September, 11 2023, 01:06pm EDT
400+ Actions to End Fossil Fuels Planned Around the World
Millions are expected to take to the streets to demand a rapid, just, and equitable end to fossil fuels.
With less than one week to go, the Global Fight to End Fossil Fuels has registered over 400 actions, marches, rallies, and events around the world. These mobilisations against fossil fuels are coordinated by more than 780 endorsing organizations, and are expected to draw millions of participants between 15-17 September.
The actions are part of a mass global escalation demanding a rapid end to fossil fuels in a just and equitable manner ahead of the UN Climate Ambition Summit on September 20 in New York. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called on world leaders to make ambitious commitments to phase out fossil fuels.
This historic global mobilisation renews and reinforces the coordinated efforts focused on ending the era of fossil fuels. The scale of this mobilisation and the urgency of the moment underscore the devastating impacts of recent record-breaking heat, deadly floods, and increased extreme weather events. The mobilisations are expected to draw millions of people and put a spotlight on world leaders who continue to expand oil, gas, and coal. The campaign calls for renewed commitments for a rapid, just, and equitable phase out from fossil fuels and a move towards sustainable renewables. UN Secretary-General António Guterres and millions of people around the globe are putting pressure on world leaders to phase out fossil fuels and oppose the fossil fuel industry, which profits from the oppression of millions.
The science is clear: the world needs a rapid and just transition to an efficient, fair, and universal energy system based on clean energy sources, and produced with respect for nature and the sovereign rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities. The latest data backs up the International Energy Agency finding that no new fossil fuel extraction can be developed under a 1.5°C limit, and shows that over half of existing fields and mines be shut down early while protecting workers and communities. The responsibility lies with the leaders of rich nations with a historical legacy of pollution to deliver a fast and fair phase out of fossil fuels and fund it globally.
Tasneem Essop, Executive Director, Climate Action Network, said:
"July 2023 was the hottest month in recorded climate history. The unparalleled, deadly climate disasters sweeping the world seem to leave polluters unfazed. Historical emitters like Norway, the UK and the USA are announcing new fossil fuel projects even as floods, fires and heatwaves take over our lives. We take inspiration from recent victories in the Yasuni region with the referendum to stop oil drilling. When we the people use our collective power we can win. Let our resistance against fossil fuels in September send a loud message to the fossil fuel industry and their supporters that their time is up."
Catherine Abreu Founder & Executive Director Destination Zero, Co-chair, Global Gas and Oil Network (GGON) International Policy working group, said:
“Deny, delay, deceive: the desperate tactics used by desperate men to cover up the truth of climate change, crush government action, and convince us to lay the blame for the devastation we're facing somewhere other than where it belongs - squarely at the feet of the fossil fuel industry. The march to end fossil fuels, alongside the UN Secretary General's powerful Acceleration Agenda, is ringing an alarm that will wake the world. International consensus that we need a just and equitable phase-out of all fossil fuels is clearer than ever. It's time our climate treaties name the cause of the crisis - COP28 can and must deliver an agreement to rapidly shift to efficient, safe, renewable energy.”
Lidy Nacpil, Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development, member organisation of Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice, said:
"The world must pursue a rapid, equitable and just phase out of fossil fuels and directly transition to renewable energy. No false solutions, no loopholes, no detours through so called bridge fuels. The world can not afford any delays to reaching real zero emissions by 2050. An equitable and just phase out requires the full delivery of climate finance obligations of wealthy countries to the Global South. They must pay reparations for their responsibility for the climate crisis. The biggest emitters have been failing to meet their fair shares of climate actions, including their climate finance obligations. Fossil fuel corporations are expanding rather than phasing out. Governments and corporations are committing the gravest injustices to people all over the world, especially the Global South."
Additional quotes from global and national/local leaders
Highlighted events:
Asia:
Pakistan: More than three thousand people are expected to join the Pakistan Climate March organized with the Asian People's Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD) and Hari Jedojehad Committee (Peasant’s Struggle Committee). The march will be held in the southern province of Sindh and seeks to highlight the losses and damages from last year’s catastrophic flooding. A quarter of Sindh’s population of about 50 million were affected by the floods and parts of Sindh remain under water to this day.
Farooq Tariq, Secretary General of Kissan Rabita Committee (PKRC), said:
“We demand a phaseout of fossil fuels now. The fossil fuel industry and its supporters bear responsibility for the climate crisis and perpetuate a predatory and destructive economic system that harms both people and the planet. We call upon developed countries, the big emitters, to fulfill the $10 billion they promised to Pakistan immediately and to pay reparations for the loss and damage,” said Tariq.
