our achievements over the years

Change we’ve created

Group of people holding signs and banners for fossil fuel divestment protest in front of Bremner Building.

    • We launched our preliminary review of the fossil fuel industry influence and greenwashing on South African universities’ campuses, titled Carbon Captured?

    • The Advertising Regulatory Board upheld the following complaints we submitted:

      • Environmental claims made by CNG Holdings and its NGV Gas division.

      • Environmental claims made in TotalEnergies South Africa’s advertising for its Excellium Diesel D10 product.

      • Claims made on Shell South Africa’s website promoting ‘sustainable fuels’ and ‘innovative fuels and lubricants’, where fossil fuel products were marketed using environmental and sustainability-linked language. Shell has made the decision to withdraw this series of environmental advertising from their website.

    • We launched our Conscious Capital course, which links personal finance, social justice, and environmental security.

    • We updated our Climate Reporting Guide for South African journalists, to promote proactive and informed reporting on the climate crisis.

    • Climate Hope campaign began debunking the host of myths holding back climate action, and promoting the evidence-based truths.

    • Our Fossil Ad Ban campaign co-hosted their first ever workshops with traditional leaders and communities in the Eastern Cape, following their 2025 frontline community workshops in Carolina, Mpumalanga.

    • As shareholders, with Just Share and Aeon Investment Management, we have taken Thungela to court for refusing to table our climate resolutions for three years in a row. The case is ongoing.

    • Our director David Le Page was voted onto the executive committee of UCT’s Convocation, its body for alumni representation.

    • Together with Open Secrets, we submitted a promotion of access to information application to uncover whether our MPs pension funds are invested in companies contributing to the climate crisis and perpetuating human rights abuses.

    • Fossil Ad Ban organised Africa’s first march against fossil fuel greenwashing, bringing together affected communities and climate NPOs from Uganda, Mozambique and South Africa.

    • Alkemi Collective became Africa’s first creative agency to endorse our Fossil Ad Ban campaign, which calls for a nationwide ban on all coal, oil and gas advertisements in a bid to help address the climate crisis by shifting public perception.

    • By 2025, our Clean Creatives SA campaign had led to 190 individuals and 68 advertising and PR agencies pledging to cease or refuse any work from the fossil fuel industry.

    • We held our inaugural investment justice walk, attended by over 30 citizens, linking key historical and financial sites in Cape Town to reveal the past and present of ethical investment.

    • Our 2024 workshops on the Middle East conflict and the genocide in Gaza illuminated the links between climate change, colonialism, apartheid, militarism, fossil fuels and threats to fundamental human rights.

    • We developed and launched the Planet A Investment Guide for fossil-free, green, and socially responsible investments.

    • Our Clean Creatives South Africa campaign released their SA F-List report, A Flood of Greenwashing: 42 Advertising & PR agency contracts with the fossil fuel industry in South Africa.

    • Our landmark complaint against TotalEnergies South Africa was upheld by the Advertising Regulatory Board, even after TotalEnergies appealed their decision. This sets a crucial precedent in holding fossil fuel companies accountable for deceptive advertising.

    • Our Clean Creatives South Africa campaign launched their report, Fuelling a Perfect Storm: The South African F-List Report, which names 41 advertising and PR agencies working for fossil fuel companies in South Africa. The report is intended as a transparency tool for the industry and is the most comprehensive list of agencies working for fossil fuels in South Africa ever published.

    • The University of Cape Town (UCT) made a landmark decision to divest from fossil fuels, after an eight-year long campaign by Fossil Free UCT.

    • We have built up a substantial body of expertise and connections on the nexus of climate, finance, and responsible investment in South Africa.

    • This includes consulting on and supporting the creation of South Africa’s most fossil-free equity fund, the BCI Select ESG Equity Fund, which excludes Sasol, SA’s second biggest carbon emitter, and all thermal coal. this fund has outperformed its benchmark for over three years.

    • We held successful workshops on divestment for retirement fund managers in 2019, and asset managers in 2017, both in partnership with the UN-supported Principle for Responsible Investment.

    • We were one of the lead organisers on the September 2019 Financing the Future Conference, the first global divestment conference in the Global South.

    • With the endorsement of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, our lobbying led the University of Cape Town to establish the first responsible investment committee at an African university.

    • Our Spotlight Campaign started pressuring asset managers to create fossil-free funds.

    • With 350 Africa, we helped push the City of Cape Town to become the first African city to commit to divestment from fossil fuels.

Change we’re creating

A group of people sitting and standing around a table, raising their fists in a gesture of solidarity. Some are wearing shirts with logos like "MTN" and "Faced Act." The table has a black banner with writing on it. The setting appears to be a meeting room.

  • We’re working towards a Just Energy Transition – a human rights-based energy democracy that shifts from coal, oil and gas to cleaner, more affordable renewable energy while alleviating inequality, improving health, and creating more socio-economic opportunities. We’re doing this by:

    • Building coalitions and movements with other nonprofit organisations in South Africa and the rest of Africa, as well as participating in broader civil society processes like the International Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels.

    • Focusing on community-centred justice by engaging with grassroots organisations and frontline communities in Southern Africa, as well as empowering a diverse next generation of leaders.

    • Strengthening climate finance leadership by holding major institutions accountable (like Sasol, Thungela, and Exxaro) for fossil-fuel investments (including major companies and the parliamentarians’ pension fund) and engaging asset managers to shift toward sustainable investments. We’re continuously engaging with Momentum Metropolitan, Standard Bank, FirstRand, Aurora Capital, Future Growth, Allan Gray, and Coronation to discuss climate risk, transparency, and the need for more climate-conscious investment options in South Africa.

    • Debunkingclimate myths and popularising climate solutions through our Climate Hope campaign.

    • Deepening campus climate leadership at major South African universities including the University of Cape Town, Stellenbosch University, the University of the Witswaterstrand, the University of Johannesburg, and the University of the Western Cape. We’re working with student societies, departments, and university leadership.

    • Mentoring journalists and content creators to report more accurately and proactively on climate breakdown, through one-on-one support and a structured seminar series in our Climate Media Lab.

    • Actively countering greenwashing advertising through the national advertising regulator, and facilitating dialogue with governments and political parties to endorse and implementing a fossil fuel advertising ban.

    • Developing a host of resourcesto build public support for climate action and a just transition to renewables.