Our key achievements and impacts in 2023

As a young, growing organisation, there are lots of exciting goals and plans ahead of us in 2024. But before we rush into the next year, we’re taking a moment of reflection to consider the impact we had in the one just gone.

In 2023, Opportunity Green celebrated its second birthday and we grew our team from four to 13. We speak to the team to find out what aspects of their work they are most proud of in the year just gone…

CEO, Aoife:

So many brilliant things have happened at Opportunity Green in 2023, so it’s hard to select just one. For me, one of the things that shows the impact of our work is being selected by Giving Green as one of their top recommendations for climate giving.

Giving Green is an organisation that looks at different potential climate causes that individuals can donate to and rates them for effectiveness. Their team spends thousands of hours researching high-impact climate initiatives and found that one of the most effective ways to support the fight against climate change is by giving to reduce aviation and shipping emissions.

We were thrilled to be selected for our work in this area. Giving Green’s report noted:

“Aviation and maritime shipping are projected to account for more than 30% of global emissions by 2050 if left unmitigated. Given the evaluation of philanthropic strategies, the relevance of the strategies to many of the critical pathways in our theories of change, and the relatively low level of funding these sectors have received, we think it is important for more philanthropic funding to be directed toward aviation and maritime shipping.”

International Shipping Policy team, Blánaid and Ana:

Much of our work in early 2023 focused on the revision of the International Maritime Organization's Strategy on the Reduction of GHG Emissions form Ships (IMO GHG Strategy).

This was a pivotal moment to drive an ambitious, just and equitable transition of the maritime sector at a global scale, prioritising those who are most impacted by climate change. In advance of the Strategy revision, we hosted an informational seminar at the IMO in cooperation with the Thai Government to present a holistic view of the upcoming negotiations and emphasise the importance of a just and equitable transition.

Throughout the year, we engaged with several climate vulnerable countries bilaterally to support their active participation in the key IMO meetings during the Summer of 2023, and also helped to raise media attention around key climate justice concerns in the negotiations.

Since the revision of the IMO's GHG Strategy during the Summer, we've been working hard to increase attention to the role of international shipping in bolstering financing for adaptation and mitigation measures in climate vulnerable countries, in particular SIDS and LDCs. For example, our Senior Shipping Manager, Ana Larenjeira, recently wrote an op-ed for Trade Winds on the topic.

And we were really happy to see the team's accomplishments being reflected by Giving Green’s report when it said:

“We are especially excited about Opportunity Green’s efforts to elevate climate vulnerable countries in policy discussions, as we think this could improve the inclusivity of the process and the ambition level of policies.”

Project Assistant, Sabrina:

Being part of the Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) committee, I've learned about inclusive hiring processes, and we're ramping up our hiring of people from underrepresented communities by having an anonymous application process.

I've written blogs on queerness and climate change, and contributed to a Black History Month blog with the DEI committee to highlight how intrinsically linked underrepresented communities are with the climate crisis. I'm so proud to work for OG which gives us the freedom to write about these crucial topics.

As part of the SASHA Coalition, we've got some amazing and ambitious members who want to continue providing crucial shipping and aviation services, whilst also protecting our planet. I'm looking forward to seeing how we collaborate in 2024!

Chief Strategy and Impact Officer & Legal Director, Carly:

In September, we launched a new report (Un)Sustainable from ship to shore, investigating how fossil LNG is being widely promoted as a ‘climate-friendly’ alternative shipping fuel. The report revealed the extent to which the cruise industry is trying to gaslight the public into believing that fossil LNG is a climate solution when it is not.

This was the first time that LNG advertising has been scrutinised from a legal point of view, and the publication of our report – along with a series of complaints filed to the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) against some of the biggest international cruise companies – have helped to highlight the need for further investigation of advertising practices, with help from a strong comms campaign that was well picked up well on social media and in the press.

To me, this is a great example of us having impact in an as yet legally unexplored area - evidence of our emphasis on prioritising strategic and systemic change in sectors that have as yet evaded proper scrutiny of their climate impact.

Communications Manager, Hannah:

One of my first big projects when I joined OG was to lead the organisation’s rebrand. With the help of an external design agency, our brand was transformed into a polished, professional and modern design and rolled out across all our channels.

Alongside this, we also ran an internal exercise to set out our tone of voice – or how we want to be ‘heard’ by the outside world. It’s been great to see these two things working together, being adopted by the entire team and being reflected in all our comms output, helping to give us a coherent and unified voice on the issues we care about.

Policy Officer, Nuala:

We launched the SASHA Coalition at our webinar, 'Fuelling the Future: how green hydrogen and direct air capture will decarbonise aviation and shipping' in May. Since then, we've published our report 'The Green Hydrogen Gap', which demonstrates how all pathways to truly sustainable fuels for shipping and aviation require green hydrogen. It’s also been exciting to see our coalition membership grow, with four ambitious companies committed to decarbonising their sectors.

The SASHA Coalition’s messages have been picked up well in the media, with a key op-ed published in the Financial Times (‘Why are we wasting our limited supply of green hydrogen?’) and coverage in the EU Observer, Lloyds List podcast, TradeWinds and many more.

Legal Assistant, Olivia:

In October, Opportunity Green responded to the UN Special Rapporteur on climate change’s call for inputs on corporate accountability. Our submission addressed the shipping industry's overreliance on harmful transitional fuels and the rise in climate litigation that has emerged against greenwashing in the aviation industry.

We applied our report on fossil liquified natural gas (LNG) and compiled litigation on greenwashing by airlines from the US, EU and the UK to demonstrate the decarbonisation of these sectors is an international issue that requires international solutions.

We hope to see the issues we raised discussed in the 56th session of the Human Rights Council in June this year.

Want to know more about our key impacts and achievements? Read our annual reports to find out more.