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P.06
P.16
P.20
P.25
The Rainbow Warrior conducts the
irst ever comprehensive study of plastic on Hong Kong’s waters and calls on the city to go "plastic-free now", urging fast food outlets to stop using disposable cutlery.
Have you heard of the Korean Wave? Well, it’s not just TV shows and pop music; there’s also an unstoppable wave of new energy sweeping Korea. We’re huge fans!
Having a whale of a time
Dancing for the Congo
Greenpeace ship the Esperanza tours Africa, making waves to protect ish and forests. We dance for the Congo Rainforest and follow ishing vessels, calling them out for illegal ishing practices.
We get one of the world’s biggest banks to stop funding deforestation. Why did they listen to us? Well, that’s all down to you.
Bringing the banks on board
4
KT - Sze Pang-cheung
Anne - Anne Dingwall
© Greenpeace
What can we
learn when two
Greenpeace bosses
get together?
It was back in 1997 when Greenpeace irst opened its Hong Kong ofice. Last year, we celebrated 20 years of tough but rewarding campaigns in Hong Kong and across East Asia with YOU by our side.
Anne Dingwall, our very irst Executive Director, recently visited us and sat down with our current Executive Director, Sze Pang-cheung (KT), to discuss exactly how was it possible to grow from an outit of seven people in a Kowloon lat using mahjong tables as work desks, to more than 400 staff spread across the four ofices of Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul and Taipei.
KT: On behalf of all of our staff, congratulations on your
retirement. Even so, I can feel that your heart is still with
Greenpeace. During your career, you paved the way for a lot
of new opportunities for the organization; you helped to set
up many ofices around the world. What was your part in setting up the Hong Kong ofice?
Anne: Thanks. It’s a real honour to be here again in 2017.
You know, the Hong Kong ofice is like my baby, and it’s really wonderful to see that my baby has grown up into
Greenpeace East Asia! Clearly, Hong Kong is the gateway
to mainland China, and China is the place that matters on
the environmental front. Back then, we did some research
and wrote a ive-page proposal about the potential in Hong Kong, and a few days later it was approved by Greenpeace
International. We started setting up the Hong Kong ofice in January 1996. Our irst ofice was in my apartment in Mei Foo, using mahjong tables and plastic chairs. At that time
we only had seven staff. The Hong Kong ofice was legally registered on Valentine’s Day, 1997.
5
© Greenpeace
© Greenpeace © Greenpeace / Alan Hindle
KT: I joined Greenpeace in March 2002. We had already launched several campaigns in Hong Kong, campaigning
against toxic PVC children’s toys, genetically engineered
(GE) food, and poisonous e-waste and so on. We were talking about building a small ofice in Beijing. We were buzzing with excitement, both from the possibility and the
uncertainty. But what was sure was that we couldn’t have
done anything without the strong foundation that you built
up in Hong Kong. How did you do that?
Anne: We were in Hong Kong to campaign on important
environmental issues. It wasn’t about Greenpeace,
the brand. I think we brought some creative ways of
campaigning such as engaging with media to report on our
actions, and making environmental issues more relevant
and appealing to a broader range of people.
Anne: Indeed. And that, no matter how much we have
grown, the “Greenpeace” spirit remains unchanged, and that
means bearing witness to, and confronting, environmental
crimes.
KT: We live in a very different world now. Greenpeace
has changed a lot as we try to stay ahead of the curve.
But its DNA has not changed: when the occasion calls for
it, we need to act, no matter how dificult. We need this kind of can-do spirit to stop catastrophic climate change, reverse biodiversity loss and take on other environmental
challenges. Our optimism and action today will shape our
tomorrow. I look forward to witnessing it, together with all
of our staff, allies, donors, supporters and everyone who is
looking to redeine the “good life” with us.
Who could imagine back when we started the Hong Kong
ofice in 1997 that two decades later we would have more than 400 staff working in Hong Kong, Beijing, Taipei and
Seoul, including 200 street fundraisers? Not to mention
all the many environmental wins Greenpeace has made in
those 20 years.
Greenpeace Hong Kong staff (1997), Anne Dingwall is in the
centre.
Brands with GE ingredients in popular Hong Kong food
products, 1999.
Greenpeace East Asia staff: redeine the Good Life with us!
KT: Asia is the fastest growing economic region in the
world, but it faces real threats such as climate change,
forest destruction, and vanishing ocean resources. We have
to make our voice louder in the region, so we decided to
speed up our expansion plans. We announced the launch of
Greenpeace East Asia in late 2010, so that we could make
more effective environmental campaigns in the region and
have stronger cross-border coordination.
KT: At the time, were you thinking of further expansion
throughout East Asia?
Anne: It was always in our plan to open ofices in Taiwan and South Korea, it was just that we couldn’t do it all at the
same time. But in September 1997, we heard Taiwan was
going to ship nuclear waste to North Korea so we worked
with NGOs in Taiwan and South Korea, and in the end the
Taiwan government cancelled the shipment.
6
Plastic Free01
Rainbow Warrior plastic pollution research checklist
© Greenpeace
Setting sail for a
plastic-free sea
The world is waking up to the urgency of our plastic pollution problem, and we have to ride that wave of awareness. Science-based campaigning is at the heart of Greenpeace's work, so when the Rainbow Warrior visited us this past winter, on board was a 10-person research team headed by Dr. Lincoln Fok from the Education University of Hong Kong. Dr Fok and his team researched the plastic trash problem along our coastline.
