John,

We’re only a few months into 2025, and already, our movement is delivering real wins for people and the planet.

From forcing corporate polluters to pay up, to blocking the world’s first octopus farm, to taking on Big Tech’s role in genocide and disinformation—Ekō members are piling on the pressure, again and again. And the best part? It’s working.

The headlines may be full of bad news, but not today. Today, we’re celebrating the power of our movement and the victories we’ve won together. Let’s dive in!

Making polluters pay: we’re driving landmark climate legislation forward

Corporations spew out millions of tons of carbon pollution every year—while communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis are left to foot the bill. But thanks to relentless pressure from Ekō members and our partners, we’re turning the tide on corporate polluters.

In a huge victory for climate justice, New York passed a groundbreaking bill that will force major polluters to pay up. The Climate Change Superfund Act makes Big Oil and other corporate offenders contribute to a $75 billion climate fund, helping frontline communities rebuild and prepare for climate disasters.

To get here, Ekō members flooded lawmakers with petitions, emails, and calls—demanding they hold corporate polluters accountable. And we teamed up with grassroots climate leaders from the Make Polluters Pay coalition to turn up the heat in Albany, making sure lawmakers felt the pressure.

This is a massive step forward, but the fight isn’t over. Corporate lobbyists are already circling to kill it, but together, we can push back. And we’re not stopping here. Next up: pushing for the same groundbreaking bill in California.

Holding Big Tech accountable: we’re exposing Meta & X’s role in profiting from war and far-right extremism

A news screenshot from Middle East Eye with the headline: "Facebook hosted adverts fundraising for Israeli army and lawmakers," reporting on Meta's role in promoting military-related fundraising campaigns.

Meta and X claim they’re cracking down on disinformation and hate speech—but thanks to Ekō members, we’ve exposed the truth: these platforms aren’t just failing to stop extremism, they’re profiting from it.

With your support, we launched groundbreaking investigations that revealed just how deep the problem runs. Facebook and Instagram were caught hosting paid ads fundraising for Israeli military gear, including drones, assault rifle sights, and night vision goggles for battalions tied to war crimes. At the same time, Meta has been cashing in on ads from far-right Israeli politicians spreading genocidal rhetoric—ads that blatantly violate its own policies.

Meanwhile, in the lead up to Germany’s federal elections, we put Meta and X to the test and what we uncovered was chilling: both companies approved a series of extremist ads inciting violence, including calls for concentration camps and gas chambers for immigrants. Meta approved half the ads within 12 hours, and X greenlit all of them.

We pulled the ads before they went live, but their approval shows what we already knew: these platforms are amplifying and profiting from the far right and fueling violence. That’s why we took this right to the top and submitted our findings to the EU Commission, who are already investigating these platforms for breaking the law. Now our research will add to the growing pile of evidence against these reckless tech companies. Thousands of Ekō members have demanded action, even as Trump and his billionaire allies pressure the EU to weaken enforcement.

Musk and Zuckerberg won’t fix this on their own. But if we keep up the pressure, we are forcing them to choose: clean up their platforms or face real consequences.

Disrupting industrialised farming: we’re stalling Nueva Pescanova’s plans for the world’s first octopus farm

For years, Spanish seafood giant Nueva Pescanova has been pushing to mass-produce octopuses in factory farms, cramming these intelligent, sensitive creatures into tanks, only to slaughter them for profit. But thanks to relentless pressure from the Ekō community and our partners, their plans are stalled, and the backlash has been a PR disaster.

The Port Authority of the Canary Islands just confirmed that there’s been no movement on the project for two years—no new steps, no progress. What was meant to be a groundbreaking project is now stuck in limbo, proving that we can stop this industry in its tracks.

Half a million Ekō members signed the viral petition demanding Nueva Pescanova shut down its plans—the sheer scale of opposition made headlines and forced the company into damage control. But we didn’t stop there. We teamed up with our partners, Anima Naturalis, in Spain to bring the fight to the streets of Madrid, staging powerful demonstrations and confronting lawmakers with the undeniable truth: octopus farming is a disaster in the making.

The pressure is working. But Nueva Pescanova hasn’t officially pulled the plug yet, claiming they are taking a “pause”, most likely to save face—so we need to keep fighting until this farm is shut down for good. Stay tuned for next steps! (One thing you can do right now: Seafood giant, Grupo Profand, is now trying to step in where Nueva Pescanova has failed, and is launching a baby octopus lab, join the call to stop it here.)

Exposing Maersk’s role in arming Israel: we’re turning up the pressure

Thanks to Ekō members, we ran this ad in one of Denmark’s largest newspapers.

Maersk has been caught red-handed, shipping millions of pounds of military cargo to Israel—directly fueling the atrocities in Gaza. They tried to keep their role in arming Israel under wraps, but thanks to Ekō members, we forced it onto the world’s stage.

To hold them accountable, we co-filed a shareholder resolution with a Danish investor, demanding they disclose their human rights due diligence and stop shipping weapons to Israel. That meant their Annual General Meeting—usually a polished PR moment—became a high-stakes confrontation.

We knew winning the resolution vote was impossible (the Maersk family holds the majority of shares!), but that wasn’t the point. The goal was to expose their complicity, force them to answer for their actions, and make it clear that enabling war crimes comes at a cost. And we did just that.

In the lead-up to the AGM, over 70 global civil society organizations, including Amnesty International and Oxfam Denmark, joined us in demanding accountability. The campaign dominated headlines, with coverage from Reuters, AFP, and top shipping industry news outlets.

On the day of the AGM, Maersk executives were confronted—live and on the record—by Ekō campaigners and multiple shareholders demanding answers. Despite their attempts to deny the evidence, Maersk was finally forced to admit, in front of their investors and the media, that they do, in fact, ship military cargo to Israel.

This is a massive breakthrough and none of this would have been possible without you. Thanks to Ekō members, we ran an ad in one of Denmark’s largest newspapers, reaching over 280,000 people, flooded Maersk’s social media with so many comments that they shut down their comment sections, and our incredible partners organized a protest of 1,500 strong outside their Copenhagen HQ on the day of the AGM. Protests also took place at Maersk offices in London, Oslo, and Sydney, making it impossible for them to ignore the growing global outrage.

Maersk thought this issue would fade. Instead, we’ve made sure the world knows the truth. The fight isn’t over, and we’re not backing down.

This is just the beginning. Every campaign, every petition, every action adds up—and together, we’re proving that people power can take on even the biggest challenges. No matter what 2025 throws our way, we’ll keep fighting, pushing— and winning— together.