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The rise of the right has emboldened Big Oil like never before. Governments are rolling back environmental protections, greenlighting new drilling projects for coal, oil and gas, despite knowing that these polluting fossil fuels are behind the climate crisis we are all facing now. 

Meanwhile Big Oil is doubling down. Backed by powerful allies in the government and media, it’s using its might against activists, and employing every trick in the book to silence dissent. For instance, the fossil fuel industry is pouring billions into lobbying, lawsuits, and misinformation campaigns to maintain control of their false narrative. 

What is their goal, you may ask? To protect their sickeningly huge profits while destroying our communities and nature.

But we aren’t going anywhere. We are resisting and fighting back. Here’s five ways this battle is playing out – and what we can do about it: 

1. Weaponising the Law: Greenpeace vs. SLAPPs

Greenpeace is facing a devastating legal attack. A North Dakota jury in the United States has ruled against the organization in a defamation lawsuit brought by Energy Transfer, the company behind the destructive Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The verdict: Greenpeace must pay more than $660 million – a move that could bankrupt one of the most influential environmental organizations in the world.

This is a classic lawsuit, known as a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation), designed to intimidate, drain resources, and stop organizations like Greenpeace from engaging in peaceful protests for our people and the planet. You’ll see that the game is further rigged as most jurors in this case against Greenpeace have fossil fuel industry ties. 

And it’s not just Energy Transfer who is using these evil tactics – rich corporations are increasingly using legal warfare against their resource-strapped critics to crush dissent. This case sets a dangerous precedent: if Big Oil can sue environmental groups into oblivion, who’s next?

As the global climate movement, we stand with Greenpeace. You too can join the fight here.

2. Jailing Climate Leaders: Hồng’s Story in Vietnam

In cahoots with government counterparts, Big Oil is systematically cracking down on voices that fight tirelessly for the climate. In 2023, Vietnamese climate activist Hoàng Thị Minh Hồng was thrown in prison on false tax evasion charges by the Government, a clear attempt to silence one of the country’s most powerful voices for environmental justice. But thanks to over a year of building international pressure and relentless activism, she was released in September 2024 – 20 months early! 350.org fought for her release alongside partners, keeping her case in the spotlight and demanding action. At COP28, I was privileged to chair a press conference that highlighted her case and the broader crackdown on climate activists. Hồng’s release is proof that solidarity works – and that we can push back against these tactics. You can read more here. And the fight is still ongoing: climate defenders like Hong face incredible risks in many parts of the world, where speaking out against fossil fuels means risking their freedom – and sometimes, their lives. It is our duty as members of a global climate movement to protect one another.

3. Seating Polluters at the Table: COP or Corporate Playground?

To silence dissenting voices, the fossil fuel industry lobby gets larger and louder each year. As per usual, last year’s international climate talks, better known as COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan was overrun with fossil fuel lobbyists: they had more representation than the delegations of the most climate-vulnerable countries combined. Sit with that for a second. At the world’s most important annual gathering on fighting the climate crisis, the very problem that the Big Oil Industry has  caused, their own voices outnumber the  leaders trying to solve the crisis in their affected countries. That’s not climate leadership – that’s corporate capture.

4. Using Threats & Violence: The Frontline in Uganda

When Big Oil isn’t  influencing policy – it’s using straight-up intimidation, harassment, and even violence to push through deadly projects like the infamous East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), endangering over 100,000 people in Uganda and Tanzania. Activists in the region  are facing arrests and brutal crackdowns just for defending their communities. Just last year, in August 2024, 47 brave activists were jailed outside the Chinese Embassy in Kampala, Uganda for peacefully protesting China’s backing for this mega EACOP project. We need to shine a light on this repression.

5.  Spreading Misinformation & Hate: The Rise of the Right

The fossil fuel industry isn’t just buying politicians – they’re also bankrolling misinformation, climate denial, and hate speech. Groups like the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) have tracked how fossil fuel interests are using social media and far-right networks to push false climate narratives, planting seeds for climate denialism. Meanwhile, campaigns like Stop Funding Hate and Stop Funding Heat are exposing how Big Oil’s ad dollars prop up media platforms that spread hate and division.  The fossil fuel industry’s playbook is clear: sow doubt, distract from the crisis, and undermine climate action. But we see through it, and we won’t let them divide us. Our best defence? Truth, solidarity, and relentless action.

Big Oil is throwing everything it’s got at us. They are trying to divide, distract, and make us too drained to fight back. But we are stronger, louder, and more united than ever – and they can’t stop the energy revolution. 

We will continue to champion community-centred renewable energy solutions as the strongest way to weaken the fossil fuel industry. We will keep up the fight for the rights of all environmental defenders – right now it’s Greenpeace, but so many of our allies are under constant threat. We will support each other through this, and we will not back down in the face of Big Oil’s agenda. Let’s keep pushing! 

Click here to support Greenpeace as they stand up to Big Oil.