7
© Greenpeace
© Greenpeace
©Kitmin Lee/Greenpeace
Did you know that as much as 12.7 million tons of plastic
are dumped into our oceans every year? Last year, the Rainbow Warrior sailed around the Mediterranean and many European countries to survey the plastic pollution
crisis. On the morning of 20 December last year she slowly
cruised into Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong to investigate
our plastics problem.
With the amazing help of 550 volunteers we held six super
successful open days for the Rainbow Warrior from her
spot at Pier 2 in Central. More than 6,300 visitors toured her decks to meet the crew, listen to stories about her history,
and our environmental work. There were lots of activities
too for guests to understand more about the problem of
single-use plastic and pollution in our seas. Let's go Plastic Free Now, Hong Kong!
The Rainbow Warrior set sail with her research crew on 5
January and surveyed more than 10 sites in Hong Kong.
They collected samples of plastic trash from the sea for
the next 10 days. She was equipped with sea surface
sampling gear such as the Manta Net and a submersible Drop Camera. The research team then sorted the samples
into ive categories: Styrofoam, ibres, plastic ilm, hard plastic fragments and microbeads, and sent them to the lab
to analyze the composition of each fragment. The research
team also trawled for loating plastic waste to gather more information on the distribution of plastics in the ocean and
to determine where they come from.
Whatever the weather – cloudy, raging winds, ierce waves - they had to get up at the crack of dawn and get ready to research! For the sake of our oceans our crew worked
without fear. We are eagerly awaiting the results of the
research out later this year.
Warm welcome for the Rainbow Warrior
Voyage of discovery
The researchers catch an entire Styrofoam box from the waters
around South Lantau Island.
The Rainbow Warrior welcomes a huge crowd on her open day.
From her spot in Victoria Harbour, the Rainbow Warrior calls on Hong Kong to go ‘Plastic Free Now!’
8
2017 4 9 10
2017.9
What brands are on our beaches?2017.9
Tell McDonald'sI'm NOT loving it!
2017.10
Paradise island or plastic island?
2017.4
No more microplastic makeup
© Greenpeace
© Greenpeace
© Greenpeace
Our battle against
single-use plastics
We continue pressing cosmetics
and personal product companies
to phase out microplastics: retailer
A.S. Watson Group promises
to stop using microplastics
in some of their own brand
products. Hong Kong chain 759
Store owner Lam Wai-chun makes his promise to phase out
microplastics as soon as possible
live on Facebook.
If the labels on the plastic packaging littering
the coast are not yet completely faded, they
can be used as "evidence" of the pollution
source. We hold beach clean ups along
Hong Kong’s coastline and record the
product brand if visible to better understand
where all this plastic trash is coming from.
Hong Kong recycles less than 10% of its
plastic waste so the only way to reduce
pollution is to just use less plastic. We
assemble a volunteer team and discover
that in a single two-hour lunchtime, the 240 McDonald’s outlets here generate more than 200,000 single-use plastic items. This global giant must stop its
throwaway plastic nightmare.
2017.11
No straws please, we love our planet
© Greenpeace
Greenpeace campaigns are powered by the people and our
plastics work is no exception. We survey Hongkongers and ind that two thirds still use disposable plastics when they eat out.
The good news is that 90% say they know plastics are a problem.
Next time, will you say "no thank you" when offered a straw?
Greenpeace visits 10 of Hong Kong's most beautiful beaches, but amid the
blue-green paradise we ind mounds of ugly plastic. Hong Kong must face
up to the fact it is under siege from
discarded waste.
9
11 12 12018
2017.12
2017.11
Plastic popsicles
2018.1
Reduction is king, recycling is bling
Overall grade (A-E)
Transparency of records and data
Practical measures and implementation
Long-term plastic reduction plan
Waste reduction initiatives
2017.12
New recycling rules are rubbish
The three fast-food chain ‘sins’ Plastic reduction efforts of eight major fast food chains in Hong Kong
© Greenpeace
I’m sure you remember our vibrant microplastics campaign – we got governments around the world to ban microplastics in cosmetics and brands also pledged to stop using them. On the heels of this success, in 2017, we continued with our anti-microplastics work and supersized the campaign by focusing on the scourge of disposable plastics handed out by the fast food industry.
Back in 2016, Greenpeace urged
Hong Kong to ban microplastics. A
year later, the government said it
would consult about a law. Seeing
how Hong Kong moves so much
slower than the rest of the region,
we go straight to the streets
and offer "plastic popsicles" in
Causeway Bay. Inside are slivers
of frozen plastic trash to highlight
the urgency of the problem.
Greenpeace joins other local
environmental groups in criticizing a new
recycling policy in Hong Kong which
says only three types of paper and two
types of plastic can now be recycled. We
believe the government should step up
support for the recycling industry so that
more can be recycled as well as strongly
push for fewer plastics in the irst place.
We investigate leading fast food chains and calculate that ive of them hand out 420 million pieces of plastic tableware every year. We also
identify the "three sins”: indiscriminate use of dine-in and takeout plastic; pretending to be environmentally-friendly by using recycled and allegedly “biodegradable” tableware; and a lack of transparency.
