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Harris Urged to 'Absolutely Go After Trump for Being in the Pocket of Big Oil'
"Trump cozying up with the industry is wildly unpopular," asserted climate campaigner Jamie Henn.
Sep 10, 2024
Noting former U.S. President Donald Trump's coziness with the fossil fuel industry and the fact that an overwhelming majority of voters want politicians to tackle its greed, one prominent climate campaigner urged Vice President Kamala Harris—the Democratic nominee—to highlight her Republican opponent's Big Oil ties during Tuesday night's debate.
"Harris should absolutely go after Trump for being in the pocket of Big Oil," Fossil Free Media director Jamie Henn said on social media, adding that "89% of Americans want politicians to crack down on Big Oil price gouging."
In a
separate post, Henn urged ABC News, which is hosting the first—and likely only—2024 presidential debate, to ask the candidates about the climate emergency.
"Ninety-nine percent of Americans have experienced some form of extreme weather this year," he wrote. "If ABC News doesn't ask about the climate crisis this evening, it's journalistic malpractice."
On Tuesday, a trio of Democratic U.S. lawmakers called on fossil fuel executives to comply with a request for "information regarding quid pro quo solicitations" from former U.S. President Donald Trump, who earlier this year promised to gut climate regulations if they donated $1 billion to his Republican presidential campaign.
Climate campaigners have been warning of the dangers of a second term for Trump, who during his previous administration rolled back regulations protecting the climate, environment, and biodiversity, resulting in increased pollution and
premature deaths and fueling catastrophic planetary heating.
"If a Trump administration was merely going to be a four-year interregnum, it would be annoying. But in fact it comes at precisely the moment when we need, desperately,
acceleration," 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben wrote in a Guardian opinion article last week.
"The world's climate scientists have done their best to set out a timetable: Cut emissions in half by 2030 or see the possibilities of anything like the Paris pathway, holding temperature increases to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels, disappear," he continued. "That cut is on the bleeding edge of the technically possible, but only if everyone is acting in good faith. And the next presidential term will end in January of 2029, which is 11 months before 2030."
"If we elect Donald Trump, we may feel the effects not for years, and not for a generation," McKibben added. "We may read our mistake in the geological record a million years hence. This one really counts."
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Thousands Evacuated Amid Northern California Wildfire and Heatwave
"It cannot be stressed enough that this is an exceptionally dangerous and lethal situation," the National Weather Service warned.
Jul 03, 2024
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday declared a state of emergency in a northern county where a major wildfire has burned thousands of acres and forced the evacuation of thousands of residents amid near-record heat throughout much of the Golden State fueled by human-caused global heating.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) said shortly after noon local time Wednesday that the Thompson Fire, which began Tuesday morning in Butte County, had burned 3,568 acres with no containment in and around the city of Oroville, home to more than 20,000 people.
Citing an "imminent threat to life," Newsom, a Democrat, issued an emergency declaration and said that "we are using every available tool to tackle this fire and will continue to work closely with our local and federal partners to support impacted communities."
CAL FIRE said that more than 1,400 firefighters using 199 engines, 46 dozers, eight helicopters, and other equipment are battling the blaze. More than 28,000 Oroville area residents have been evacuated.
Red flag conditions are being exacerbated by low humidity and near-record temperatures throughout California. Oroville is expected to hit a high of 110°F on Wednesday, with daytime highs forecast to remain in the 110s through the holiday weekend. Dozens of daily, monthly, and all-time records could be broken throughout the state.
"It cannot be stressed enough that this is an exceptionally dangerous and lethal situation," the National Weather Service's (NWS) San Francisco Bay Area branch cautioned as it extended the red flag warning through Friday while preparing the public for the possibility of further extensions.
Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, said during a video briefing, "I'm not so sure that really any of us will have seen this many days at this sustained level of heat, both daytime and most importantly nighttime heat."
Commenting on the wildfire and heatwave, Fossil Free Media director Jamie Henn said on social media that "we need the California Legislature to pass their climate superfund bill NOW to #MakePollutersPay for these fossil-fueled disasters."
Introduced in April by California state Sen. Caroline Menjivar (D-20) but shelved the following month, S.B. 1497—the Polluters Pay Climate Cost Recovery Act—would require major fossil fuel producers to pay for their historic carbon emissions.
