European governments have reacted to a growing wave of direct-action protests by climate activists with heavy-handed policing, effectively criminalizing such campaigns, seeking to dissolve groups, and imposing restrictions on basic rights, Human Rights Watch charged in a July 22 statement. "This creates serious risks to environmental activism and civil society as a whole and undercuts vital efforts to address the climate crisis," the group found. 

In Germany, there has been a particularly harsh response to climate activism. A special target has been the group Last Generation, whose tactics have included such actions as spraying paint on private jets. Five Last Generation activists were indicted in May for forming a "criminal organization." A ruling that upholds this designation "could pave the way for prosecuting anyone who participates in or supports the group, whether administratively or financially, and would mean criminal sanctions well beyond anything the activists should reasonably and foreseeably expect to face."

On the same day HRW issued its statement, a record-breaking sentence was handed down in the United Kingdom, with five Just Stop Oil activists given multi-year prison terms. The case concerned a protest action that disrupted the M25 motorway in London for more than four days in November 2022. The defendants were accused for participating in a Zoom call in which the action was discussed, rather than in the action itself. Roger Hallam, 58, was given a five-year term, while four others received four years, after being found guilty of "conspiracy to cause a public nuisance." An open letter signed by more than 1,200 UK celebrities and academics described the terms handed to the "Whole Truth Five" as "one of the greatest injustices in a British court in modern history." (Jurist, BBC News, The Guardian)

No major emitter country has yet decarbonized enough to meet the 2015 Paris climate agreement goals.

See our last report on the European climate protests.