Thanks to the support of more than 20,000 people in our campaign, the
fast food industry has taken its irst step to "cutting out plastic". Maxim's MX, Paciic Coffee, and Café de Coral say they will introduce a plastics reduction policy. McDonald's also announces that in 2018 they will completely stop using Styroforam and that by 2025 all their packaging
will be renewable, recycled or from certiied sources. But we believe that this policy relies too much on recycling and not on reducing plastics - just like the other big plastics abuser - Coca-Cola. Greenpeace is committed to keeping up the pressure locally and globally on everyone to radically
reduce the production and use of so much plastic.
10
Feel More02
©Patrick Cho/Greenpeace
©Patrick Cho/Greenpeace
©Patrick Cho/Greenpeace
©Patrick Cho/Greenpeace
Our love your stuff
equation
Love upcycle
Upcycle. Repair.
Save. Detox.
repair save detox
Almost from birth we are taught that the meaning of life is about having more - having more wealth, having more things, knowing more people. But don't you think that there is a point when it all becomes just too much? Greenpeace has come up with an equation to help all of us igure out how to feel more and love more without destroying our planet.
Want to MAKE a better world? One way is to recreate and upgrade. Greenpeace and thousands of people from 32
countries and regions held MAKE SMTHING WEEK at the beginning of December. Artisans and designers in Hong
Kong held upcycling classes where skills were shared, love
was spread, and creativity was born.
Just before Singles' Day last year, we released the results of a new survey that showed 25% of cheap clothing bought
online in Hong Kong will only be worn at most twice before
being thrown away. Bargains might seem cheap, but they
are costing the earth in terms of resources and pollution.
We asked shoppers in malls to “buy less and waste less”.
Smart and sustainable also means repairing and reusing
our stuff. We held six events in Hong Kong to nurture the
skills and the mindfulness to repair our belongings from
workshops to ixing up our favourite old clothes to “Closet Doctor” lectures to help us understand the difference
between what we “want” and what we really “need”.
Slowing the low of materials and detoxing are the prerequisites to a sustainable fashion industry. With our
Detox campaign running since 2011, Greenpeace has been
ighting successfully for a cleaner textile industry – now 80 global textile brands and suppliers have committed to
eliminating hazardous chemicals from their supply chains.
11
Jan
May
Jun
Nov
That post-shopping glow
doesn’t last long and costs
the earth!
Shopping can’t buy you love
Binge shopping gives you a hangover too
Holidays hijacked by Facebook
Net shopping creates mountain of waste
Our 2017 survey of shopping habits
Hongkongers are not happy shoppers. In a survey in Hong Kong we found
that the average person spends close to HKD10,000 every year on clothing, but
60% said that the feelings of happiness they got from buying something new
wore off in less than a day.
Hongkongers are not sustainable shoppers. Around half of the people from
most countries around the world that we surveyed said they buy more than
they need, and Hongkongers topped the charts - with 68% buying too much. Some 63% said peer pressure and social media pushed them to over-shop.
Your social media is pushing you to spend. We used a social analytics
service to look at public posts on Facebook around Christmas, Lunar New Year, Valentine’s Day, Father’s Day and Mother’s Day last year and found more than 30,000 posts were soft sells, encouraging people to spend more.
Online bargains on sites like Taobao are fuelling sky high waste. In Hong Kong,
23 million items of clothing are bought a year, with one quarter or 5.8 million
pieces simply thrown away. All that extra packaging and delivery emissions
means online shopping can be more destructive than going to the shops.
12
Renewable Energy03
© Greenpeace
Solar, So GoodHong Kong has so much untapped potential for renewable energy. Greenpeace is determined to really kick-start this potential to make our lives cleaner, richer and safer here in Hong Kong. We’ve been doing everything from lobbying government on policy recommendations to holding our own and very fun Solar Café. Come and take a look…
Want to guess how much of our energy here in Hong
Kong comes from renewable energy? The answer is a
meagre 0.1%. But according to a study by the Hong Kong
Polytechnic University, if all of Hong Kong's rooftops were to be installed with solar energy systems, it could supply
between 6 and 10% of all our energy demands.
After many years of campaigning by Greenpeace and
other environmental organizations, the government inally signed a Scheme of Control Agreement with the two power
companies that will come into force at the end of 2018 and
will for the irst time ever introduce a feed-in tariff. What this means is that anyone in Hong Kong who generates
their own renewable energy can connect it to the grid and
sell it on at a higher rate than average.
It’s important to work with all stakeholders and so
November last year, we co-organized a Renewable Dialogue Workshop to provide advice and encouragement
for people and organizations wanting to install solar power
systems. We are also lobbying the government to set a
period of at least eight to 10 years where the feed-in tariff would be ixed to act as an incentive and are pushing the government to further develop its pilot loating solar power project on Shek Pik Reservoir.
Let’s get this Solar Party started!
Last April, Greenpeace launched its global Break Free movement, calling for a world free of fossil fuels. Here in
Hong Kong, we held our very own Solar Carnival where
more than 200 people got together to make a giant sun
pattern and to show off their solar-powered mobile phone chargers.
Last September, with great ceremony, we opened our Solar Café at the Good Life Experimental Market in search of a Greenpeace of mind. We also launched our end-of-year campaign, Greenpeace Vs Greenpeace and Hong Kong
20+, our 20-year anniversary in Hong Kong. Everyone enjoyed the vegan ice cream, lemon sorbet and of course,
our delicious solar-powered coffee.
Sipping sunshine at our Solar Café
© Greenpeace
The sun doesn’t just melt ice cream, it can help make it too!
The loating solar power system on Shek Pik Reservoir demonstrates the potential of renewable energy in Hong Kong.
