Defenders still - world and hands

Challenging abuses of power to protect human rights and secure the future of our planet

Investigations and advocacy to achieve climate justice and safeguard civic freedoms. Find out more about our work

Article | January 27, 2025

Sunk costs: a mega-airport in the path of climate disaster

Flights from one of the world’s largest airport projects may be grounded within 30 years due to the risk of sinking land and rising sea levels.

Top stories

Blog post
Greenwashing and bothsidesism in AI chatbot answers about fossil fuels' role in climate change

Generative AI chatbots fail to adequately reflect fossil fuel companies’ complicity in the climate crisis, a Global Witness investigation has found.
Blog post
Trump 2.0 and climate: The risks you may not have thought about yet

As Trump's inauguration looms, climate activists fear for the Paris Agreement and Biden's climate laws – but, as we lay out, many more changes could be afoot
Article
Fueling dictatorship? Chevron’s ties to Maduro

How US oil giant Chevron is bankrolling Venezuela’s dictator
Blog post
Why is the Congo Basin – the world’s largest forest carbon sink – at risk?

Home to a staggering array of biodiversity like forest elephants, chimpanzees, bonobos, and lowland and mountain gorillas, the Congo Basin’s importance for both climate and biodiversity cannot be overstated

About us

Our world is in crisis: climate breakdown, corporations too powerful to hold to account and democracies teetering on the brink.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Our goal is a more sustainable, just and equal planet. We want climate-critical forests and biodiversity to thrive and fossil fuels to stay in the ground. We want corporations to respect the planet and human rights, governments to protect and listen to their citizens, and the online world to be free from misinformation and hate.

Find out more about our work

Latest Investigations

Press Release | January 31, 2025
Exxon & Chevron profits could ‘easily’ cover LA wildfire damages
Press Release | January 30, 2025
Shell Spent 7x More on Oil & Gas than ‘Renewables’ in Year of Record-Breaking Heat
Article | December 17, 2024
What happened on TikTok around the annulled Romanian presidential election? An investigation and poll
Blog Post | December 12, 2024
Climate of confusion: Bot-like accounts sharing climate disinformation and conspiracies
Article | December 10, 2024
Wall Street banks fuel NYC-scale deforestation in Paraguay's vital forest
Press Release | December 06, 2024
TikTok pushes far right candidate content in Romanian election, Global Witness investigation shows
Article | December 06, 2024
TikTok fails to enforce its own policies on climate misinformation during COP29
Article | December 03, 2024
How the militarisation of mining threatens Indigenous defenders in the Philippines

Long Read | July 24, 2024

Annual report 2023: Challenging polluters, championing people

Marking three decades of protecting people and planet

Mariam Najjagwe.jpg

Latest explainers

Blog Post | January 17, 2025
Trump 2.0 and climate: The risks you may not have thought about yet
Blog Post | December 19, 2024
After decades of challenges, the DRC must deliver on sustainable forest governance
Blog Post | December 12, 2024
Why is the Congo Basin – the world’s largest forest carbon sink – at risk?
Blog Post | December 11, 2024
How world's top CO2 emitter China became a major player in transition minerals and renewable energy