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The document advocates for the adoption of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a 'shared language' to harmonise fragmented sustainability data across governments, businesses, and investors. It identifies three primary barriers to this alignment: the proliferation of disconnected datasets, tenuous links between data suppliers and users, and data inequalities affecting the poorest populations. To overcome these, the report proposes five principles: setting direction through benchmarking, connecting stakeholders, sharing open data, integrating goals into institutional DNA, and communicating progress through integrated reporting. The text highlights the systemic risk of ignoring these goals, using the 2011 Thailand floods as an example of how environmental shocks create global economic disruptions.

The report finds that most green economy plans lack meaningful participation from marginalised groups, fail to specifically target the poorest to reduce inequality, and do not sufficiently address the limits to growth or the urgency of the low-carbon transition.

Colombia is planning at least nine major LNG import terminal projects and expansions between 2026 and 2030, which could create a capacity of 2,500 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d). This capacity is more than double the 1,000 MMcf/d gas demand projected by the Unidad de Planeación Minero Energética (UPME) for 2030. The report argues that overbuilding LNG infrastructure risks creating stranded assets, increasing dependence on volatile global markets, and undermining the country's roadmap to reduce fossil fuel dependence and emissions by 90% by 2050.

The report identifies a widening gap between coal capacity and generation, particularly in China and India, where new plants are built as 'system insurance' while renewables displace coal in actual output. Globally, the coal pipeline is narrowing geographically, with 95% of construction concentrated in China and India. However, the report notes a significant slowdown in retirements in the U.S. and EU due to policy interventions and energy security concerns. Regional analyses highlight Indonesia's growth in captive coal for industrial processing, the U.S.'s political push to sustain aging plants, and the EU's structural shift toward a coal-free system. The document also examines the impact of the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism on the Western Balkans and the challenges of rebuilding Ukraine's energy system.

Global Witness calls for the Colombian government to ratify the Escazú Agreement, noting that 322 land and environmental defenders were killed in Colombia over the last 10 years. The statement highlights the Agreement's role in requiring governments to prevent and investigate attacks on defenders and notes that while Colombia signed the treaty in December 2019, ratification remains pending. It identifies the government of Gustavo Petro and the work of civil society organisations like Somos Defensores as key drivers for potential progress in protecting human rights defenders.

Global Witness calls for CBD COP16 to transition the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) into actionable plans. The organization advocates for the protection and participation of land and environmental defenders, the implementation of mandatory regulations to end harmful financial flows driving deforestation, and the establishment of responsible mining standards and 'no-go zones' in biodiversity hotspots to ensure the energy transition does not undermine nature.

Global Witness calls for the acceleration of the Escazú Agreement's implementation to combat the high rate of killings of environmental and land defenders in Latin America. The region accounts for two-thirds of global murders of such defenders. The document highlights specific failures and progress in countries like Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil, urging governments to ensure justice and companies to perform due diligence in extractive projects to prevent further violence.

The Cerrejón coal mine in Colombia, owned by BHP, Anglo-American, and Glencore, is accused of severe human rights and environmental violations, including forced evictions, water contamination, and health crises. Global Witness argues that the mine's owners and their European links demonstrate a systemic lack of corporate accountability, advocating for new EU legislation to make companies liable for harms caused in their global supply chains.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Global Witness and 144 NGOs have called on Brazil's Foreign Minister, Mauro Vieira, to ratify the Escazú Agreement. The letter argues that ratification is essential to protect land and environmental defenders, particularly in the Brazilian Amazon, where Global Witness reports the highest number of defender deaths globally between 2012 and 2021. The agreement aims to guarantee access to environmental information, public participation in decision-making, and access to justice in environmental matters across Latin America and the Caribbean.

The document highlights that 322 land and environmental defenders have been killed in Colombia over the last ten years, alongside numerous non-lethal attacks such as threats and criminalization. It argues that the ratification of the Escazú Agreement—the first regional treaty for Latin America and the Caribbean on human rights and the environment—is essential to mandate the prevention and investigation of attacks against defenders. While noting that countries like Mexico, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, and Argentina have already ratified the agreement, it points to the government of Gustavo Petro and initiatives like the 'Somos Defensores' program and its emergency plan as reasons for optimism in establishing a safe environment for environmental participation.

Global Witness reports that Cargill has purchased soy from farms in Bolivia where over 20,000 hectares of forest have been cleared since 2017. The investigation finds that Cargill fails to collect necessary origin data for its soy, undermining its public commitments to deforestation-free supply chains. Furthermore, a leaked map suggests Cargill may be targeting an additional 3 million hectares of standing forest for future soy sourcing. The report also highlights that global banks, including Barclays, BNP Paribas, HSBC, and Santander, continue to provide billions in financing to Cargill despite their own pledges to reduce deforestation in their portfolios.

Global Witness calls for COP16 to transition the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework into concrete plans, specifically by protecting environmental defenders, regulating financial flows to end deforestation, and establishing strict global standards for responsible mining of energy transition minerals.

COP30 resulted in the Mutirão Decision, which Global Witness criticises for omitting any mention of "fossil fuels" and failing to establish a transition roadmap despite initial ambitions from the Brazilian Presidency. The summit saw significant human rights progress, including the recognition of Indigenous land rights and the launch of the Leaders Action Network for Environmental Activists and Defenders (LEAD). Financial outcomes included an agreement to mobilise $1.3 trillion annually for climate action by 2035 and the tripling of adaptation finance, though the Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF) received only $6.6 billion of a desired $125 billion. The document highlights a contradiction between official negotiations and the influence of approximately 1,600 fossil fuel lobbyists, while noting the launch of the Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change to combat disinformation.

The Climate Finance Accelerator (CFA) is a UK-funded global programme, led in South Africa by NBI and GreenCape, that provides technical, financial, and social inclusion support to low-carbon projects to improve their bankability. The programme does not provide direct funding but facilitates connections between project developers and commercial or concessional investors. Eligible projects must be at least at the pre-feasibility stage, have a financing need between USD $5m and $150m, and demonstrate measurable greenhouse gas emission reductions.