December, 12 2016, 10:30am EDT
Seattle Activists Target Wells Fargo Over Dakota Access Pipeline Funding
SEATTLE, Washington
Today 350 Seattle, Coalition of Anti-Racist Whites (CARW), Ndns for Justice, Seattle for Standing Rock and the 43rd District Democrats launch #DefundDAPL, a campaign to push Wells Fargo to remove its funding from the Dakota Access Pipeline. They will stage daily actions outside of the Wells Fargo Center, in downtown Seattle, between now and January 5th, when the group will be part of a day of mass account closures.
The Seattle campaign is part of a wider national push to target the investors of the DAPL, and is a response to a request from the Standing Rock Sioux to target the banks behind the project.
"Wells Fargo finances DAPL and the corporations behind the project to the tune of $467 million. The Dakota Access Pipeline is an abuse of indigenous rights, and a disaster for the climate," said 350 Seattle's Alec Connon.
The groups are also working in support of Councilmember Sawant's proposed legislation to close the City of Seattle's accounts with Wells Fargo. "Companies like Wells Fargo that invest in the Dakota Access Pipeline don't represent Seattle's values," said former Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn
"In Lakota, we call water mni wiconi, the literal translation being "it gives me life." Water, mni, is every being's first medicine. Know water, know life. No water, no life," said Matt Remle, member of the Lakota Nation who has worked on the proposed ordinance.
"It is important that we divest and let companies like ETP know that we will no longer be undermined by greed. We have the power to pull our money from banks that are harming Mother Earth, jeopardizing clean water & land, and treating the middle and lower class as if they don't matter. Divesting puts control back in our hands," said Rachel Heaton, mother of two and member of the Muckleshoot Nation
As well as having a daily presence at Wells Fargo Center, the #DefundDAPL Coalition have promised rolling actions at branches across the city, and a large presence at future City Council meetings to demand that the City switches its banking to a socially responsible bank--starting with today's City Council meeting, when Councilmember Sawant will introduce her socially responsible banking ordinance.
The campaign comes just after a number of states and cities have removed their business from Wells Fargo, as well as a recent City Council resolution and a letter from Mayor Murray to Standing Rock Chairman, David Archambault II, which expressed explicit support for the Standing Rock Sioux in their fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
350 is building a future that's just, prosperous, equitable and safe from the effects of the climate crisis. We're an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.
LATEST NEWS
'Army' of 470+ Carbon Capture Lobbyists in Attendance at COP28
"The force with which the fossil fuel industry and their allies are coming to Dubai to sell the idea that we can 'capture' or 'manage' their carbon pollution is a sign of their desperation," said one advocate.
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Leaders at the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai have claimed over the past week that the summit is centering issues that impact the Global South, but an analysis released Friday helped illustrate how difficult it's been for advocates from some of the most climate-impacted countries to make their case for far-reaching action—as the carbon capture and storage sector has far more representation at COP28 than many vulnerable nations.
The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) reported to The Guardian that at least 475 lobbyists representing carbon capture and storage (CCS) interests are attending COP28.
Many of the lobbyists represent companies that have developed CCS projects against the advice of climate and energy experts who say a phase-out of all fossil fuel emissions is needed to limit planetary heating to 1.5°C, or as close to it as possible.
More than 2,400 fossil fuel industry representatives are at the meeting, which is scheduled to end December 12. CCS has some of the most prominent representation at COP28, according to The Guardian.
"Thousands of fossil fuel lobbyists are roaming these halls alongside their peers, advancing dangerous distractions like carbon capture and storage... while communities enduring the greatest impacts from the climate crisis are having our voices silenced."
Representation for countries that are already facing climate catastrophes including prolonged drought, famine, and sea level rise has been dwarfed in comparison, with 366 people attending on behalf of Somalia, 79 representing Tonga, 56 representing the Solomon Islands, and just seven in attendance for Eritrea.
The CCS bloc also outnumbers Indigenous representatives by 50%, reported The Guardian.