13
© WANG Ai-Ju / Greenpeace
© Jungyeob Ji / Greenpeace
© Arun Sooksukpai / Greenpeace
① Hong Kong: More than 200 people gather to make a sun pattern, showing the future is bright for renewable energy. ② Taiwan: Sisters
doing it for themselves! They are calling for old coal power units to be scrapped earlier. ③ Korea: Protesters in Dangjin, the city with one
of the world’s largest coal plants stand united against fossil fuels. ④ Thailand: More than 200 local fishing boats BREAK FREE in the Mun
River. ⑤ Indonesia: Activists unfurl a banner calling for the end of a coal-fired power plant project.
©Wong Sung / Greenpeace
© Ardiles Rante / Greenpeace
2
3
4
1
5
Early last year, Greenpeace launched an open, global movement, called BREAK FREE. More than 60 countries and regions worldwide took part, pioneering innovative actions to help us get rid of dirty fossil fuels and embrace renewable energy.
BREAK FREE! for a world FREE of fossil fuels
14
20th Anniversary041997+20 = U vs U
A new kind of Good Life!
©Patrick Cho / Greenpeace
©Patrick Cho / Greenpeace ©Patrick Cho / Greenpeace
©Patrick Cho / Greenpeace
If I could speak to the ‘me’ in 20 years’ time I’d ask myself if I remembered my ‘U vs U’ pledge with Greenpeace as it celebrated 20 years in Hong Kong? I would ask that ‘me’ did I stay committed, and work to realize a Good Life for me and my family? I trust that I will answer 'Yes'!
15
© Patrick Cho/ G
reenp
ea
ce
© Patrick Cho/ G
reenp
ea
ce
Greenpeace supporter
since 2007
Greenpeace supporter
since 1999
Louis Mark
“Actually, I can't remember when I irst started to donate to Greenpeace. It’s good to see the progress made on long-lasting environmental problems and I hope that Greenpeace will continue to push producers and push for change.”
“I care about nature because I'm also a lover of watersports, so I'm really happy to see that Greenpeace has recently launched a campaign against plastics. It is great that Greenpeace speak out for all of us (and sometimes even risk their lives!)”
Greenpeace established its irst Hong Kong ofice on Valentine's Day in 1997. A itting date, perhaps, because it was our love for the planet that brought us to the region. In these two decades, we have always believed action brings
positive change. We have never been afraid to challenge governments or companies, and we are committed to
continuing our environmental work locally, regionally and globally in the years to come.
As we marked our 20 years of tireless campaigning in
Hong Kong last year, we also launched an exciting new
environmental philosophy – it’s called the Good Life Project and it’s about going into battle with yourself. In our fast-paced and stressful lives, can we really do much to help the
environment? Yes, we can! There are boundless possibilities
for us to make tiny changes in our lives so that we can
create the Good Life. It can be as easy as bringing your own coffee lask or being smarter about buying new clothes.
Let us oppose our throwaway culture; reject the costly easy life; and crush the urge to overconsume. The true battle for
the planet is in our minds.
Last September, we held a Good Life Experimental Market and people signed up to make a 30-day pledge to reduce plastics in their lives. In December, we joined the global
MAKE SMTHNG WEEK of action. Here in Hong Kong, 400 people took part and promised not to buy any new clothes
for the next 21 days.
Small shifts can create big changes
At the end of the year, we held an exhibition, GREENPEACE
VS GREENPEACE, to showcase our 20 years of
environmental work in the region. We remembered
some dramatic campaigns - the day our activists chained themselves to the entrance of a Nestlé factory 16 years ago to protest their use of GM ingredients; and how we documented the world's largest e-waste dump site in Guiyu in Guangdong province. Together with you, Greenpeace has
won some remarkable environmental battles.
On display were also a few, shall we say, historical relics!
There was a member newsletter from 1998 and a giant
turtle made from plastic rubbish we picked up during a
beach cleanup activity. With more than 1,000 people taking
part, we held sharing activities on three major campaigns - fast fashion, plastic rubbish and renewable energy and also
held a workshop on how to make a bag out of hemp.
Visit 20th.greenpeace.org.hk and take our solemn pledge: I
will live the Good Life!
Sharing our 20 years of success with you
16
Forest
© Fully Syai / Greenpeace © Greenpeace
© Jurnasyanto Sukarno / Greenpeace
05Fighting ires, fundsand fury
Greenpeace East Asia plays a key role in using our local strengths to support global environmental campaigns – call it “glocal” if you like! Our forests campaign is one of the best examples of our “glocal” momentum.
This is Rosa, a female wild orangutan rescued from a forest ire.
These young Indonesians are part of the Greenpeace Indonesia
Forest Fire Prevention Team.
Greenpeace campaigners present our report, Dirty Bankers,
to HSBC at its branch in Mongkok.
Hongkongers are proud of their city’s status as a global
inancial centre. However, some international banks are funding forest destruction and Greenpeace is not afraid to
call them out. When we found out that HSBC was one of
the "dirty bankers", our Hong Kong ofice used its unique advantage of being located in the heart of the inancial world, to take action.
Every year, deadly forest infernos ravage Indonesia's rainforests because palm oil and paper pulp companies
clear land for plantations using slash and burn techniques.
These ires are deadly. We set up a Forest Fire Prevention Team to help in Indonesia. But this is not enough.
