that current provisions are frequently 'gender-blind' or overly focused on women as formal workers, neglecting their roles as consumers, carers, and rights holders. To improve policy, the report advocates for ex ante gender impact assessments—citing Canada's GBA+ and the UNCTAD Trade and Gender Toolbox—and ex post monitoring to generate sex-disaggregated data. It concludes that for trade to be inclusive, gender mainstreaming must move beyond symbolic cooperation toward a holistic approach grounded in human rights frameworks like CEDAW.

The document outlines the role of major soy traders in driving deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon and Cerrado, critiquing current sustainability policies and certification schemes as insufficient. It recommends that financial institutions make financing contingent on traders adopting a January 2020 cut-off date, full traceability, and robust monitoring, with a timeline for suspending or ceasing services for non-compliance by 2023 and 2024.

Natural Justice and the Inclusive Green Economy Network (IGEN-East Africa) condemn the arrest of six staff members from the Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) in Uganda. The organization asserts that these arrests are part of a trend of harassment against environmental defenders challenging the East Africa Oil Pipeline (EACOP), which they describe as the longest heated oil pipeline in the world. The statement calls for global solidarity and urges the Ugandan government to operate within the law to protect human rights and environmental activists.

The document critiques the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change and the 'A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy' plan for failing to establish genuine nation-to-nation relationships with Indigenous peoples. It asserts that current consultation processes are superficial, structurally exclude Indigenous voices from working groups, and ignore the role of the fossil fuel industry in violating Indigenous rights. The author emphasizes that integrating Indigenous knowledge systems—which view the Earth as a living, sacred entity—is essential for addressing the climate crisis. To remedy these failures, the document proposes a shift toward community-level engagement and the creation of an expert advisory council representing Canada's five biomes to ensure territory-based solutions.