Greenpeace $660mn Damages Ruling Shocks Global NGOs

Muhammad Irfan Published March 21, 2025 | 12:30 AM

Paris, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Mar, 2025) Civil society groups on Thursday condemned a US court order that Greenpeace pay over $660 million in damages to an oil pipeline company as a chilling attack on climate action around the globe.

Environmental defenders rallied behind Greenpeace after the shock ruling by a North Dakota jury fuelled concerns that courtrooms were increasingly being used to smother critics.

"It sends a dangerous message: that fossil fuel giants can weaponize the courts to bankrupt and silence those who challenge the destruction of our planet," said Anne Jellema, executive director of advocacy group 350.org.

The judgement "is not only an attack on Greenpeace -- it is an assault on the entire climate movement, clearly intended to chill the resistance to fossil fuels", she added in a written statement to AFP.

Energy Transfer (ET), the Texas-based pipeline operator awarded the damages, has denied any attempt to stifle free speech by suing Greenpeace.

The company had accused the environmental advocacy group of orchestrating violence and defamation during the construction of the contentious Dakota Access Pipeline project nearly a decade ago.

The jury awarded more than $660 million in damages across three Greenpeace entities, citing charges including trespass, nuisance, conspiracy, and deprivation of property access.

Brice Bohmer from Transparency International, a global corruption watchdog, said the lawsuit was "unconscionable" but evidence of a much wider problem.

"This kind of activity is becoming increasingly common across climate action, with fossil fuel actors undermining progress wherever possible," he said.