We start with HSBC: In January last year, we released
an in-depth investigative report, Dirty Bankers, exposing
how HSBC had helped six palm oil companies that were
engaged in deforestation to raise up to HKD140 billion,
violating the bank's own sustainable development pledge. We also collected more than 270,000 signatures worldwide
demanding HSBC stop. We handed the report in ourselves
to the HSBC ofice in Mongkok.
And then the others follow: In just a few weeks, we won a
major victory for the forests. HSBC said it would no longer
fund companies involved in any kind of deforestation or
peatland clearance. Thank you everyone for helping to make
this campaign so strong so fast. Following HSBC’s lead, in
April we got one of the world’s biggest palm oil traders, the
IOI Group, to announce a sustainable palm oil policy and
human rights protections.
Dirty bankers
17
© Wang Ju / Greenpeace
© Zhinong Xi / WildChina
There are less than 500 green peafowl left in China.
© Shi bai Xiao / Greenpeace
Trees have been felled to make way for mine entrances and
roads, hillsides have eroded and become susceptible to
landslides.
Taiwan has a thriving book culture, so we used its strength
in publishing to help Greenpeace on the other side of the
world in North America. Last year, Resolute, a giant logging company in Canada, attempted to sue Greenpeace and
other environmental groups. It was angry because we had
exposed Resolute’s destructive practices in Canada’s Great
Northern Forest, home to both endangered species and
indigenous peoples.
We stand resolute against Resolute: In Taiwan,
Greenpeace called on book lovers and local publisher
Chingwin, to join global publishing houses such as Penguin
Random House to put pressure on Resolute to withdraw
its lawsuit and start adopting sustainable forest practices.
Resolute’s lawsuit was widely decried as a serious threat to
free speech and our action was supported by half a million
people and 240 famous authors.
In October 2017, a US federal court dismissed the case.
Although Resolute says it has not given up, Greenpeace will
not be frightened off from protecting forests.
China’s Yunnan province still has huge tracts of untouched
old-growth rainforest. However, illegal mining and dam construction is causing looding and destroying much of these once pristine environments, and threatening
biodiversity in its wake.
We were concerned about the last remaining habitat of
the endangered green peafowl. There are just 500 of these
beautiful birds left in a nature reserve in the southwestern
part of the province. We immediately conducted a study
and published our indings in a report on the key threats to the park from illegal industry.
New plans to protect peafowl: Just a month later, in
August, we got some great news. Yunnan’s Environmental
Protection Agency read our report and said it would halt all
illegal mining and dam activities inside the Konglong River
Nature Reserve; study the green peafowl’s habitat; and
include that area into a strictly-enforced protected zone.
Our voices are vital
Birds of an endangered featherWe stand in solidarity with the Great Northern Forest in front
of a beautiful 114 year-old Banyan Tree in Tainan.
18
Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi Samsung Apple Fairphone
Rethink IT06
ABCDF
Think different
Think green IT
Tech companies are always trying to outdo each other with lashier gadgets, but what we really need is a fundamental redesign that means smartphones are planet smart – made with renewable energy, waste fewer resources and are recycled.
Can you remember a time when there were no
smartphones? We’re now entering the second decade of
the smartphone and it has truly taken over our lives, but it
may take over the planet too. The industry consumes vast
amounts of resources, yet less than half of our smartphones
are recycled. Meanwhile, 65 million metric tons of e-waste is generated globally each year.
Last October, Greenpeace released its all new Guide
to Greener Electronics 2017, ranking 17 of the largest
Publishes no information
on sustainability actions
and ignores corporate
responsibility.
One of the world’s biggest
smartphone manufacturers, yet
has very weak goals to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions
from its production chain.
Leads the sector for its efforts to adopt renewable energy
and on chemical management.
However, not doing so well on
making products repairable.
Leads in reducing resource consumption - its smartphones are easy to repair and upgrade,
and improving product
recyclability and transparency.
smartphone, tablet and PC producers in terms of their
energy use, resource consumption and chemical safety.
Top of the pack was Holland's Fairphone (we gave it a B) closely followed by Apple (B-) after it said last year that its supply chain will use 100% renewable energy. The other
industry leader, Samsung, only got a D- for its appalling energy policy – just 1% of its energy consumption came
from renewable sources.
Chinese tech companies are going global, but their
environmental performance leaves a lot to be desired:
Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi came bottom of the class. Huawei, the third largest smartphone maker also lags in terms of
energy use. We are able to criticize big companies like this
because we do not accept any corporate support – you give
us our independence.
One of the big issues is the IT sector’s attitude to design
– that is, keep customers buying by deliberating making
phones that quickly become outdated while making
them dificult to repair and update (it's called planned obsolescence). We want brands to ditch the disposable
design, start recycling and make smartphones last.
Ditch the disposable, adopt the usable
Guide to Greener Electronics 2017
19
© Jung Taekyong / Greenpeace
©Chong Kok Yew / Greenpeace
© Greenpeace
Did you watch the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics in
Korea? We were there to push Samsung, one of the biggest
sponsors of the Games, to seriously up its game - right now Samsung uses a measly 1% renewable energy in its
production; hardly a gold medal score. You and I know it can
commit to 100%.
Thanks to the tireless work of people like you, our green
tech campaigns have helped persuade nearly 20 IT giants,
including Facebook, Google and Apple to commit to going
100% renewable. Samsung is too big a company to ignore
and climate change is already turning cities that have held
Winter Olympics in the past too warm to host the Games in
the future. But Samsung do listen to you. Do you remember our great
victory last March when we got Samsung to inally agree to recycle the 4.3 million recalled Galaxy Note 7's after some had exploded? For ive months you signed petitions, held up banners, and sent messages to the company's CEO. If these phones were simply dumped, it would have meant tons
more hazardous e-waste.