The NWS said that as of Wednesday, more than 110 million people across the United States were facing either a heat advisory, watch, or warning. So far, 2024 has been the hottest year on record. Climate Central, a nonprofit news organization focusing on the worsening planetary emergency, said climate change has made the current California heatwave at least five times likelier.
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UN Chief Calls for Global Ban on Fossil Fuel Advertising
"There is no longer any cover for agencies to say that they are doing the right thing when working with polluters," said one campaigner. "Everyone knows this is wrong, and everyone needs to act."
Jun 05, 2024
Despite the grim news that scientists on Wednesday reported last month as the hottest May on record globally, marking 12 straight months with record-breaking heat, climate advocates expressed optimism after United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres signaled what one called a "game-changing intervention," urging governments to ban advertisements by fossil fuel firms.
The demand is in line with prohibitions on advertising for other "products that harm human health—like tobacco," said Guterres.
"Some are now doing the same with fossil fuels," he added. "I urge every country to ban advertising from fossil fuel companies."
The secretary-general directly appealed to advertising and public relations companies and urged them to stop helping the fossil fuel industry in its quest to "shamelessly" greenwash their climate records and the harm their products do to the planet as well as to human health, with 1 in 5 deaths worldwide caused by air pollution.
"I call on these companies to stop acting as enablers to planetary destruction. Stop taking on new fossil fuel clients, from today, and set out plans to drop your existing ones," said Guterres. "Fossil fuels are not only poisoning our planet—they're toxic for your brand. Your sector is full of creative minds who are already mobilizing around this cause. They are gravitating towards companies that are fighting for our planet—not trashing it."
The secretary-general's comments called to mind the work of Clean Creatives, a project of Fossil Free Media, which calls on public relations, branding, and advertising agencies to sign a pledge stating that they will no longer work with the fossil fuel industry. More than 1,000 agencies have signed the pledge.
"U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres deserves recognition for saying so clearly that advertising and PR agencies should be cutting ties with fossil fuel polluters," said Duncan Meisel, executive director of Clean Creatives. "This is a turning point in the advertising and PR industry's relationship with climate change and fossil fuels. There is no longer any cover for agencies to say that they are doing the right thing when working with polluters. Everyone knows this is wrong, and everyone needs to act.
"We are living through the hottest years in human history, and Secretary Guterres' statements today show what a safe climate future could look like for the creative and PR industry," said Meisel.
The Global Strategic Communications Council pointed to several examples of high-profile advertisements that have promoted the notion that fossil fuel energy is not endangering the planet and that the industry is committed to protecting the planet from catastrophic heating. The American Petroleum Institute launched an eight-figure ad blitz earlier this year, aiming to "dismantle policy threats," and in April, energy company Aramco was announced as a sponsor of the 2026 men's World Cup and the 2027 women's World Cup.
"Fossil money is everywhere making the ambitious action on climate that the science says we need difficult or impossible—social scientists have shown this pattern—it's ubiquitous and it's devastating," said Timmons Roberts, executive director of the Climate Social Science Network. "The 'enablers' are a key part of this blockage—PR firms, social and legacy media, consultancies, law firms, and financial actors all play roles in the obstruction of our building a livable future, which soon has to be without fossil fuels.”
Guterres said that in addition to bans on fossil fuel advertising—which have been embraced in France and the Dutch city of Amsterdam, and proposed in Canada, Ireland, and Scotland—news media and tech companies should stop displaying the industry's ads.
"All of us can make a difference, by embracing clean technologies, phasing down fossil fuels in our own lives, and using our power as citizens to push for systemic change," said Guterres.
Jake Dubbins, co-chair of the Conscious Advertising Network, called the secretary-general's speech "a huge signal to the advertising industry."
"As the misinformation tactics of the tobacco industry and the threat of its products to human health became clear, advertising was restricted and then banned," said Dubbins. "The same will happen for fossil fuel advertising. The industry should see this as a tipping point, but one of opportunity."
"Will the industry fully embrace the opportunities of the transition and secure a livable future or will it risk the maintenance of the status quo at the cost to its people, its non-fossil fuel clients, and its reputation?" he said. "The time to lead is now."