APMDD is also organizing a climate march in the Philippines with Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ), multisectoral coalition Sanlakas, Oriang Women’s Movement, union of agricultural workers Aniban ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (AMA) and militant labor unions federation Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP). More than three thousand are expected to join the march, which will be held in Manila, near the Malacañang Palace, the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the Philippines.
Africa:
Abuja, Nigeria: As a part of the ongoing Fossil Free Nigeria and a Fossil Free World Campaign in Nigeria, Fridays for Future Nigeria and Climate Live Nigeria will march in the Federal Capital territory of Nigeria (Abuja), the seat of the Federal Government of Nigeria. Around 100, 000 participants are expected. For more information, visit the Fridays For Future Nigeria Instagram.
Kingsley Odogwu, National Coordinator & Country Rep. Fridays For Future Nigeria & Climate Live Nigeria, said:
“What we need now is a major structural shift in our energy system. In the past this would have included the shifts from biomass to coal and then to oil. Today’s transition is primarily driven by the need to manage climate change and decarbonise our fossil-based economies with sustainable sources of energy, such as wind and solar. Every sector that generates, transports, or consumes energy will be impacted.
“To meet the 1.5C global warming target set after the Paris Agreement and avoid the worst climate impacts, global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will first need to drop by half by 2030, then reach net-zero around mid-century. Therefore, a transition needs to happen fast and A Fossil Fuel non-proliferation treaty is the beginning of that transition that every Country should embrace now.”
Europe:
Germany: Around 200 climate strikes, marches, and rallies have been registered in Germany alone with civil society, ForFuture groups, NGOs, religious groups, and the public service labor unions. Additional actions are planned against a new LNG terminal in Rügen (Baltic Sea) by Ende Gelände, Sept 22-24, and GreenFaith Germany. Numerous climate action will also take place on September 16 in Bonn, host city of the UN Climate Secretariat, including at the SDG festival, BeFuture Festival (for constructive journalism), and through public climate artivism. Earlier this month, Scientists4Future issued a statement, signed by more than 400 scientists, calling on German politicians to set partisanship aside to address the climate crisis.
Sandra Prüfer from Parents For Future Germany, said:
“We, as parents, cannot remain silent as the fossil fuel industry robs our children of a livable future. Yet the fossil fuel juggernaut continues on like a runaway train with our children’s futures on the track. This is why we joined the growing call on governments to negotiate and implement a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. A clear, global plan to phase out fossil fuels is the first part of a better story for all children.”
Latin America:
Yasuní National Park, Ecuador: Declared a “biosphere reserve” by UNESCO, Yasuní National Park is one of the most biodiverse places on earth. In a popular consultation in August, Ecuadorians decided to stop oil drilling within Yasuní National Park. Yasunidos, the collective which pushed for the referendum a decade, is remaining vigilant for the result to be enforced. On September 15th, groups are organizing an event and press conference to launch a monitoring commission to enforce compliance of the decision.
Yvonne Yanez, co-founder of Acción Ecológica, said:
“On August 20, Ecuadorians voted to keep oil in the ground in Ecuadorian Amazonia. This is a declaration from the people that we want to be a post oil economy. This is a great victory, but we haven't won yet, because oil companies and Government don't want to adhere to the vote. What the Yasuni movement gives us is an opportunity. An opportunity to really consider what ecojustice, and a just transition really looks like, and to demand for that future. We need to be alert, be inspired but be active and not let this victory be stripped away. Be #FastFairForever and Furious. Ending the extraction of fossil fuels is essential. Ecuador's popular decision is an example to the world that with will it is possible to move towards oil-free communities.”
North America:
New York, New York: The March to End Fossil Fuels mobilization will be on September 17 in New York City. Groups including the NAACP, Sierra Club, and Sunrise Movement have signed on to support the march and its demands for President Biden to take bold action on fossil fuels in the wake of a deadly, record-breaking summer of extreme heat and climate disasters. In addition to the 500 groups supporting the march, nationally recognized leaders including Sen. Ed Markey, Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Jamaal Bowman, Tennessee State Rep. Justin Pearson, Jane Fonda, Naomi Klein, Mark Ruffalo, and Bill McKibben are backing the march. More than 10,000 people from across the country are expected to attend.
