March 1, 2022

Activists Respond Globally to Climate Report with Actions and Events Targeting Fossil Fuel Finance

 

Photo and video content will be available from actions here from 28th February

GLOBAL – On Monday 28th of February the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a seminal report presenting the most comprehensive scientific overview to date of the climate impacts that communities around the world are suffering, due to the ongoing exploitation of fossil fuels.  

May Boeve, Executive Director of 350.org, said;
“This IPCC report proves the cause of the problem; fossil fuels did this. But there is also good news, we know precisely how to reclaim our futures from the fossil fuel industry: by pushing financial institutions to cut off funding, and closing the doors for Big Oil. Now is the time to support community-led solutions that are sprouting up the world over.”

The IPCC’s findings, signed off by 195 governments, will show that the most marginalized and vulnerable people are already being hit hardest by a range of devastating climate impacts from wildfires to flooding. In response, 350.org and climate activists around the world are taking action to reclaim their future by launching a series of offline and online actions to keep fossil fuels in the ground and build a sustainable future for all. 

Climate actions begin on Sunday 27th of February and run until the 25th of March with a global climate strike organized by Fridays for Future. These actions will include*:

  • Indonesia: campaigners will paint a mural outside of Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) with the message #FossilFuelsDidThis and images of climate impacts caused by BNI financing of Fossil Fuel projects
  • Africa: across many African countries activists will hold actions to highlight the need for urgency on adaptation and mitigation against climate change. Key targeted actions will include governments, financial institutions and the fossil fuel industry, and will call for a just transition away from fossil fuels.
  • Brazil: students and environmental activists will challenge the fossil fuel lobby by marching to demand climate action in the capital city of the state that is in the heart of the country’s coal extraction region.
  • Pacific: Pacific Climate Warriors are building “Solar TekPaks”, providing emergency energy to communities across the region.
  • Germany: climate activists will stage actions targeting Deutsche Bank, putting a spotlight on the bank’s financing of fossil fuel projects like the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, and ‘presenting’ the bank with the IPCC report.
  • France: there will be a march for Climate Justice with Ugandan campaigners targeting TotalEnergies and their support for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.
  • Canada: a Day of Action for a Just Transition Act will highlight the urgent need for this Act as first pledged by Justin Trudeau three years ago, to support workers as we accelerate the shift to away from fossil fuels.
  • United States: Online social media actions using hashtag #fossilfuelsdidthis. 
  • Online: 
    • Launch of the International People’s platform for Climate Justice (IPCJ) – a space to gather and highlight stories of resistance and people powered solutions in the face of climate impacts (soft launch coming soon).
    • Series of webinars to build and strengthen the movement targeting Deutsche Bank and its continued financing of destructive fossil fuel projects around the world, like the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.
    • Online actions to build power for the cross-regional climate coalition tackling TotalEnergies and its support for fossil fuel projects like fracking in Vaca Muerta (Argentina)  and the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.

Across the Globe 350.org is helping to build a movement to tackle dirty fossil fuel financiers like Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, Mitsubishi UFG, or Standard Chartered, that continue to fund projects like the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline and fracking in Vaca Muerta, Argentina. In the United States, activists are targeting the U.S Federal Reserve to account for climate risk.

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Notes to editors

* For information on these or more actions, or to sign up for the launch webinar of the International People’s platform for Climate Justice including speakers like Vanessa Nakate (Fridays for Future Uganda), Mitzi Jonelle Tan (Fridays for Future MAPA, YACAP), Luisa Neubauer (Fridays for Future Germany) and Asad Rehman (War on Want) please contact:
[email protected]

Media quotes

May Boeve, Executive Director of 350.org, (USA Pacific Time zone, GMT -8), said;
“This IPCC report proves the cause of the problem; fossil fuels did this. But there is also good news, we know precisely how to reclaim our futures from the fossil fuel industry: by pushing financial institutions to cut off funding, and closing the doors for Big Oil. Now is the time to support community-led solutions that are sprouting up the world over.”

Emily Southard, U.S. Campaigns and Mobilization Director at 350 U.S. said:
“Report after report from the world’s top scientists have shown us that we are careening to a point of no return. The U.S. government, our leaders, and our financial institutions must do their jobs and protect our communities. Undeniably the flashing answer is to phase out fossil fuels, which everyday drive us deeper into climate chaos. We need Congress to set aside partisan politics and take real action that prioritizes the millions of Americans, primarily low income, Black, brown, and Indigenous people, who are hardest hit and already feeling the first hand effects of continued inaction. We need fossil fuel executives and companies to pay for the damage that they have caused to people and the planet. With the political will, we have a window of opportunity to turn things around, prioritize a just transition, create millions of new jobs in renewable energy, as well as prioritize community-led mitigation and adaptation efforts.” 

Landry Ninteretse, Africa Regional Director at 350Africa.org said:
“Fossil fuels continue to drive the climate crisis, leading to widespread devastation in vulnerable regions such as Africa where extreme and frequent weather events are being regularly experienced. The IPCC report calls for urgent action to meet mitigation and development goals. This means developed nations need to not only fulfill their promise of drastically reducing their emissions, and also commit finances towards adaptation, but also clean energy transition, technology transfer and mitigation in the Global South.”

Joseph Sikulu, Pacific Regional Managing Director at 350.org said:
“The severe climate impacts outlined by the IPCC report are a lived reality for the Pacific, this is not new to us. We continue to build solutions and resilience to these impacts through innovation, leadership at high-level climate negotiations, and centuries of indigenous knowledge. But the burden shouldn’t have to fall on us. It is time for those most responsible for the climate crisis to redirect the flow of money out of fossil fuels and into just and community-led solutions.”

Tine Langkamp, Senior Germany Organiser at 350.org said:
“This IPCC report is yet another stark reminder of the increasing scale and intensity of climate impacts hitting home today. In response, activists around the world are coming together to say: ‘we refuse to give up hope – we are fighting to end fossil finance around the world to tackle the climate crisis’. Our governments, investors and banks continue to pour billions into destructive fossil fuel projects like the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline, and we are building a movement to cut this flow of finance that is fuelling climate chaos.”

 

Nick Bryer, Head of Campaigns in Europe at 350.org said:
“The latest IPCC report is a stark reminder of the harmfulness and injustice of our economic system, and an indictment of the governments and financial regulators that have failed to get a grip on it. The fossil fuel industry and their financial backers are profiting from climate breakdown, environmental destruction and human rights abuses around the world. While they get ever richer, the rest of us – especially marginalised communities and those on the frontlines of fossil fuel extraction and climate impacts – are left to fix the mess they’ve created and pay the price.”

Media Library

URL: https://350org.widencollective.com/c/wvvj4vha

Information for uploading to the media library can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aOKMEF6CVEBnvePCQfkB4_p7YZEY1jOO0DBENIaScvE/edit#

 

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