But with your support, Samsung committed to refurbishing
the handsets and repurposing non-problematic components, such as the camera and alarms. For those
that can't be reused, they will extract and recycle the raw materials in an environmentally-sound way. We need the sector to create a recycling strategy like this for all phones
no longer in use – whether recalled or simply broken and
thrown away.
Don’t do dirty energy
#DoBiggerThings!
Greenpeace drop banners from the rooftop of a Samsung
store in Taiwan demanding it stop fueling climate change.
Cute polar bears urge Samsung to go 100% renewable for the sake of our climate outside Samsung headquarters in Seoul last December.
Greenpeace activists call on Samsung to recycle 4.3 million
recalled Galaxy Note 7 phones at a press conference in Seoul.
20
Energy [R]evolution07
© Dayun Lim / Greenpeace
The scales are tipping
towards safe energy
Korea is on the brink of a real energy revolution after the government committed to cutting fossil fuel pollution and embracing renewable and safe energy in 2017. You won’t believe what’s been happening.
Our Lady of Safety stands in Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul. In her right hand she holds a sword representing people power; in her left, she holds a pair of scales with safety outweighing dangerous nuclear energy.
Korea is changing rapidly – both as a democratic society
and from the point of view of energy development. In 2017,
the future became much more hopeful and Greenpeace has
been taking on new and exciting tasks.
The newly-elected Moon Jae-in government said it will scrap plans for new nuclear plants and stop extending
the lifetime of old nuclear reactors. It also promised to
shut down 10 old coal power plants and cancel new
coal projects. Renewables will reach 20% by 2030 –
all testament to the fact that long-term pressure and campaigning by our Korean team is paying off.
Greenpeace East Asia’s Seoul ofice has focused on climate and energy campaigns right from October 2011
New Moon, new energy when it was irst established. Together with local groups and supporters, we campaigned against nuclear expansion
following the Fukushima disaster of 2011. And more than
1,000 locals and activists marched with us in Dangjin to stop
the construction of one of the largest coal-ired power plants in the world last year.
President Moon announced his plans for Korea's energy transition on June 19 last year – it was on the occasion of
the irst nuclear shutdown in Korean history – the Kori 1 power plant. The morning before, Greenpeace projected the
message ‘New energy, new Korea’ on its cooling towers.
And although we didn’t win our lawsuit to stop two other
nuclear reactors, Shin Kori 5 and 6, from being built we do
recognize that it was an exceptional moment for people
power and democracy in that the government handed the
decision over to a Citizen Panel to decide.
© Lim Tae H
oon
/ Gre
enp
ea
ce
21
22times
280trillion
50million
Three big numbers in the energy revolution
Information
Climate and Energy Team Leader
Dual Jang
People Power
© Jung-geun Park / G
reenpeace
In the old children's story Pinocchio, his nose grows when he tells a lie, but Greenpeace's Pinocchio has a real problem breathing. Why? Not only is his nose growing because coal
companies lie about their energy being clean - but because of the air pollution they are pumping out. In September,
our Pinocchios protested in Seoul, disclosing three of the
biggest whoppers the coal companies were telling:
A week after this action, Greenpeace and local groups
worked together to submit a formal complaint to stop the
coal companies from misleading the public.
The Korean government is ambitious - renewable energy currently makes up just 7% of the energy mix - that is set to triple to 20% in 12 years. Greenpeace is encouraging Koreans to become "energy citizens" - by installing solar panels on rooftops, investing in renewable energy, and pushing for public services such as schools and parking to use renewables. Every one of us
can become an energy change hero.
Using currently available technology, Korea
can increase its renewable uptake 22 times
its current generation capacity.
In 2016, the world invested $242 billion (or
280 trillion Korean won) in renewable energy
- double that of fossil fuels, and 8 times that of nuclear energy.
There are now 50 million people worldwide
who have installed, used and sold all kinds of
renewable energy safely and conveniently.
“The government cannot make the energy transition alone
– only people can. Greenpeace will be there to ensure that
the new government does not falter. We will challenge
the powerful Korean industry to change their behaviour,
their energy supply, and their ecological footprint and to
be accountable to people and the planet. And we will call
on people to join in the energy transition and amplify their
voices in the face of authority.”
Pinocchio confronts coal
Everyone can be a hero
X Not a single coal-powered facility can
promise "zero emissions”
X High efficiency boilers also emit air
pollution and greenhouse gases
X So-called carbon storage technology
needs to burn even more coal
Pinocchios expose the lies of ‘clean coal'.
FALSE
22
End of Coal08
© Daniel Müller / Greenpeace
5years
Joint research from CoalSwarm and GreenpeaceSource
Time’s up for Old
King Coal
2017 was the year we really RESISTED, and that’s partly because of US President Donald Trump. Trump said he would bring coal back to life and withdraw the US from the Paris Climate Agreement. The climate is global and so are we. So here in East Asia we really stepped up our climate actions. Coal is on the way out. There is no future in fossil fuels.
Greenpeace activists project an image onto the cooling tower of a coal power plant in Germany as world leaders meet at the UN climate talks in Bonn (COP23).