Jean Su, Energy Justice Director at the Center for Biological Diversity, Board Chair of Climate Action Network International, and co-coordinator of the NYC March to End Fossil Fuels, said:
“The hottest summer on record is galvanizing people across the globe like never before to cry out for lifesaving climate action. Biden and world leaders need to answer those cries by ending the era of fossil fuels. As leader of the world’s largest oil and gas producer and the greatest historic climate polluter, Biden has power like no one else to lead the world off the fossil fuels poisoning our planet and communities. It’s time he starts using them to become the climate leader we need.”
An interactive map of all events is available here.
Notes:
- Additional quotes from global and national/local leaders
- For a full list of endorsers click here 780+) Endorsing groups include:International groups: 350.org, Climate Action Network, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative. Friends of the Earth. Greenpeace, Oil Change International, Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice, XR, and many more!
- National and local groups across the globe, including: Cayman Eco (Cayman Island), ClimateFast (Canada), Farmers Action Committee Shikarpur Sindh Pakistan (Pakistan), For a Better Bayou (US), Fundación Esfera Azul Colombia (Colombia), Movimiento Ciudadano frente al Cambio Climatico (Peru), Rinascimento Green (Italy), Tanzania Wote Equality Alliance - TAWEA (Tanzania), Unis Pour Le Climat et l, Biodiversité (France), Voice of The Vulnerable (Nigeria), and many more!
- An interactive map of all events is available here.
- Additional highlights include: A meditation action protesting at Barclays investment in fossil fuels organized by Extinction Rebellion Budhists in London, UK; Art4climate: A raising awareness workshop in organized by GreenSociety, an Environmental Arts Festival in Cali, Colombia; End fossil finance student march in Bujumburi, Burundi; a candlelight vigil in British Columbia, Canada and Canada is Burning! Action organized by a senior climate group along students and labor leaders in Ottawa, Canada; Student speakout against fossil fuels, in Melbourne, Australia; Students against Eacop will deliver a petition to the Parliament of Uganda against investment into the East African crude Oil pipeline and all fossil fuel projects in the country in Kampala, Uganda; and many more.
- Webinar recording. The coalition recently hosted a webinar, Power Up to #EndFossilFuels #FastFairForever, with the following speakers.
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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Supreme Court Urged to 'Rule Quickly' After Trump Immunity Arguments
"It'd be a travesty for justices to delay matters further," said one legal expert.
Apr 25, 2024
After about three hours of oral arguments Thursday on former President Donald Trump's immunity claims, legal experts and democracy defenders urged the U.S. Supreme Court to rule swiftly, with just over six months until the November election.
Trump—the presumptive Republican candidate to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden, despite his 88 felony charges in four ongoing criminal cases—is arguing that presidential immunity should protect him from federal charges for trying to overturn his 2020 loss to Biden, which culminated in the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Justices across the ideological spectrum didn't seem inclined to support Trump's broad immunity claims—which critics have said "reflect a misreading of constitutional text and history as well as this court's precedent." However, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) shared examples of what it would mean if they did.
"Trump could sell pardons, ambassadorships, and other official benefits to his wealthy donors, members of his clubs, or cronies who helped him commit other crimes," CREW warned. "Trump could sell nuclear codes and government secrets to help pay back crippling debts."
"But this isn't just about what Donald Trump could do. It's really about how total immunity for the president would threaten our democratic system of checks and balances," the group continued. "The president could order the military to assassinate activists, political opponents, members of Congress, or even Supreme Court justices, so long as he claimed it related to some official act."
After warning that a president could also order the occupation or closure of the Capitol or high court to prevent actions against him, CREW concluded that "the Supreme Court never should have taken this appeal up in the first place. They should rule quickly and shut these ludicrous claims down for good."
The organization was far from alone in demanding a quick decision from the nation's highest court.
"In the name of accountability, the court must not delay its decision," the Brennan Center for Justice said Thursday evening. "The Supreme Court's time is up. It needs to let the prosecution move forward. The court decided Bush v. Gore in three days—it should act with similar alacrity in deciding Trump v. U.S."
In Bush v. Gore, the case that decided the 2000 election, the high court issued a related stay on December 9, heard oral arguments on December 11, and issued a final decision on December 12.
On Thursday, the arguments "got away from the central question: Is a former president immune from criminal prosecution if he tried to overthrow a presidential election, using private means and the power of his office to do so?" the Brennan Center noted. "The answer is simple: No."
"It is not an 'official act' to try to overthrow the peaceful transfer of power or the Constitution, even if you conspire with other government officials to do it or use the Oval Office phone," the center said. "Trump's attorney was pushing the court to come up with a sea change in the law. That's unnecessary and a delay tactic that will hurt the pursuit of justice in this case."
