Urgewald's Major Successes

Urgewald’s documentary Auf den Spuren des Geldes premiered in cinemas across Germany, winning the Horizonte Award at the Fünf Seen Film Festival. See the trailer here.
Urgewald’s report on Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR ahead of COP29 revealed massive gas expansion plans and was covered exclusively by The Guardian. Overall, the SOCAR report achieved 138 media mentions with approximately 1.86 million monthly readers—a strong signal against fossil fuel companies’ lobbying efforts at climate conferences.
The Finance Campaigner School saw record participation from 39 activists across 27 countries — a proof that Urgewald’s “Follow the Money” approach inspires a global movement.

Urgewald’s research “Investing in Climate Chaos” revealed that institutional investors held over $3 trillion in fossil fuel companies, sparking global media coverage in The Financial Times and The Washington Post. Also some investors addressed in our report contacted Urgewald after the release to discuss their fossil involvement.
GOGEL data and interview segments with Nils Bartsch, Head of Oil & Gas Research at Urgewald, were at the center of the incisive BBC Panorama episode “Why Are We Still Searching for Fossil Fuels?”
Our Finance Campaigner School trained 30 new campaigners from 17+ countries, building global capacity to challenge the finance sector.
By year’s end, investors representing $19 trillion were using Urgewald’s fossil fuel exclusion criteria.

In a year dominated by war and energy crisis, Urgewald’s campaigns connected fossil fuel finance with Russia’s war in Ukraine through in-person protests and online campaigns.
The major insurance companies Allianz, Munich Re, and Hannover Re announced they would not insure the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), following Urgewald-led pressure.
Urgewald’s GOGEL data underpinned The Guardian’s in-depth research on global “carbon bombs,” highlighting the most climate-destructive oil and gas projects.
At COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, Urgewald launched a detailed report on fossil fuel expansion in Africa. Our research was picked up in 91 unique articles on global media with an average audience of 7.9 million readers per month, including Business Insider, Investing, and Bloomberg.
Urgewald launched the Finance Campaigner School, a pioneering online program training activists worldwide to challenge the financial sector. Over three months, 22 participants from 17 countries learned from experienced campaigners and finance insiders, developed their own campaign ideas, and received one-on-one mentoring. Over the following years, the program built a strong international network of finance campaigners — empowering a new generation to hold banks, investors, and insurers accountable.

At COP26 in Glasgow, Urgewald unveiled GOGEL, the world’s most comprehensive publicly available database on companies driving oil and gas expansion. It revealed that over 90% of these firms are pursuing new projects, pushing the world deeper into the climate crisis. GOGEL quickly became a key reference tool for banks, insurers, and investors worldwide.
Urgewald’s 2021 analysis revealed that BlackRock’s much-publicized sustainability pledge had barely changed its business: the world’s largest asset manager still held $85 billion in coal companies and its newly introduced policy only covered 17% of the global coal industry. The findings sparked a wave of international media coverage, including The Guardian, Financial Times, Bloomberg, and Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung, putting global pressure on BlackRock to align its investments with climate goals.

Despite lockdowns and restrictions, Urgewald expanded the impact of its Global Coal Exit List (GCEL): investors managing over $16 trillion applied GCEL criteria to exclude coal companies.
The report 5 Years Lost exposed 12 of the most disastrous fossil fuel expansion projects worldwide on the eve of the 5^th anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement.
The Urgewald documentary film Carbon Bomb revealed the World Bank’s role in supporting gigantic oil developments off Guyana’s coast. Urgewald’s work made international headlines and pressured financial institutions to rethink their fossil entanglements.

Welcomed the decision of the Norwegian Parliament to strengthen the coal exclusion standards of the country’s global Pension Fund according to criteria established by Urgewald. As a result, Norway will cut ties with coal giants like Glencore and RWE.
Pushed the World Bank subsidiary International Finance Corporation (IFC) to ask client financial institutions to screen their exposures against Urgewald’s Coal Plant Developers List in order to avoid involvement with major coal plant developers.

Convinced Generali to use Urgewald’s coal research also for excluding companies from insurance business.
Pushed Munich Re, the world's second largest reinsurer, to announce cuts in its coal insurance business for the first time.
Convinced Allianz, today the world’s biggest insurance company by assets, to no longer provide insurance for coal power plants or coal mines and to strengthen its coal divestment.
Urgewald founder Heffa Schuecking was granted Henry Arnhold Fellowship from US foundation Mulago.
Convinced Italian insurance group Generali to use Urgewald’s Global Coal Exit List for divestment. Generali reduced coal investments by EUR 2 billion.

Persuaded French company AXA, world’s 3rd biggest insurance company, to use Global Coal Exit List for its new climate strategy. AXA’s coal divestment came to EUR 2.4 billion.
Published Global Coal Exit List, a database on the global coal industry, during UN climate summit in Bonn. This List is the 1st comprehensive coal divestment tool worldwide for investors, banks and insurance companies.
Pushed Bayerische Landesbank, state-owned bank of Bavaria, to cancel further funding for highly controversial Dakota Access Pipeline in the USA.

Convinced Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, no. 1 and 2 in Germany, to blacklist all major mountaintop removal mining companies.

Persuaded Allianz, the world’s no. 2 insurance company, to divest from coal holdings.
Convinced Norway’s sovereign pension fund, one of the biggest worldwide, to divest from major coal holdings.

Achieved final stop to nuclear plant Belene, Bulgaria, by convincing last big financier, German energy giant RWE (2009), and finally also government of Bulgaria to bury the project.

Kept mining giant Vedanta from setting up poisonous bauxite mine in Niyamgiri, India.

Stopped 15 international banks in a months-long campaign from financing nuclear power plant Belene in Bulgarian earthquake region. These included Citibank, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and UniCredit.

Prevented fundings for Maheshwar Dam and resettlement of 50,000 people in India.

Published Rainforest Memorandum – documented Germany’s role in rainforest destruction and moved over 1,200 municipalities in Germany to stop using tropical timber in municipal building projects.