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Most US Voters Agree: Make Big Oil Pay for Climate Damage
"Voters resoundingly endorse fossil fuel companies contributing their fair share to address a crisis they helped manufacture and still refuse to help fix," said one campaigner.
Dec 12, 2023
As yet another United Nations Climate Change Conference winds down without a meaningful agreement on phasing out fossil fuels, polling released Tuesday by Data for Progress revealed strong bipartisan support among U.S. voters for legislation forcing oil and gas companies to pay for their role in fueling the planetary emergency.
The survey of 1,279 U.S. voters, conducted November 3-6, found that around two-thirds of all likely voters support such legislation, a +40-point net margin. Among Democrats, support for the proposed bill is 88%, while 61% of Independent and 46% of Republicans either strongly or somewhat back the proposal.
"In a resounding call for accountability, two-thirds of the American people support legislation demanding industry titans like Exxon and Shell shoulder their fair share of the climate damages inflicted by fossil fuels."
Asked if they were more or less likely to support elected officials who prioritize making Big Oil pay for its climate pollution, 64% of overall respondents, 89% of Democrats, and 58% of Independents answered "more likely." Republicans were the only group whose members were less likely to back officials who would make oil and gas companies pay for their pollution.
"In a resounding call for accountability, two-thirds of the American people support legislation demanding industry titans like Exxon and Shell shoulder their fair share of the climate damages inflicted by fossil fuels," Fossil Free Media communications director Cassidy DiPaola said in a statement.
"With COP spotlighting the towering price tag of climate change, voters resoundingly endorse fossil fuel companies contributing their fair share to address a crisis they helped manufacture and still refuse to help fix," she added, referencing the U.N. summit.
The poll follows the September launch of the "Make Polluters Pay" campaign, a public relations blitz meant to drum up public support for suing fossil fuel corporations—which knew that their products caused climate change decades before publicly saying so.
That month, California joined dozens of states and municipalities that have targeted fossil fuel giants in court, suing five fossil fuel giants—ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, and Chevron—over their decadeslong effort to deceive the public about their products' role in fueling global heating.
The new survey's findings also came as so-called "loss and damage"—the harm caused by anthropogenic climate change—features prominently at COP28. However, climate campaigners were once again disappointed as the United States and other top polluters failed to make meaningful contributions to the fund.
The rich nations most responsible for the climate catastrophe pledged just $700 million between them, the equivalent of under 0.2% of the irreversible losses Global South countries suffer each year during the worsening planetary crisis. The United States pledged a paltry $17.5 million.
"Every year, we travel across oceans to come to these negotiations and we continue to get only drops of ambition," Drue Slatter, a Fijian climate campaigner attending COP28, wrote in an opinion piece published Tuesday by Common Dreams.
"Facing the catastrophic effects of extreme weather at home and watching the slow progress of the negotiations, it was hard not to be pessimistic before we even arrived at COP28," Slatter added. "But the point is that we can't afford not to be here, we can't afford to stop fighting because what's at stake is our very survival."
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FTC Probing 'Blockbuster' Exxon-Pioneer Merger
"The FTC is right to investigate Exxon's acquisition of Pioneer, which could raise prices at the pump and is aimed at keeping the U.S. reliant on fossil fuels," said one campaigner.
Dec 05, 2023
Amid outrage from climate campaigners and senators, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is investigating fossil fuel giant ExxonMobil's proposed takeover of Pioneer Natural Resources, a regulatory filing revealed Tuesday.
Pioneer disclosed the FTC's request for more information about the pending merger, which Exxon announced in October.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement Tuesday: "Last month, I and 22 other senators urged the FTC to investigate Exxon's $60 billion proposed blockbuster merger with Pioneer. And today—they heeded my warning."
"Americans care a great deal about gas prices," Schumer stressed, "and if this merger were to go through it would most certainly raise gas prices for families across the country."
"This merger has all the hallmarks of harmful, anticompetitive effects. The FTC is right to investigate this merger to see if it would lead to higher gas prices or less competition," he added. "I look forward to following this investigation closely, and will encourage the FTC to block the deal if they find any antitrust laws are being violated."
Alex Witt of Climate Power, an advocacy group founded by the Center for American Progress (CAP) Action Fund, League of Conservation Voters, and Sierra Club, also welcomed the FTC's inquiry in comments to The Associated Press.