Six signs coal is inished
6 UKs
Since 2010, of 1,675 companies globally that owned
coal-ired power plants or engaged in coal-ired power capacity, over a quarter have quit coal completely –
that’s enough to power around six United Kingdoms.
Coal-free capitals
India and China have implemented policies to cut down
on the number of new coal power stations, with both
New Delhi and Beijing aiming to becoming coal free.
23
By 2030, 23 countries, states and cities will have either
phased out coal-ired power plants or set a timeline to do so. Before 2014, no major jurisdiction had
completely phased out coal. How things have changed!
Indonesia
Indonesia, the third largest builder of coal
power plants, also said it wouldn’t start
more coal projects for its main grid.
#Resist
In 2017, the US decided to shut down 14 coal power
plants and that’s even under Trump!
Worldwide, deployment of renewable power capacity
has exceeded new coal power capacity in each of the
past ive years, with the gap steadily widening.
© James Alcock / Greenpeace
23
© Yat Yin / Greenpeace © Greenpeace
© Maria Feck / Greenpeace
© Sittichai Jittata
d / G
ree
npe
ace
Energy Analyst, Greenpeace East Asia
Lauri Myllyvirta
Put the pressure on air quality - What's more important than the air we breathe? Here at Greenpeace we’ve
continued to publish PM2.5 air pollution data on China's 366 major cities and alerted the public when average
PM2.5 levels did not improve over the previous year. We’ve also continued to work with scientists from Tsinghua
University to study how rapid urbanization has led to
worsening air pollution and its health impacts.
Keep an eye on the money - Our East Asia ofice is primed to spot investments into coal, in particular China’s
investment on coal and energy overseas and the energy-related development of the Belt and Road initiative. We
are also pushing China’s green bond standards to meet
international ones – we found out that they are funding ive coal power projects and one coal chemicals project - the latter one alone would emit 1.9 million tons of CO2 per year.
Climate politics - Last June, to much international disgust, Trump pulled the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement.
And thus we are pushing for China to become a climate
leader - in October the Chinese leadership made positive statements on global cooperation for the climate. We
attended COP23 in Bonn this November and urged all
countries, including France, Germany and China to "step up
and display the leadership they claim to stake."
Focus on scarce water resources - In July, we released a
report on China’s coal power overcapacity and how it was
draining already drought-prone areas. If China ditched this unneeded energy, it could save enough water to cover the
yearly basic needs of 27 million people. Industry specialists
and provincial regulators welcomed our report and we’ve
seen a signiicant drop in investment in new coal.
4 tactics to a successful coal campaign in China
“What we are witnessing now is the beginning of a major overhaul of our energy system - one that can address climate change and air pollution.”
24
© Will Rose / Greenpeace © Christian Åslund / Greenpeace
Arctic & Antarctic09From polar bears to
penguins!
The polar regions are home to incredible wildlife and they also exert a huge inluence on our climate. In turn, they are threatened by humankind’s excessive desires. That’s why you and Greenpeace are willing to go to the ends of the earth for the ends of the earth!
Like many other nations, Norway signed up to the Paris Climate Agreement, pledging to do its bit to limit global
warming to a maximum of 1.5 degrees. How then can it
issue 13 new oil licenses in the Arctic’s Barents Sea?
Last year, Greenpeace and local NGO Nature and Youth sued the Norwegian government for contravening the
Paris Accord and violating the right of Norwegians to “a
safe and healthy environment.” Although the court found in
the government’s favour, this was valuable experience for
future legal battles we will ight and win.
And we had won! By the end of November, the EU and nine
of the world’s biggest ishing nations – including Canada, China, Japan and Korea - agreed not to ish an area the size of the Mediterranean in the Arctic Ocean for the next 16 years to give scientists time to study the unique ecosystem
– an historic victory for the Arctic thanks to the millions of
voices from all around the world supporting our Save The
Arctic campaign.
Krill, tiny crustaceans and the beloved food of Blue Whales,
is also popular with commercial ishing leets and they are decimating stocks - tens of thousands of tons can be harvested in a single ishing season in the Antarctic, for use in health food supplements and feeding farmed ish.
What’s needed is an ocean sanctuary where krill ishing could be barred to help protect animals that depend on krill,
such as penguins and whales, as they also try to cope with
climate change. At the end of 2016, Greenpeace won an
amazing battle to get the Ross Sea designated a protected
marine reserve. Do you remember? This year we want to
create another.
We are looking to make the largest protected area on
earth: a 1.8 million km2 ocean sanctuary in the Antarctic’s
Weddell Sea – it would be ive times the size of Germany. The proposal will be considered in October this year by the
regional body responsible for the Antarctic - the Antarctic Ocean Commission (CCAMLR). Join your voice to this campaign!
The People vs. Big Oil License to krill
25
© Pierre Gleizes / Greenpeace © Daniel Beltrá / Greenpeace
Africa10Make a Wish There is only one earth and we all share it. Greenpeace
ship, the Esperanza, toured Africa last year, to build understanding between nations about the importance of protecting our common resources, whether that’s forests or whether that’s ish.
The waters of West Africa are rich in marine life, but the
UN Food and Agricultural Organization has warned that
overishing here is the most serious anywhere in the world. Commercial leets catch some of Hong Kong’s favourites – sardines and grouper.
The Esperanza set sail last March for six countries in West Africa. It exposed 17 incidents of illegal ishing in a joint operation with local isheries. The ships, from China and Europe, were suspected of using illegal ishing nets and catching banned species. We followed up with a report,
The Cost of Ocean Destruction, which described how
local communities are suffering from this plunder, as all 17
vessels are still licensed to ish six months later.
