Our impact
Our first campaign – to stop nuclear testing – eventually led to The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Since then, with the support of 2.8 million people worldwide, we’ve won hundreds of successes in our campaigns for a greener and more peaceful world.
Our successes
Greenpeace has played a pivotal role in, amongst other things: the adoption of a ban on toxic waste exports to less developed countries; a moratorium on commercial whaling; a United Nations convention providing for better management of world fisheries; a Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary; a 50-year moratorium on mineral exploitation in Antarctica; bans on the dumping of radioactive and industrial waste and disused oil installations at sea; an end to large-scale driftnet fishing on the high-seas; the adoption of the Kyoto protocol; and a ban on all nuclear weapons testing. Read about our recent successes »
Our global impact
The environmental problems we’re facing are global in nature; the world’s atmosphere, oceans, ancient forests and biodiversity are global commons, and their destruction affects the world as a whole. We believe that our work to defend the natural world and promote peace needs to happen globally, across regional and national borders.
Greenpeace is an international organisation: we have a presence in more than 40 countries; we have three ships that help us to win campaigns around the world; and, above all, we have 2.8 million supporters worldwide, all helping to create a greener and more peaceful world. Read more about our global work »
Our history
In 1971, a small team of activists set sail from Vancouver, Canada, in an old fishing boat. These activists – the founders of Greenpeace – believed a few individuals could make a difference. Even though their boat was intercepted before it got to Amchitka, the journey sparked a flurry of public interest. The US still detonated the bomb, but the voice of reason had been heard. Nuclear testing on Amchitka ended that same year, and the island was later declared a bird sanctuary. Years later, Greenpeace won a ban on all nuclear weapons testing. Read more about Greenpeace’s history »