November, 09 2022, 11:09am EDT
Climate Activists Demand End to Public Finance for Fossil Fuels at COP27
Activists speak out against harm caused by Japanese-financed fossil fuel projects at the COP27 summit
WASHINGTON
A global coalition of civil society groups organized a demonstration at the COP27 climate negotiations in Egypt on "Finance Day" to demand wealthy governments stop financing new fossil fuel projects and shift investments to renewable energy.
A recent report from Friends of the Earth U.S. and Oil Change International found Japan, South Korea, and China were among the top providers of international public finance for fossil fuels, with fossil support amounting to USD 24.6 billion during 2019-2022. The three East Asian countries also led the world in public finance for new gas infrastructure projects.
The Japanese government was also revealed as the world's top financier of fossil fuels, according to a new briefing from Oil Change International. Japan spent an average of USD 10.6 billion of public finance on fossil fuel projects per year between 2019 and 2021. Japan is also the world's largest financier of fossil gas and has been driving the expansion of gas across Asia and globally.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), accelerating investment in clean energy and efficiency -- not new fossil fuels -- is the answer to both the climate and energy security crises. The IEA's recent World Energy Outlook from October 2022 clearly states, "No one should imagine that Russia's invasion can justify a wave of new oil and gas infrastructure in a world that wants to reach net zero emissions by 2050."
Ayumi Fukakusa, Climate and Energy Campaigner at Friends of the Earth Japan, said:
"While we are witnessing the climate crisis intensifying day by day, Japan stands out as the world's largest financier of fossil fuels. This is worsening the climate and energy crises and destroying people's livelihoods.
"There is no time to waste. The Japanese government must shift its support towards clean and democratic energy systems now."
Lidy Nacpil, Coordinator of the Asian Peoples' Movement on Debt and Development, said:
"This year, G7 climate, energy, and environment ministers -- including Japan -- committed to end international public finance for fossil fuels and shift it to clean energy. Now, we are seeing these same countries walk back on their word.
"Top fossil fuel financiers like Japan, South Korea, and China are leading with false narratives that would lock Asia into more greenhouse gas emissions. We call on these countries to immediately stop supporting all forms of fossil fuels and instead contribute to the rapid, equitable, and just transition to renewable and democratic energy systems in Asia."
Krishna Ariola, Center for Energy, Ecology and Development, Philippines, said:
"The catastrophes suffered by the Philippines and other vulnerable peoples dictate the need for a rapid phaseout of fossil fuels. We are alarmed and appalled that countries whose people bear the brunt of the climate crisis are the ones still fueling coal, gas, and oil.
"In Southeast Asia and the Philippines, we have yet to break free from coal -- yet we are already being diverted towards fossil gas dependence. This comes at the cost of our survival and the environments we live in. Verde Island Passage, considered the 'Amazon of the Oceans' due to its biodiversity, is the hotspot of rapid, massive gas expansion in the Philippines. This is just one of the many ecosystems being destroyed by gas.
"These threats to our livelihoods would not be possible without finance. Fossil finance is taking away the possibility of a clean energy future. We call on financiers to stop public finance for fossil fuels now!"
Dipti Bhatnagar, Friends of the Earth International, said:
"One of the largest gas reserves found anywhere in the world in the last ten years is off the coast of Northern Mozambique, and the rich countries are all out to grab it. People who rely on the land and sea to survive have been dispossessed of their land and access to the sea. The gas grab has provoked an insurgency in Northern Mozambique that has created 1 million refugees out of 33 million people in the country. This is what gas is doing."
"We say no to the Global North financing fossil fuel disasters in our countries. We say yes to community-based renewable energy for people. Don't let Africa burn."
Jinny Kim, International Communications Officer at Solutions for Our Climate, said:
"South Korea is the world's third-largest public financier of overseas fossil fuels, along with other top financiers from Asia. And yet, it is missing from global commitments, such as the Glasgow statement, to phase out fossil fuels.
"At COP27 this year with the world gathered in the face of a climate emergency, we demand that the top Asian fossil fuel financiers stop funding fossil fuel expansion and transition their resources to accelerate a just renewable energy transition."
Oil Change International is a research, communications, and advocacy organization focused on exposing the true costs of fossil fuels and facilitating the ongoing transition to clean energy.
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Under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which opened the refuge for oil and gas drilling, the Biden administration announced the second of two lease sales, set to be held on January 9, 2025.
The first Trump administration held the initial lease sale in 2021, but with banks and insurance companies increasingly reticent to back drilling projects in the area, it generated little interest and led to less than 1% of the projected sale revenue.
Releasing its final record of decision, the Interior Department said Monday that 400,000 acres of wilderness in the refuge's 1.6-million-acre northwest Coastal Plain would be put up for bidding at a minimum price of $30 per acre—despite vocal opposition from the Gwich'in Nation and the Iñupiat Alaska Natives.
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Erik Grafe, an attorney at environmental law firm Earthjustice, said the group is "committed to going to court as often as necessary to defend the Arctic Refuge from oil drilling and will work toward a more sustainable future that does not depend on ever-expanding oil extraction."
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Defenders of Wildlife called on Congress to repeal the 2017 tax law's mandate for leasing sales in the "iconic American landscape" of the Arctic Refuge.
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The calls for Biden to issue pardons and commutations have only grown since the president issued a pardon for his son, clearing Hunter Biden of wrongdoing in any federal crimes he committed or may have committed in the last 11 years.
The joint letter to Biden was backed by over 130 organizations, including the ACLU, Brennan Center for Justice, and The Sentencing Project, commends his administration's "actions to repudiate capital punishment, including imposing a moratorium on executions for those sentenced to death, and for publicly calling for an end to the use of the death penalty during your 2020 campaign. In the face of a second Trump administration, more is necessary."
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A separate letter to Biden—sent in November by group of attorneys general, law enforcement officials, and others—argues that "condemning people to death by the state does not advance public safety. The death penalty fails as an effective deterrent and does not reduce crime. As an outdated, error-riddled, and racially-biased practice, its continued use—and the potential for its abuse—erodes public trust in the criminal legal system and undermines the legitimacy of the entire criminal legal system."
Matt Bruenig, president of the People's Policy Project think tank, directly tied Biden's inaction on this issue to the pardon he issued for his son in a blog post last week, writing that "if Biden does not act, there is little doubt that Trump will aggressively schedule executions in his next term. Their blood will primarily be on Trump's hands, but, if Biden does not act to prevent it, his hands will be bloody too."
The call for commutations for death row prisoners aligns with a wider push for the President to use his clemency powers before he leaves office.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), who has been particularly vocal on this issue, said Sunday on social media that President Biden "must use his clemency power to change lives for the better. And we have some ideas on who he can target: Folks in custody with unjustified sentencing disparities, the elderly and chronically ill, people on death row, women punished for crimes of their abusers, and more."
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