"Thousands of fossil fuel lobbyists are roaming these halls alongside their peers, advancing dangerous distractions like carbon capture and storage, trying to block a fast, fair, forever fossil fuel phase-out—while communities enduring the greatest impacts from the climate crisis are having our voices silenced and our lives treated as a worthy sacrifice for profit," Blessed Chidhoni of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice told the outlet.
Lili Fuhr, director of CIEL's fossil economy program, said COP28 has invited more than 470 lobbyists to speak out in favor of "the fossil fuel industry's lifeline and... their latest excuse and delay tactic."
As Common Dreams reported this week, a recent draft of the Global Stocktake that delegates are working to finalize showed how powerful fossil fuel-producing countries are pushing for an agreement that would allow "abated" emissions—those that are "captured" by CCS technology and stored underground or beneath the seabed or "utilized" to make fertilizers and other products.
"The force with which the fossil fuel industry and their allies are coming to Dubai to sell the idea that we can 'capture' or 'manage' their carbon pollution is a sign of their desperation," said Fuhr. "We must not let an army of carbon capture lobbyists blow a gigantic loophole into the energy package here at COP28."
As Common Dreamsreported in May, energy-intensive carbon capture technology would increase energy consumption at fossil fuel-fired plants by 20% while also worsening environmental injustice by subjecting people in the surrounding area to increased levels of smog, benzene, and formaldehyde pollution.
Critics say CCS is far from a solution to the fossil-fueled planetary heating crisis, as policymakers at COP28 have proposed setting up infrastructure capable of capturing just 1.2 gigatonnes of carbon emissions—only 3% of global emissions in 2022.
"CCS is an unproven technology and a dangerous distraction, which enables big polluters to keep destroying communities and the environment," said Climate Action Network International.
In an analysis last month, CIEL noted that the U.S. "is the epicenter of the global push for CCS, with a long history of using captured carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery and extraordinary subsidies for carbon capture."
"The accelerating efforts to build ever more dangerous, unnecessary, and expensive infrastructure offshore should be abandoned, and subsidies for CCS should be eliminated," said Steven Feit, CIEL's senior attorney and legal and research manager.
One major U.S. CCS project, Petra Nova, shut down in 2020 after capturing 3.8 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions in its first three years. Developers had projected it would capture 4.6 million tons.
Another project in Western Australia—the largest carbon capture and utilization/storage endeavor in the world, missed its capture targets by about 50% in the first five years, and The Guardianreported this year that emissions have now risen by 50%.
"CCS's track record is riddled with failures and warning signs about the technology's feasibility and safety," said Nikki Reisch climate and energy program director for CIEL. "CCS is a false promise that only helps to keep fossil fuel facilities running and oil and gas fields pumping."
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Blueprint Offers Fossil Fuel Phaseout Solution: Nationalize Big Oil
"If we are to truly start phasing out fossil fuels," said a report co-author, "we must tackle the economic and political weight of the fossil fuel majors."
Dec 08, 2023
Over a week into the United Nations Climate Change Conference, a pair of groups on Friday unveiled a detailed report to argue that taking control of fossil fuel companies is necessary to accelerate the renewable energy transition—and explaining exactly how to do it.
"The climate crisis is accelerating right before our eyes," reads the blueprint from 350.org and the Multinationals Observatory. "If we wish to minimize the global rise in temperatures, not only do we need to stop exploiting new fossil fuel deposits but we also need to reduce gas and oil production by 5% and coal by 8% every year until 2050."
The report—titled TotalEnergies: This Is What a Total Phaseout Looks Like—explains that "after decades of denial and overt obstruction, big oil and gas multinationals like TotalEnergies are now choosing to adopt a more subtle, and seemingly more constructive, narrative on the climate question. They've claimed to whoever would listen (mostly successfully when it comes to political leaders) that although they were definitely part of the problem, they were also part of the solution, if not the solution itself."
"As the climate crisis rages on, it is urgent that we dare to imagine a world without fossil fuels—and this must start with thinking through how to concretely reclaim control over fossil fuel giants."
Clémence Dubois, 350.org's associate director of global campaigns and coordinator of the report, used the U.N. summit as an example, noting Friday that "a record number of close to 2,500 fossil fuel lobbyists, including CEO of TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanné, are at COP28 this year to push this version of the story."