"Exxon publicly promised to reduce emissions, yet subsequently spent $60 billion acquiring another fossil fuel company—doubling down on their commitment to oil and gas and putting profits over people," Witt said. "The FTC is right to investigate Exxon's acquisition of Pioneer, which could raise prices at the pump and is aimed at keeping the U.S. reliant on fossil fuels."
A CAP report highlighted Tuesday that in hopes of continuing to profit off of the destruction of the planet, the fossil fuel industry is "undermining democratic functions to stem the tide of climate action" around the world.
That report and the heightened scrutiny of the possible merger come during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), where attendees are considering scientists' warnings that fossil fuels must be rapidly phased out to prevent more devastating global heating.
"This deal shows that Exxon is doubling down on fossil fuels and has no intention of moving towards clean energy," Jamie Henn, director of Fossil Free Media argued earlier this year. "Even after the hottest summer on record, Exxon is hellbent on driving the thermostat even higher."
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200,000+ Urge DOE to 'Do the Right Thing' and Block LNG Buildout
One project in particular, the CP2 export terminal, "would be the most harmful facility built in the United States," one frontline activist said as campaigners delivered petition signatures.
Nov 30, 2023
Climate and environmental justice campaigners on Thursday delivered more than 200,000 petition signatures calling on the Biden administration to reject the Calcasieu Pass 2, or CP2, liquefied natural gas export facility as well as all other planned LNG infrastructure.
Environmental advocates and progressive lawmakers have been increasingly raising the alarm about CP2 and the broader expansion in LNG exports, pointing out that they put both the U.S. climate goals and frontline Gulf Coast communities at risk. CP2, for example, would emit 20 times as many greenhouse gases as the controversial Willow oil drilling project in Alaska.
"CP2, the proposed liquefied natural gas project that is proposed to come right in my backyard, where me and my children live, would be the most harmful facility built in the United States," Roishetta Ozane, founder and director of the Louisiana-based mutual aid organization Vessel Project, said in front of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
The petition, circulated by Fossil Free Media, urged President Joe Biden and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to halt all new approvals for LNG export projects until the DOE changes how it determines whether such projects serve the public interest.
"It is critical that DOE assess the climate, environmental justice, and consumer impacts when determining whether exports are in the public interest, especially as the agency considers its current pipeline of nearly 20 LNG export projects under review," the petition reads in part.
It first argues that exporting LNG will hurt U.S. energy customers, since exporting the fuel would raise domestic prices. Second, it points to a Sierra Club analysis finding that existing and proposed LNG export facilities would have the same impact on the climate over their lifetimes as 675 coal plants.
"We are already overburdened and overflowing with fossil fuel extractive industry."
"Every time the United States approves a new LNG facility, that is giving us 30 more years of pollution," Ozane said Thursday. "How are we going to meet our climate goals? We are contributing to this climate catastrophe that we are in."
The petition also points out that CP2 and other LNG export facilities would only increase the local pollution burden on communities in the Gulf Coast already disproportionately impacted by the oil, gas, and petrochemical activities. Frontline activists have highlighted that Venture Global, the company behind CP2, has a history of environmental violations. Its Calcasieu Pass terminal, after which CP2 would be modeled, violated its air permit more than 2,000 times during its first year of operations.
During the petition delivery, Ozane said that she has to call her children inside every time that gas or smoke flares from one of the 12 petrochemical facilities in her vicinity, adding that she was "afraid of the air that they are breathing."
"We are already overburdened and overflowing with fossil fuel extractive industry," Ozane said. "We don't need any more."
After delivering the signatures to the DOE, the activists then presented them at the headquarters of Venture Global.
Ozane noted that the petition delivery comes as world leaders gather for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in the United Arab Emirates. Ozane said that she would attend the conference next week to let the delegates know that the U.S. was not keeping its climate promises as it plans to expand LNG exports.
350.org and Third Act co-founder Bill McKibben, who publicized the fight against the LNG buildout in a September New Yorker article, has noted that, while climate accounting rules don't count a country's fossil fuel exports as part of its total emissions, they still contribute to the climate crisis.
"If this buildout continues, and if you counted the emissions from this gas against America's totals, it would mean that American greenhouse gas emissions would not have budged since 2005," McKibben wrote on his Substack.
But climate activists like McKibben and Ozane are hoping that the Biden administration will heed their warnings and stop the LNG expansion.