In a departure from previous claims, Trump's attorney, D. John Sauer, "appeared to agree with Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the prosecution, that there are some allegations in the indictment that do not involve 'official acts' of the president," NBC Newsreported, noting questions from liberal Justice Elena Kagan and conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee.
Barrett summarized various allegations from the indictment and in three cases—involving dishonest election claims, false allegations of fraud, and fake electors—Sauer conceded that Trump's alleged conduct sounded private, suggesting that a more narrow case against the ex-president that excluded any potential official acts could proceed.
Due to Trump attorney's concessions in Supreme Court oral argument, there's now a very clear path for DOJ's case to go forward.\n\nIt'd be a travesty for Justices to delay matters further.\n\nJustice Amy Coney Barrett got Trump attorney to concede core allegations are private acts.\u2b07\ufe0f— (@)
According to NBC:
Matthew Seligman, a lawyer and a fellow at the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School who filed a brief backing prosecutors, said Sauer's concessions highlight that Trump is "not immune for the vast majority of the conduct alleged in the indictment."
Ultimately, he said, the case will go to trial "absent some external intervention—like Trump ordering [the Justice Department] to drop the charges" after having won the election.
At the same time, Sauer's backtracking might have little consequence from an electoral perspective. Further delay in a trial, which Sauer is close to achieving, is a form of victory in itself.
Slate's Mark Joseph Stern pointed out that when Barrett similarly questioned Michael Dreeben, the U.S. Department of Justice lawyer arguing the case for Smith, it seemed like they "were trying to work out some compromise wherein the trial court could distinguish between official and unofficial acts, then instruct the jury not to impose criminal liability on the former."
"It was fascinating to watch Barrett nodding along as Dreeben pitched a compromise that would largely preserve Smith's January 6 prosecution but limit what the jury could hear, or at least consider," Stern added. "That, though, would take months to suss out in the trial court. More delays!"
Stern and other experts signaled that the decision likely comes down to Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts, with the three liberals seemingly supporting the prosecution of Trump and the other four conservatives suggesting it is unconstitutional.
People for the American Way president Svante Myrick said in a statement that "today's argument brought both good and bad news. It was chilling to hear Donald Trump's lawyer say that staging a military coup could be considered part of a president's official duties."
"Thankfully, the majority of the court, including conservative justices, did not seem to buy that very broad Trump argument that a former president is absolutely immune from prosecution under any circumstances," Myrick added. "On the other hand, it's not clear that there is a majority on this court that will quickly reject the immunity arguments and let the case go forward in time for a trial before the election. That's a huge concern."
Trump was not at the Supreme Court on Thursday; he was at his trial in New York, where he faces 34 counts for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments to cover up sex scandals during the 2016 election cycle. The are two other cases: a federal one for mishandling classified material and another in Georgia for interfering with the last presidential contest.
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'Just the Beginning': 50+ Arrested for Blockading Citigroup Bank Over Climate Crimes
"Through people-powered resistance, we can give money a conscience and stop Citi's destruction of our planet," said one Indigenous campaigner.
Apr 25, 2024
Twenty more demonstrators were arrested Thursday, the second day of Earth Week protests targeting Citigroup's Manhattan headquarters in what organizers called "the beginning of a wave of direct actions to take place over the summer targeting big banks for creating climate chaos that is killing our communities and our planet."
Protest organizers—who include Climate Defenders, New York Communities for Change, Planet over Profit, and Stop the Money Pipeline—said 53 activists were arrested over two days of demonstrations, which included blocking the entrance to Citigroup's headquarters, to "demand that the bank stop funding fossil fuels."
Organizers said this week's demonstrations "were just the beginning" of what they're calling a "Summer of Heat" targeting big banks for their role in the climate emergency and for "polluting our land, air, and water, and threatening the health of children, families, and our planet." Citigroup is the world's second-largest fossil fuel financier.
"We're holding Citi accountable for financing dirty fossil fuels from Canada to Latin America and beyond," said Chief Na'moks of the Wet'suwet'en Nation, one of several Indigenous leaders who took part in the action. "Through people-powered resistance, we can give money a conscience and stop Citi's destruction of our planet."
Jonathan Westin, executive director of Climate Defenders, asserted that "Citigroup's racist funding of oil, coal, and gas is creating climate chaos that's devastating communities of color across the country."
"We're taking action to tell Citi that we won't put up with their environmental racism for one more day," Westin continued. "Our communities have reached the boiling point. Our children have asthma, our city's sky was orange, and our air polluted because of the climate crisis caused by Citi and Wall Street."