Some world leaders have rejected Big Oil's claims—Christiana Figueres, former executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, said this summer that "what the industry is doing with its unprecedented profits... has changed my mind" about companies being part of the solution—but many others continue to buy into it.
Fossil fuel giants have "hugely monopolized the climate action narrative—aiming to neutralize and undermine the arguments—while also managing to secure a large share of the funding to finance the development of the technological and market 'solutions' they're pushing," the report says. "They've also bought up the smallest players in the renewable and energy transition sector and are occupying more space in climate-related policies at a global level, within or around the margins of U.N. conferences. With an oil boss as president of COP28, we are witnessing the culmination of this process."
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company CEO Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber has long been a controversial pick for COP28 president but has come under fire recently for allegedly using his role to pursue oil and gas deals and falsely declaring on Sunday that "there is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says that the phaseout of fossil fuel is what's going to achieve 1.5°C," a reference to the Paris agreement's more ambitious 2100 target.
Dubois asserted Friday that "as the climate crisis rages on, it is urgent that we dare to imagine a world without fossil fuels—and this must start with thinking through how to concretely reclaim control over fossil fuel giants that have become too harmful, and what that looks like."
Using TotalEnergies as a case study, the report stresses that the process "must be based on the following three foundations—a nonnegotiable, rapid exit from fossil fuels; the participation of TotalEnergies' employees to ensure a fair and inclusive transition (so no one is left behind); and finally, democratic conduct and supervision in conjunction with the scientific community, all affected stakeholders, and all citizens."
"Going down the route of regulation was often disappointing and ineffective," but "we could still consider pushing further down this road as a way of diverting the current trajectory of TotalEnergies, its partners, and those who fund its activities," the document notes. Doing so would involve serious climate, financial, and tax regulations; changes to lobbying policies and competition law; and price controls.
"Another complementary route to change would be to transform the company's strategic direction and governance from the inside, so that they reflect a wider set of interests and objectives that go beyond profitability and return on investment for shareholders, starting of course with a key goal of rectifying the climate crisis. This is what we could call TotalEnergies' democratization roadmap," the report details.
The publication then offers a third route—nationalization—stating that "there's no doubt that taking public control seems like the first crucial step in releasing TotalEnergies from the stranglehold of the financial markets, reducing its capacity for harm, and imposing a new trajectory to exit from fossil fuels in a transparent and democratic way."
Nationalizing the French multinational would require action from the nation's Parliament. The report points out that "this law could go beyond TotalEnergies to cover other French companies that own or exploit fossil fuel deposits and could include supplementary provisions to ban fossil fuel assets from being held as private property and forbid companies operating under French law from being involved in developing or exploiting new fossil fuel sources."
The document also acknowledges that national control "does not in itself guarantee democratic supervision and decisions that will lead the company in the 'right direction,'" especially "if the state itself is not democratic or does not have structures in place to democratically control and guide these public companies."
"Acquiring TotalEnergies is therefore only the first step," the document emphasizes, "and must be followed by at least two further steps—democratizing governance and operational management and, at least initially, transforming the company into a public, industrial, commercial institution with a clear mission to exit from fossil fuels."
"We cannot wait for fossil fuel companies to be willing to change by themselves."
The report also envisions a TotalEnergies takeover as part of a broader movement that could start at the European level and "then be gradually rolled out to private multinationals headquartered in North America and elsewhere to publicly owned oil companies, including some (like in Latin America) that have been public organizations with social objectives at different times in their history."
Report co-author and Multinationals Observatory co-founder Olivier Petitjean said Friday that "with this report, we want to open a debate on an idea which may seem radical but which is also, in a way, a truism: If we are to truly start phasing out fossil fuels, we must tackle the economic and political weight of the fossil fuel majors."
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Rights Advocates Say US Has 'No Justification' to Veto UN Cease-Fire Resolution
"Failure to act now, to enact a total cease-fire and end the siege, would be unforgivable," said the secretary-general of Médecins Sans Frontières International.