"With the agency's pending decision on the CP2 export application, in particular, the stakes could not be higher," the petition concludes. "Please do the right thing and stop approving these projects that hurt our climate, communities, and economy."
McKibben celebrated Thursday's action on social media.
"200,000 signatures is nothing to sneeze at," he tweeted, "and my sense is this fight is just going to grow!"
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Big Oil's Big Lies Are Catching Up With Them
The American public believes fossil fuel companies should pay for their deceit. Our job is to make sure they do.
Nov 17, 2023
For decades, the fossil fuel industry has misled the public about the climate impacts of its products. Internal documents prove companies like Exxon knew since the 1970s that burning oil and gas drives catastrophic global warming. Yet rather than warn society, they denied the science and obstructed climate action at every turn.
This corporate deception continues today, but the public is catching on in a big way. New polling from Data for Progress reveals 70% of Americans support making Big Oil pay for the climate damages their products have caused. With climate disasters growing in frequency and severity, people are fed up footing the bill for Big Oil's greed.
Such greed should disgust us all. But outrage alone achieves nothing.
Critically, the American public believes Big Oil should pay for their lies. The new polling reveals that 77% of Americans agree that if oil and gas companies misled the public about climate impacts, they should help cover resulting climate costs. This consensus crosses political divisions. Agreement spans 91% of Democrats, 75% of Independents, and 63% of Republicans—an exceptionally high level of bipartisan agreement.
The poll also shows a sharp rise in support for making polluters pay over time. Similar polls in 2021 and 2019 found roughly 60% and 57% of Americans backed accountability, respectively. In just a few short years, support for accountability has jumped nearly 20 percentage points. Now near three-quarters of Americans are in agreement around the belief that Big Oil should pay for the harms it sowed through decades of deception.
The costs of warming are no longer abstract statistics. They can be seen in the devastation of communities across America. In 2021 alone, extreme weather fueled by climate change inflicted over $165 billion in damages nationwide. Floods, wildfires and storms killed hundreds and displaced countless more. Low income and minority communities suffered most, abandoned by the very corporations who caused this crisis.
At the same time these climate impacts accelerate, the fossil fuel industry is raking in massive profits. Just last quarter, Chevron pocketed $11.2 billion and Exxon secured $19.7 billion. Rather than invest in renewables or pay for the harms they've caused, they’re doubling down on fossil fuels, scooping up sister-companies and stoking fears of monopolization in the public and leadership alike.
New lawsuits are seeking damages for Big Oil's climate deception, and they’re gaining traction.
By misleading the public on climate science for so long, the industry secured decades of unchecked emissions to swell its bottom line. But now, the deadly consequences of its lies are coming to bear. Record heat, drought and near-weekly hurricanes make clear we rapidly must transition from fossil fuels to avert utter climate catastrophe.
Such greed should disgust us all. But outrage alone achieves nothing. Accountability for Big Oil is long overdue – it’s time to Make Them Pay. Politicians for too long have enabled and protected these polluting companies. But new lawsuits are seeking damages for Big Oil's climate deception, and they’re gaining traction. As you read this, 1/4 of Americans are now represented in lawsuits against Big Oil for climate damages and fraud, with California becoming the latest and largest state to file suit.
The public correctly realizes these corporations should pay for the crisis they knowingly fueled. Our leaders must stand up to polluters and enact policies to rein in their abuses. A future free from fossil fuels is possible, and we now have the political will to make it happen.
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"A Disturbing Symbol of Big Oil's Intentions": Chevron Buys Up Rival Producer
"These Big Oil Frankensteins are a direct threat to our climate, democracy, and economy," said one climate campaigner.
Oct 23, 2023
Chevron said Monday that it has reached a deal to acquire rival oil producer Hess Corporation for $53 billion in stock, the second major fossil fuel merger announced this month following a record-hot September.
Chevron is currently the second-largest oil and gas producer in the United States, and the Hess purchase is expected to boost the company's output by 10% overall. Chevron said in a statement that its drilling operations in the Permian Basin, a massive carbon bomb in the U.S. Southwest, will benefit from the acquisition.
Bloomberg noted that the acquisition will give "Chevron a significant foothold in Guyana, the South American country that is one of the world's newest oil producers."
