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The fair and equitable production and distribution of energy resources, plus access to green and renewable energy, is not only critical for a healthy planet but also an important matter of just societies and futures. Together with our partners, we recognize issues around energy as ecofeminist matters that need a strong feminist human rights-based approach. 

As an ecofeminist network, we want to provide space for the stories of inspiring champions in the fields of gender equality and the fight against climate change and environmental pollution. We believe that a sustainable future and environment need feminist solutions reflecting the lives of people on the ground. That is why we work on transformative gender equality and women’s human rights in interconnection with sustainable development and climate justice.

Last week, after months of negotiations, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) was approved by the European Parliament. This approval came two years after the European Commission proposed the directive. This directive is an important step towards reducing companies’ negative impacts on employees, citizens and the environment.

Industrial logging and palm oil companies destroy important forests in Cameroon. This is intertwined with human rights violations. In an urgent call for action, we share those concerns with several ministries of Foreign Affairs, the Central African Forest Initiative and the European Commission.

The Indonesian palm oil company Astra Agro Lestari is causing land grabs, violence against farmers, and deforestation. In a letter, we call on AAL's owner Jardine Matheson to stop investing in conflict palm oil.

The Marbel Buluan Watershed forms the catchment of several major river systems that straddle over three provinces on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines. A controversial mine, the Tampakan copper-gold project, is planned at the centre of the watershed. Over the past decades, numerous local stakeholders have raised concerns on the impacts of the mining project to the environment, health, food security and livelihoods of the directly affected indigenous and local communities and in low-lying areas. In March of this year, after years of preparation, the three provincial governments finally signed a joint ordinance (local law) creating the Mt. Buluan Protected Watershed, in effect putting more than 8,000 hectares of mountain into formal protected area status and a ‘no-go zone’ for destructive projects.

While in some countries deforestation rates are declining, overall global forest loss remains high, a new report by Global Forest Watch finds. As a result of changes in administration, forest loss have significantly decreased in Brazil and Colombia over the past year. However, frontiers of deforestation are shifting, and countries such as Bolivia and Laos experienced dramatic increases in forest loss. Overall, 3.7 million hectares of tropical primary forest was lost in 2023.

Let the Dutch development bank FMO pause the mediation process between palm oil company PHC and communities in Congo. We make this call to Minister Hanke Bruins Slot (Foreign Affairs).