Greenpeace started in the 1970s as a movement against nuclear weapons being tested by the US government in Alaska. But very soon after the birth of our movement, we became known not just for saving whales, but also for exposing corporate crimes and pollution. We dragged those companies dumping nuclear and toxic waste into the world's oceans into the public spotlight and ended this destructive business. In the 1990s, we fought the plan by Shell (and others) to use the North Sea as the dumping ground for oil platforms such as the Brent Spar – and achieved the prohibition of this practice.
Today, therefore, most people think of Greenpeace as a business adversary. Indeed, in some MBA courses, Greenpeace is referred to as a business risk. When it comes to destructive businesses, we take pride in being perceived that way. We absolutely do want to make destroying our children's future too risky to be worth thinking about. And we take that message to all who can make crucial investment decisions. For example, we show in detailed studies that Arctic drilling is unlikely to be a profitable proposition – at the same time as we take peaceful direct action e.g. against Shell icebreakers aiming to explore for oil in the Arctic. We inform investors how dwindling tuna stocks make firms such as Dongwon from South Korea a bad investment, while also taking direct, peaceful action at sea to disrupt destructive tuna practices in the Indian Ocean.
But while we are proud to disrupt destructive business, we also actively support the solutions the world needs. I am sometimes frustrated that this side of what we do is less well known. Indeed, at Greenpeace, we never say no without offering an alternative!
That's why we have teamed up with the renewables industry to set out a plan to deliver clean energy for all and cut climate damaging gases – our so-called Energy Revolution scenario. This scenario has turned out to be the most accurate of all when it comes to predicting the recent boom in solar energy. We support communities from Papua New Guinea to Canada in managing their forests sustainably, not for short-term profits.