Chevron made the merger deal public less than two weeks after ExxonMobil, the largest fossil fuel giant in the U.S., agreed to acquire the fracking giant Pioneer Natural Resources for nearly $60 billion in stock. Both Exxon and Chevron posted record profits last year.
"These Big Oil Frankensteins are a direct threat to our climate, democracy, and economy," Jamie Henn, director of Fossil Free Media, wrote in a social media post on Monday.
"The industry is consolidating power to drill as much as possible and stop all climate progress," Henn added, urging Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan to "intervene."
"Our leaders must stand up to these polluting industries, halt all new fossil fuel projects, and implement policies that phase out dangerous fossil fuels for good."
Cassidy DiPaola, campaign manager for Fossil Free Media, warned in a statement that Chevron's deal to purchase Hess is "yet another concerning sign that the fossil fuel industry has no intention of slowing down, despite increasingly dire warnings from climate scientists."
"Much like Exxon's massive acquisition earlier this month, Chevron is betting billions on the belief that it can continue drilling and burning fuels unchecked, even as the climate crisis worsens," said DiPaola. "This deal is a clear indication that the industry expects it still has the political power to keep the world hooked, pumping oil and gas with abandon while the planet burns."
"Our leaders must stand up to these polluting industries, halt all new fossil fuel projects, and implement policies that phase out dangerous fossil fuels for good," DiPaola continued. "The Chevron-Hess deal is a disturbing symbol of Big Oil's intentions, but it does not have to be our future."
Chevron and Exxon's merger efforts come on the heels of the hottest summer on record, scorching conditions fueled by the continued extraction and burning of oil and gas.
Both companies are currently facing lawsuits from counties and states across the U.S. for misleading the public about their contributions to the climate crisis.
Last month, the state of California sued Exxon, Chevron, and three other fossil fuel giants for taking part in a "multidecade, ongoing campaign to seek endless profits at the expense of our planet."
Chevron CEO Mike Wirth insisted in an interview with the Financial Times last month that "we are not selling a product that is evil."
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New 'Make Polluters Pay' Campaign Pushes States—and Biden DOJ—to Sue Big Oil
"It's time to come together and finally hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for the damage they've done."
Sep 17, 2023
Shortly after California sued five fossil fuel giants over their decades of climate deception and damage, activists on Saturday announced the launch of a new campaign aimed at pressuring the Biden Justice Department and state attorneys general across the U.S. to join the growing legal fight against Big Oil.
The "Make Polluters Pay" campaign is set to formally kick off Monday with a billboard display in Times Square and a six-figure digital ad buy designed to build public support for lawsuits against leading oil and gas firms, which knew about the link between their products and climate change long before they publicly acknowledged it.
"Climate change isn't just a tragedy, it's a crime," said Jamie Henn, founder of Fossil Free Media, one of the groups behind the new campaign. "Fossil fuel companies knew, they lied, and now it's time to make them pay. Right now, billions of us around the world are experiencing the impacts of the climate crisis firsthand. It's time to come together and finally hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for the damage they've done."
Dozens of U.S. counties, cities, and states have sued fossil fuel companies in recent years over the destruction wreaked by oil, gas, and coal projects, which remain a dire threat to global efforts to limit planetary warming and prevent the kinds of catastrophic weather events the world has seen in recent months from becoming even more intense and deadly.
On Friday, California became the largest economy in the world to take legal action against the fossil fuel industry, suing ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, and the American Petroleum Institute for engaging in a "multidecade, ongoing campaign to seek endless profits at the expense of our planet."
The new pressure campaign, modeled after the national effort to inform the public about the threat of tobacco, hopes to push other states—and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland—to follow in California's footsteps.
"Knowingly wrecking the climate is criminal," Leah Qusba of Action for the Climate Emergency (ACE) said in a statement. "Make no mistake—they will pay for losses and damages."
The campaign is set to launch ahead of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres' Climate Ambition Summit on Wednesday.
The summit, billed as a "no-nonsense" effort to generate more aggressive action plans to phase out planet-warming energy, will be preceded by hundreds mass demonstrations across the globe imploring U.S. President Joe Biden and other world leaders to "end fossil fuels."
The protests will culminate in the "March to End Fossil Fuels" in New York City on Sunday afternoon.
