As the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights gathered last week in Geneva to review the UK’s track record on key human rights, we argued that the UK’s housing crisis is a climate and human rights issue. Urgent government action is needed to uphold human rights and reduce inequality.

At the upcoming International Maritime Organization negotiations, Member States must account for all of the shipping sector’s emissions in any emissions reduction measures agreed.

Countries have been granted an additional seven months to submit their climate plans under the Paris Agreement. We set out key takeaways from our recent webinar with Cornerstones Barristers which discussed a glaring gap in current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs): international aviation and shipping emissions.

Between the devastating fires in California and Trump withdrawing (again) from the Paris Climate Agreement, climate news have been quite bleak this month. But OG is here to bring you some positive stories and shine a light on the progress being made!

As part of our ongoing commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, Opportunity Green has joined the RACE Report initiative, the UK’s largest analysis of the racial diversity of the environmental charity and funder sector. During UK’s Race Equality Week, we look at the findings, reflect on actions we have taken so far at Opportunity Green, and what more we can do based on our results.

Last week, the government announced that it is backing the expansion of Heathrow airport in a bid to drive economic growth in the UK. According to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, this will deliver economic growth and any climate concerns will be remedied by sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). Not so, says our CEO Aoife O’Leary. 

Steel is present in nearly everything we do and is one of the biggest industrial emitters, thanks to its reliance on coal-based production. With its progress to decarbonise way off track, will steel be the next industry to be targeted by climate litigation?

Last month, nearly 100 states testified to the world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), to inform its forthcoming advisory opinion on climate change. While climate vulnerable states pushed for climate justice, many major polluters strove to shirk responsibility and dilute their climate obligations. Our Legal Assistant, Olivia, unpicks the different arguments and explains why we need an ambitious opinion.

Everyone has a role to play in combatting climate change, some just haven’t cottoned on to how much they can do yet. As 2025 rolls in, we at OG thought we’d lend a helping hand and suggest some key changes we’d like to see big players resolve to make in the new year. 

2024 has been a busy year for Opportunity Green. We’ve turned three, doubled our staff from 12 to 24 and moved twice to keep up with our size! So, as we head towards the end of the year, our team is reflecting on some of the year’s highlights, along with a few of the videos we’ve made along the way. 

As the second person to join our busy communications team, Daniel has played a crucial role in raising the profile of not only Opportunity Green, but also the SASHA Coalition, in his first year. He tells us about his highlights so far and what he’s looking forward to next.

At COP29 in Baku, Azerbajan, the focus was on climate finance and the tagline was ‘in solidarity for a green world’. But what does solidarity mean to the countries most badly affected by climate change? Our Senior Director, Climate Diplomacy, talks to climate activists at COP to find out.

Opportunity Green’s focus at COP29 was the potential to generate climate finance from the aviation and shipping sectors. Our CEO reflects on how each sector is shaping up when it comes to climate finance – and finds that aviation is undoubtedly falling short.

This week, the 2021 court ruling requiring Shell to reduce its emissions by 45% by 2030 was overturned on appeal. Whilst initially appearing to be a blow to corporate accountability on climate change, our Senior Legal Manager Sophie Prinz takes a closer look at some of the wider implications of the judgment.