John,

I won’t lie: reading the news, it’s hard to be optimistic.

But I get a rush of hope every time I think about what we’re achieving, despite the odds.

We might be a relatively small community, but together in our millions we can take on the biggest issues in the world – from climate to big tech to the war in Gaza – and win.

So grab a drink and savour these important updates from just a few of the campaigns we’re working on together –

Climate: we’re forcing major insurance companies to drop fossil fuel projects

Month after month, we’re breaking heat records worldwide, while the predatory global financial industry continues to pour fuel on the fire, investing in and insuring new fossil fuel projects that our planet simply can’t handle. So, with help from thousands of Ekō members’ actions and donations, we’re taking them on, over and over again.

And we just got a huge win: Zurich Insurance Group – with $439.3 billion in assets – has finally committed to stop insuring new oil and gas extraction projects! The good news came after years of pressure from activists young and old – and right on the heels of a Global Week of Action where Ekō members all over the world contacted key people at Zurich, urging them to act.

This isn’t just a one-off victory, it’s a trend – we’re forcing insurer after insurer to cut ties with this toxic industry.

We got six other insurers to say NO to TotalEnergies’ terrible East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project – companies that were put front and center in our Global Week of Action. Working with our amazing partners, and thousands of Ekō members who sent emails, made phone calls, and protested at HQs – we’re turning this project into a pariah, and have kept hope alive that we’ll stop the EACOP pipeline for good.

It’s a long fight to stop the financing of fossil fuels, but we’re proving that together we are up for the challenge.

Technology: we’re exposing Big Tech’s dangers to democracy

2024 is a massive year of elections around the world – from the UK to India to the US and more – and it has never been more important to ensure that our democracy is safe from the disinformation that runs rampant on social media.

That’s why we put our researchers to work uncovering a million dollar disinformation network in India – and just the other day we got Meta (Facebook) to take action against the shadowy far-right groups running horrendous Islamophobic ads and amplifying dangerous misinformation targeting voters in India’s elections. Together with India Civil Watch International, our research also exposed how unprepared Facebook is for AI-powered disinformation, and made headlines around the world – like here, here, and here.

And that’s not all. Ekō campaigners also published an investigation into Instagram and TikTok, highlighting how the platforms are still rife with harmful content targeting kids. We hand-delivered our research, alongside dozens of messages from the Ekō community to key US lawmakers ahead of hearings at US Congress.

Outside, we mounted a massive visual protest while Zuckerberg and TikTok’s CEO testified. Our action was covered by tons of top media, like the New York Times, NBC, and Al Jazeera, helping to frame the public debate.

We’ll never have Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth, but we can still challenge the Facebook boss and his buddies all over the world, and push our governments to put people before Big Tech’s profits.

Palestine: we’re holding AXA to its word on its investments in Israel's war crimes

After years of brutal occupation, the Israeli government’s destruction of Gaza is now in its seventh catastrophic month, with thousands of innocent people left dead and hundreds of thousands more facing starvation and an uncertain future. Governments and companies around the world continue to be complicit, providing financing and weapons to Israel. But we’re refusing to let them do it quietly. And we’re starting to win.

For five years we’ve campaigned to make insurance giant AXA divest from Israeli corporations involved in the expansion of illegal settlements, and deadly violence against Palestinians.

It’s been a big collective effort with a family of human rights advocates and groups. Our first win was back in 2019, when AXA cut ties with Israel’s biggest arms manufacturer, Elbit Systems. But AXA held onto its shares in banks that directly enable illegal settlements with loans and other financial services.

Finally, after years, and in light of the horrors happening today in Palestine, AXA’s CEO announced at its shareholder meeting in April it's cut “all ties to Israel’s banks”. This information came as a direct response to a brave Ekō-member AXA shareholder speaking up at the company's shareholder meeting in Paris.

It will take some weeks more to confirm – but one way or another, we’ll keep pushing until we win at last!

I could go on and on... frankly, that’s one of the things I’m proudest of about this community: we keep at it – we go on and on – even when the odds are against us. That’s why we’re a force to be reckoned with, even when taking on some of the biggest issues facing our people and our planet today.