When the ish are all gone, how will hundreds of thousands of local people survive? West African governments and
foreign ishing nations must work together to stop this; to better regulate their waters; and to establish blacklists of
companies that illegally harvest the seas.
The world is hungry for timber and palm oil and illegal
logging is stripping the Congo Rainforest - the world's second largest. Demand for rosewood in China is adding
to the pressure. What can we do to protect the lungs of
Africa?
Between October and November last year, the Esperanza
sailed through central Africa, bringing locals, NGOs, oficials and local leaders together in a call to save this remarkable
forest that helps stabilize the world's climate and is home to species such as the forest elephant and the gorilla. We
teamed up with scientists and found deep peatlands in the
DRC that are storing about 30 billion tonnes of carbon –
if drained or burned they would release the equivalent of
three years of global fossil fuel emissions at today's rates.
We also ran online campaigns such as the Wish Tree and
Dance for the Congo, harnessing people power all over
Africa. Through words and dance, everyone expressed their
love for the forest.
Hope in West Africa Let’s dance for the Congo
26
Thank YOU
Yves Chiu, Senior Video Producer
Katherine Ma, Senior Campaigner
© Greenpeace
© Greenpeace
Keeping the faith
Thank you for being the driving force behind our environmental work. You give us the courage to face our formidable foes, you give us the resources to beat our enormous challenges, and you join your voice to ours so we can be heard. To say thank you, six of our staff want to share with you some of their inspiring stories from behind the scenes.
I can’t wait to share something with you. Last year we were shooting video to promote a plastic-free life. You know more than 1,000 ilms are made every year in Taiwan. The production crew needs to eat and drink and a lot of this is
packed in disposable plastic. You can imagine the mountain
of plastic waste that is generated for each ilm.
So, we asked staff to ensure no food or drink for our
team was packaged in single-use plastic. We were a bit concerned about not respecting local habits, but we wanted
to walk the talk. But when they saw the lunch boxes, they
were so excited because they hadn’t used steel lunchboxes
for many years. They said they’d continue to use the boxes
in the future. For me, I’m happy we maybe changed the
habits of some of Taiwan’s ilm production teams!
Steel lunchboxes
Our roots are in the rainforest. That’s what I realized when
I took part in our rainforest campaign in Indonesia last
year to help push banks to stop funding deforestation.
One of Greenpeace's core values is bearing witness, so, last summer, I decided to take a holiday in Tanjung Puting
National Park in central Kalimantan which has been badly
hit by illegal logging.
During my trip I visited a centre that rescues orphaned
or injured orangutans and rehabilitates them before they
release them back into the national park. You don't have to do the same thing as me and travel to Indonesia - just become aware of what is happening and the threats - that's the irst step to change.
Finding truth in the forest
Deng Tingting, Toxics Campaigner
Last year we collected data on the surface water quality of rivers from 31 province-level environmental protection bureaus in China for 2011-2015. What did we ind out? Almost half of them did not meet improvement targets. And
so we sent our report to those 15 provinces.
We waited anxiously for one week and then started
receiving feedback via phone or letter. Some of them
provided us with more detailed data on river and lake
quality; others said they accepted our recommendations;
and some of them even invited us to meetings. The fact that
we got such a good response shows that good scientiic research can push governments to take action for the
environment.
Letters from policymakers
27
Walton Li, Campaigner from the Feel More Project Team
Pinky Tse, Regional Coordinator of Fundraising & Engagement Department
© Greenpeace
© Greenpeace
© Greenpeace
I believe in the saying that ‘if you want to change others,
you must irst change yourself.'
Last year, the Feel More project team held a series of events, hoping to inspire people to get creative and transform old
stuff into something new. I’m not good at making things, but
apart from doing a lot of the organizing, I also tried making
a kitten badge - It took me ive hours to inish it. What do you think?
Maybe it’s not that beautiful but the satisfaction from making something was priceless. Now I wear the
embroidered kitten badge on the purple bag I use everyday
and every time I see it, I feel really good.
My irst embroidery
In our search for food safety we created our very own
coalition! Our Food & Agriculture team has started a
completely new way of campaigning in China, called Food
Camp, China’s irst ecological agricultural coalition.
Although the eco-farming sector has only taken baby steps so far, some conscientious farmers are sticking with it and
are growing good healthy and environmentally friendly
crops. And so we are linking eco farmers to essential
resources and making it cheaper and easier for them to
farm successfully and environmentally.
Not only do we uncover food safety issues at Greenpeace
– such as pesticide residues on food in our supermarkets –
but we’ve pledged to put everything into helping China's agriculture move to an ecological model.
Food camp makes farming ecological
When we launched our Detox the Outdoors campaign in
2015, we found ourselves in a dilemma - the waterproof jackets worn by our street fundraising teams were not PFC
free.
That’s not acceptable and so we got together with the
German ofice and spent six months hunting down suppliers and fabrics that were totally PFC free. We tested
them to see if our standards were met and bought them for
our Greenpeace ofices.
We had to wait two and a half years until they inally arrived at our ofices in Hong Kong at the end of last year! This doesn’t only represent our pledge to the environment
but also represents that solutions do exist, we only need to
keep our resolve.
A PFC-free dream
Chang Wanting, Food & Agriculture Campaigner
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