"We're going to keep organizing and taking direct action until Citi listens to us," he vowed.
Stop the Money Pipeline co-director Alec Connon said: "To have any chance of reigning in the climate crisis, we must stop investing in fossil fuel expansion. Yet, Citibank is pumping billions of dollars into new coal, oil, and gas projects."
"We're here to make it clear: If they're going to fund the companies disrupting our climate and our lives, we're going to disrupt their business," Connon added.
Activists have repeatedly targeted Citigroup in recent years as the megabank has pumped more than $300 billion into fossil fuel investments around the world since the Paris climate agreement.
According to the protest organizers:
Citi has provided $668 million in funding to Formosa Plastics between 2001-2021, which is trying to build a $9.4 billion plastics facility in a majority Black community in the heart of Cancer Alley in Louisiana.
Citigroup is also one of the biggest funders of state-run oil and gas companies in the Amazon basin, pumping in over $40 billion between 2016-2020, and a major backer of Petroperú, which has been involved in oil spills and Indigenous rights violations.
"From wildfires, heatwaves, and floods to deadly air pollution and mass drought, Citi's fossil fuel financing is killing us," said Alice Hu of New York Communities for Change. "We've sent polite petitions and had pleading meetings with bank representatives, but Citi refuses to stop pouring billions each year into coal, oil, and gas."
"That's why we're fighting for our lives now with the best tool we have left: mass, nonviolent disruptive civil disobedience," Hu added.
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No Outside Probe, US Reiterates as Gazans Reportedly Buried Alive in Mass Grave
"How does it ever make sense that the United States asks the accused party to examine itself?" asked one incredulous reporter.
Apr 25, 2024
A Biden administration spokesperson once again brushed off calls for an independent investigation into how hundreds of Palestinians found in mass graves near Gaza hospitals died when asked Thursday about new reports that many of the victims were tortured, summarily executed—and in some cases, buried alive by Israeli invaders.
During a Thursday U.S. State Department press conference in Washington, D.C., a reporter noted Gaza officials' claim that mass grave victims "including children were tortured before being killed" and that "some even showed signs of being buried alive, along with other crimes against humanity."
"What's wrong with an independent, scientific, forensic investigation?"
Noting calls by Palestinian officials and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk for an independent probe into mass graves, the reporter said that "this administration repeatedly said that it asks... the Israeli government to investigate itself."
"How does it ever make sense that the United States asks the accused party to examine itself and provide reports that you have previously said that you actually trust?" the reporter asked State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel. "What's wrong with an independent, scientific, forensic investigation?"
Patel replied: "We continue to find these reports incredibly troubling. And that's why yesterday you saw the national security adviser for this to be thoroughly investigated."
While National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Wednesday called reports of mass grave atrocities "deeply disturbing" and said that "we want answers" from Israel, he did not call for an independent investigation.
When the reporter pressed Patel on the legitimacy of asking Israel to investigate itself, Patel said, "we believe that through a thorough investigation we can get some additional answers."
Thursday's exchange followed a similar back-and-forth on Tuesday between Patel and Said Arikat, a journalist for the Jerusalem-based
Palestinian news outlet al-Quds who asked about the mass graves.
At least 392 bodies—including numerous women and children—have been found in mass graves outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, where Palestinian Civil Defense and other workers have been exhuming victims for nearly a week. Officials believe there are as many as 700 bodies in three separate mass graves.
Based on more recent exhumations, local Civil Defense chief Yamen Abu Sulaiman said during a Wednesday press conference that "we believe that the occupation buried alive at least 20 people at the Nasser Medical Complex."
"There are cases of field execution of some patients while undergoing surgeries and wearing surgical gowns," he stated, adding that some victims showed signs of torture and 10 bodies had medical tubes attached to them.
Gaza Civil Defense official Mohammed Mughier told reporters that "we need forensic examination" to definitively determine the causes of death for the 20 people believed to have been buried alive.
Previous reporting on the mass graves quoted rescue workers who said they found people who were apparently executed while their hands were bound, with some victims missing heads, skin, and internal organs.
Other mass graves have been found in Gaza, most notably on the grounds of al-Shifa Hospital, where Israeli forces last month committed what the Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor called "one of the largest massacres in Palestinian history."
It's also not the first time there have been reports of Israeli troops burying victims alive during the current war, in which Palestinian and international officials say Israeli forces have killed or wounded more than 122,000 Gazans, including at least 11,000 people who are missing and feared dead. Israeli forces attacking Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia last December reportedly bulldozed and buried alive dozens of injured patients and displaced people.
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