 Happy New Year, Nelson! January is here, a special time for reflection and resolutions for many. For me, it’s also a time for sharing gratitude for all the generous support we received from over 57,000 people in 2020. Thanks to the amazing outpouring of support — including at the very end of the year — Greenpeace is beginning 2021 with our own resolution to scale up our campaigns for the planet. As we plan for the busy year ahead, I want to share some reasons I’ve found for optimism after a tough 2020. The environmental victories, campaign updates, and new publications you’ll discover below have given me a boost to kick-start what I expect to be a momentous year. I hope they’ll do the same for you! An update on GNL QuébecOn December 8th, 2020, Greenpeace and allied organizations presented a 110,000-signature petition to the Quebec National Assembly in an effort to signal widespread public opposition to the project. First, I want to give you a quick update on our campaign against GNL Québec — the proposed fossil fuel megaproject that, if approved, would be the largest in Quebec’s history. Originally scheduled to conclude this month, the public consultation committee has postponed its deadline to review the project’s social acceptability until March.[1] Earlier this month, two more GNL Québec managers added their names to a growing list of high-profile employee resignations.[2] And in its 2020 report, the International Gas Union admitted that a “strong headwind of ardent anti-fossil fuel activism in Quebec makes it unlikely this project will go forward.”[3] But approval is still a very real possibility. And if it does move ahead, GNL Québec is predicted to emit 50 million tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere every year — the equivalent of adding ten million more cars to our roads.[4][5] So while the Quebec government’s decision on the future of the project is delayed, let’s keep up the pressure! Biden scraps Keystone XL pipeline permitsIn November, Greenpeace and artist Robin Bell projected the message "Biden: Build a Fossil Fuel Free Administration" on the Department of Energy building in Washington, DC to urge Biden to champion climate action in his new government’s policies. In his first day in office, President Biden announced that he would revoke federal permits for Keystone XL — an $8-billion cross-border project meant to funnel over 800,000 barrels of Canadian crude oil per day along 1,897 kilometres of leak-prone pipelines.[6] For over a decade, Greenpeace has supported Indigenous-led opposition to the Keystone XL project, helping grow the resistance movement on the ground. And our work has paid off: one by one, big banks are refusing to provide funding to risky, destructive projects of this kind. This is such great news for the climate, for Indigenous rights, and protecting land and water from dangerous oil spills. But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau put a lot of pressure on the new administration to uphold this project. With the Biden administration demonstrating an early willingness to take decisive climate action, it’s time for the Canadian government to step up its game. Greenpeace scores victories in Arctic protectionThis past September, a Greenpeace team aboard the Arctic Sunrise documented and witnessed the 2020 sea ice minimum — the second lowest on record. Last month, a United States Court of Appeals rejected the Trump administration’s approval of the first offshore oil-drilling project in federal Arctic waters. This news comes after Greenpeace and ally organizations challenged the license approval process with a lawsuit, highlighting the administration's failure to consider the project’s impacts on polar bears and the climate.[7] At the same time, many miles away, major oil producer Denmarkannounced it would both ban all future oil and gas exploration in the North Sea and phase out its entire oil production in the region by 2050.[8] This announcement comes after Greenpeace activists peacefully occupied a North Sea oil rig with these demands, showing just how impactful direct action can be! Greenpeace-supported investigation reveals BP behind Mauritius oil spillThe scene of the oil spill in the waters around Mauritius after Japanese bulk carrier, MV Wakashio, ran aground on July 25th, 2020. Ten years after British Petroleum’s (BP) disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a six-month international investigation initiated by Forbes and supported by Greenpeace revealed that the same company was involved in covering up what went wrong in the 2020 oil spill in Mauritius — a small island off the Southeast African coast. While this is not a good news story, I wanted to share it with you to highlight just how critical Greenpeace’s investigative work is in bringing transparency to environmental disasters. I invite you to read more about this scandal here. More Greenpeace stories you should check outThis past October, Greenpeace unleashed a big cat (not a live one, however realistic looking!) onto the streets of Hackney in London. The purpose was to highlight the role that industrial meat being sold in supermarkets and fast food chains is playing in trashing forests where jaguars are found. Before I sign off, I’d like to shine a light on the inspiring campaign work of our fellow Greenpeacers around the world. First to the United Kingdom, where our global campaign against deforestation continues to roll out in some really innovative and impactful ways. Unearthed — Greenpeace UK's journalism team — was able to show that chicken sold in UK supermarkets had been fed on soy grown on farms in the Brazilian Cerrado that use fire to clear their land. The investigationinvolved identifying codes on packs of chicken that led back to companies importing soya from recently burned areas of the Cerrado. It’s clear that although structural change is needed, including bans on imports linked to reckless deforestation, there’s plenty that supermarkets can do now — like dropping forest destroyers from their supply chains — to end forest destruction for meat and dairy. Next, let’s turn to South Africa, Australia, and South Korea. In our recent survey, supporters like you told us you wanted to learn more about Greenpeace’s scientific investigations. To honour that request, here are some research reports and other great resources produced by Greenpeace teams that I’d recommend checking out if you’ve got a few (or many!) minutes: If you’re still in the mood for some reading, I’d also recommend a series of new blogs written by our campaigners here in Canada, responding to an announcement by the Quebec government that it plans to double its forestry output by 2080. Nelson, there is a lot of work ahead of us in the months to come, and I want you to know how grateful I am to have you by our side. Your support makes so many good news stories possible, both here in Canada and around the world. Have a wonderful start to 2021, and thank you for everything you do. Christy Executive Director, Greenpeace Canada SOURCES [1] https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1761230/etudes-consultation-gaz-naturel-saguenay (Available only in French) [2] https://www.ledevoir.com/societe/environnement/593126/energie-encore-des-departs-chez-gnl-quebec (Available only in French) [3] https://www.igu.org/resources/2020-world-lng-report/ (p. 46) [4] https://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/press-release/41055/what-gnl-quebec-is-and-why-you-must-say-no-to-it/ [5] https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-typical-passenger-vehicle https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/federal-court-rejects-trumps-approval-of-offshore-oil-drilling-project-in-arctic/ [6] https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/keystone-pipeline-does-as-experts-predicted-spills-383000-gallons-of-oil-in-north-dakota/ [7] https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/federal-court-rejects-trumps-approval-of-offshore-oil-drilling-project-in-arctic/ [8] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/dec/04/denmark-to-end-new-oil-and-gas-exploration-in-north-sea | 
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