"Big Oil owes us for the lives and livelihoods lost to climate change-linked extreme weather, illness, and death," said Alex Witt, the senior adviser for oil and gas at Climate Power. "The industry's C-suite has known for decades the horrific impact oil and gas have on the climate, and they kept drilling. That's not just negligent; it's reprehensible."
"The tide has turned against Big Oil," Witt added, "and they know it."
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US Billboard Campaign Blasts Fossil Fuel Giants for Causing Extreme Heat
"From Alaska to Maui, our communities are struggling to survive the rapidly worsening impacts of the climate crisis, all the while, Big Oil is raking in billions at our expense."
Aug 24, 2023
As about 111 million people in nearly two dozen states continued to face heat advisories, with temperatures reaching as high at 115°F in some cities, the nonprofit media lab Fossil Free Media unveiled a multicity campaign with one simple goal: ensuring that all Americans understand that the intense heatwaves across much of the country this summer have not been a natural phenomenon, but the result of continued fossil fuel extraction.
Starting Thursday drivers along stretches of highway in Phoenix, Arizona; Austin, Texas; and Fresno, California will pass by prominent billboards displaying a map of record-breaking temperatures that have been recorded across the U.S. this summer.
Fresno drivers will be reminded of a 109°F day in their city while those in Phoenix will see 117°F plastered over their hometown on the map, accompanied by the words, "Brought to you by Big Oil" and ThankYouBigOil.com.
That website redirects to Fossil Free Media's (FFM) Stop the Oil Profiteering (STOP) project, where visitors can read about the estimated cost of climate-related disasters such as hurricanes, extreme heat, and wildfires—over $600 billion from 2016-20 alone—and the 5,000 people killed by such events in that same time period.
"The fossil fuel industry has known for decades that their products are fueling climate change and extreme weather, yet they have failed to act," reads the website. "Instead, major oil and gas companies continue to invest billions into new projects that lock in decades more fossil fuel extraction while our communities take the heat… literally."
Jamie Henn, director of the organization, said on social media that the public "needs to understand that this summer's brutal heatwave was brought to you by Big Oil."
The World Weather Attribution said last month that the heatwaves experienced by people across the U.S. and Europe in July would have been "virtually impossible" without the climate crisis, which scientists have for years said is being fueled by heat-trapping emissions from oil, gas, and coal extraction.
The organization also reported this week that wildfires in eastern Canada in recent weeks were made twice as likely by the climate emergency, which as STOP said, has created "tinderbox conditions" by making droughts longer and more intense.
"From Alaska to Maui, our communities are struggling to survive the rapidly worsening impacts of the climate crisis, all the while, Big Oil is raking in billions at our expense," said Cassidy DiPaola, spokesperson for FFM and STOP. "There's no denying that this summer's brutal heatwaves are being fueled by the same Big Oil companies who are spreading climate disinformation and blocking much needed climate progress."
More than 100 people in the U.S. have died of heat-related causes so far this year, and weather experts have continued to report high temperatures throughout August after July set a world record for the hottest month in recorded history.
Jennifer Falcon, a resident of Austin, told FFM that the climate crisis has emerged as an economic justice issue in her community as Texas broke its all-time record for power consumption last month, with people across the state struggling to stay cool.
"Texans are paying 800% more to cool their homes during the extreme heat that blankets our state," she said. "This means choosing between food on the table or cooling your home to mitigate health impacts from the sweltering heat while Big Oil profits."
As millions of people in the U.S. faced sweltering temperatures this summer—raising the risk of heat-related illness and even severe contact burns—ExxonMobil reported $7.9 billion in profits, its second-highest profit margin for a second quarter in over a decade.
Along with the billboards, STOP unveiled an ad showcasing the Big Oil's link to the climate extremes Americans are increasingly at risk of facing.
"Record heatwaves? You can thank Big Oil for that," said STOP. "Deadly wildfires? Yep, that's Big Oil. Catastrophic storms? Smog-covered cities? You guessed it—Big Oil."
The group is one of several scheduled to lead a March to End Fossil Fuels in New York City on September 17, with the rally being held as the United Nations holds a Climate Ambition Summit.
Aimed at pressuring U.S. President Joe Biden to declare a climate emergency, Fossil Free Media said the march is expected to be "the largest climate action since before the pandemic."
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