This year has been marked by profound challenges, from the intensification of the climate crisis, to a global pandemic, to police violence that has spurred global movements for racial justice. It has placed into stark relief that the greatest challenges facing people and the planet are deeply interconnected.
2020 has also demonstrated the importance of international solidarity and the power of working in common cause across diverse movements to build a more just and sustainable future. Using human rights and justice as our throughline, CIEL has worked with partners worldwide to connect intersecting issues, transform underlying systems, take on corporate power, and make the law stronger and more just, for everyone, everywhere.
And we will continue to employ innovative legal strategies to ensure that rebuilding in the wake of 2020 centers human rights and the environment. As the stakes continue to rise, we will rise to the challenge, together. But first, join us in reflecting on some key victories from 2020. This year, your support helped…
Secure Groundbreaking Commitments from the IDB
After years of advocating for stronger environmental and social protections at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), its new policies now align with international standards on Indigenous Peoples, access to participation, and justice, while also excluding project financing related to coal, oil, gas, and a host of toxic chemicals.
Challenge Oil and Gas Expansion
From East Africa, to the Permian Gulf, to Latin America, we joined partners in calling attention to the health and environmental risks of new offshore oil extraction, including the harmful impact of Exxon’s excessive gas flaring in Guyana.
Elevate the Human Right to a Healthy Environment
We secured the first-ever public statement from the UN Human Rights Committee on the incompatibility of human rights obligations and large-scale oil extraction, and we’re now working with almost 1,000 organizations to secure global recognition of the human right to a healthy environment so everyone, everywhere can enjoy that right.
Garner Support for a Global Plastic Treaty
This year, CIEL worked with partners around the world to lead the movement for a new global treaty to address the plastic crisis at every stage of the plastic lifecycle. So far, over 125 countries have joined the call to say it’s time for a holistic solution to the plastic problem.
Expose Pandemic Profiteering
Through our new Pandemic Crisis, Systemic Decline report and follow-on briefing, CIEL revealed the oil, gas, and plastic industries’ attempts to exploit the pandemic to secure government bailouts — and demonstrated why this ultimately won’t rescue the failing industries.
Amplify the Voices of Environmental & Human Rights Defenders
CIEL brought our Chilean partners to the UN Climate Conference in Madrid, where their story of a “clean” development project that threatened their basic rights to food, water, and a healthy environment helped prevent the adoption of dangerous new rules under the Paris Climate Agreement.
Reduce Toxic Exposure in the EU and Beyond
This year, CIEL successfully pushed the European Parliament to integrate a groundbreaking chemicals strategy in the new EU Green Deal that would ban endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in consumer products and scale up screening and testing for the around 1,500 known or suspected EDCs. It’s a critical step to elevating toxic risks to the level of international law.
Please make a gift today to support this work in 2021.
Your support to CIEL in the form of an end-of-year donation is an investment in a more just and sustainable future for all.
In the year ahead, we will put your contribution to immediate use, employing the power of law to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels, connect movements, defend the rights of communities everywhere to participate in environmental decisionmaking, reduce exposure to toxic chemicals, and turn off the tap on plastic. Donate here: act.ciel.org/give2020
