A lawsuit filed by Greenpeace International against the U.S.-based fossil fuel company Energy Transfer in the Netherlands is moving forward after a Dutch court recently ruled in favor of the environmental organization in rejecting the company’s bid to toss out the case.
The suit is connected to the ongoing litigation in the U.S. between Energy Transfer and Greenpeace entities over the 2016-2017 indigenous-led protests of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which resulted in a staggering jury verdict delivered against Greenpeace in North Dakota last year.
Now, as Greenpeace fights to contest the verdict while it simultaneously pursues claims against Energy Transfer in the Netherlands, the two parties remain locked in an unusual and bitter legal dispute that is proceeding on parallel tracks on both sides of the Atlantic.
A little over a year ago, on March 19, 2025, a North Dakota jury unanimously handed down a crushing damage award amounting to nearly $667 million against three Greenpeace entities—the U.S.-based Greenpeace Inc. and Greenpeace Fund, and the Netherlands-based Greenpeace International—over their alleged role in the Standing Rock protests against the controversial crude oil pipeline.