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Ahead of an expected vote Friday evening, human rights advocates said there would be "no justification" for the U.S. to block a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, where the humanitarian situation is becoming more grave by the hour as Israeli bombings and ground operations intensify.
The U.S.—one of five permanent Security Council members with veto power—has not explicitly threatened to veto the new resolution, which was put forth by the United Arab Emirates after U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday took the extraordinary step of invoking Article 99 of the U.N. Charter in an effort to spur the international body to action.
But Robert Wood, deputy U.S. ambassador to the U.N., toldReuters that the Biden administration doesn't support any additional Security Council resolutions on Gaza at this time.
A vote on the UAE-led measure is expected at around 5:30 pm ET on Friday, though some officials—including France's ambassador to the U.N.—have said the vote should be delayed.
"Every minute we wait, people are dying, the risks to global peace are multiplying."
Agnès Callamard, secretary-general of Amnesty International, said in a statement Thursday that the U.S. and other Security Council members "have a clear obligation under international law to prevent atrocities."
"There can be no justification for continuing to block meaningful action by the U.N. Security Council to stop massive civilian bloodshed, the complete collapse of the humanitarian system, and even worse horrors resulting from the breakdown of public order and massive displacement," said Callamard. "Moral clarity, global leadership, and the imperative duty to protect civilians must prevail with the immediate adoption of a cease-fire resolution."
"Every minute we wait, people are dying, the risks to global peace are multiplying," she added. "Selective application of international law must end. We simply don't have the time for procrastination, or political posturing."
Last month, the Security Council approved a resolution calling for "extended humanitarian pauses" in Gaza. The U.S., which is providing arms and political support for Israel's assault on the Palestinian territory, vetoed an earlier resolution, citing the absence of an explicit acknowledgment of Israel's right to defend itself. In October, the U.S. voted against a Russia-led resolution that called for a cease-fire.
U.N. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, but Israel—which is not a member of the body—regularly flouts them.
In addition to calling for an "immediate humanitarian cease-fire," the UAE resolution would reiterate the Security Council's "demand that all parties comply with their obligations under international law" and urge "the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, as well as ensuring humanitarian access."
Christopher Lockyear, secretary-general of Médecins Sans Frontières International, said in a statement Friday that "failure to act now, to enact a total cease-fire and end the siege, would be unforgivable."
Speaking to the council on Friday, Guterres said that Gazans are "looking into the abyss" and implored members of the body to "spare no effort to push for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire, for the protection of civilians, and for the urgent delivery of life-saving aid."
"This is vital for Israelis, Palestinians, and for international peace and security," he added. "The eyes of the world—and the eyes of history—are watching."
The council's Friday meeting comes as nearly two million displaced Gazans are struggling to survive amid Israel's escalating offensive in the southern part of the territory. Access to uncontaminated water is becoming a luxury, infectious diseases are spreading in overcrowded shelters, the hospitals still functioning are treating wounded patients with inadequate supplies, and mass starvation is looming.
Marta Valdes Garcia, Oxfam International's humanitarian director, said Thursday that "our political leaders are failing—in abject weakness—to forge a cease-fire, which is the only possible humanitarian action that now really matters."
"The systemic, militarized chaos has overwhelmed the international humanitarian system," she added. "Our governments don't even have the smokescreen of humanitarianism to hide behind now as Israel carries out its campaign of collective punishment."
In a statement on Friday, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, responsible for administering the United Nation's relief efforts inside the Gaza Strip, said his agency could not support its mission much longer if the Israeli assault is allowed to continue.
Citing a letter he sent to members of the U.N. General Assembly as well as the pending vote at the Security Council, Lazzarini said, "I urge all member states to take immediate actions to implement an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, enforce international law including the protection of civilians, U.N. staff, U.N. premises including shelters, medical facilities, and all civilian infrastructure and protect the prospects for a political solution vital to peace and stability and the rights for Palestinians, Israelis, the region and beyond."
"Calling for an end to the decimation of the lives of Palestinians in Gaza," he added, "is not a denial of the abhorrent attacks of 7 October in Israel. It is the opposite. It is a recognition of the equal rights of all people."
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