["Around the world, people are uniting to wrest power and
resources away from reckless fossil fuel companies," said one
campaigner. "The window to act is short—but there is still time to
create enormous positive changes." ]
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CLIMATE GROUPS ANNOUNCE GLOBAL DAYS OF ACTION TO ‘PROPEL RENEWABLE
ENERGY REVOLUTION FORWARD’  
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Kenny Stancil
July 31, 2023
Common Dreams
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_ "Around the world, people are uniting to wrest power and resources
away from reckless fossil fuel companies," said one campaigner. "The
window to act is short—but there is still time to create enormous
positive changes." _

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The climate justice group 350.org
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upcoming global days of action—November 3 and 4—aimed at
accelerating the worldwide transition to clean energy.

"On every continent, in big cities and on small islands, we'll take
action to show that a global renewable energy revolution is within our
reach," says a new website where people can sign up
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partners are calling Power Up. "We'll spotlight the oil industry's
greed and reclaim the money and power to fund a just future powered by
the sun and the wind."

"We are taking to the streets because we are outraged," the website
states. "But also because we are hopeful and determined to use our
anger and our hope to resist—and to build a better future for
ourselves and our planet."

The announcement comes just days after fossil fuel
corporations reported
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quarter of massive profits and affirmed their plans to expand drilling
even as the planet burns. Big Oil has known
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decades that extracting and refining petroleum causes life-threatening
greenhouse gas pollution, but the heavily subsidized
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continues to undermine
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in an effort to protect its bottom line.

"This intolerable state of affairs must change, and it must change
now," 350.org executive director May Boeve said in a statement.
"Around the world, people are uniting to wrest power and resources
away from reckless fossil fuel companies to propel the global
renewable energy revolution forward."

"We stand at a pivotal moment, as the undeniable impacts of the
climate crisis are ravaging our world," said Boeve. "The window to act
is short—but there is still time to create enormous positive
changes."

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres made a similar
point last week. After surveying some of the deadly extreme weather
disasters—from heatwaves
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rains [[link removed]]—that
have unfolded
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the world this July, which has already been deemed the hottest month
in recorded history to date, the U.N. chief said
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"it is still possible to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C and
avoid the very worst of climate change but only with dramatic,
immediate climate action."

"We have seen some progress—a robust rollout of renewables and some
positive steps from sectors such as shipping—but none of this is
going far enough or fast enough," Guterres added. "Accelerating
temperatures demand accelerated action."

According to 350.org:

* Every dollar invested in clean energy generates nearly three times
as many jobs compared to investment in fossil fuel projects.
* Just four oil giants—Exxon, Shell, Total, and
Chevron—collectively earned a staggering $33.2 billion in profit in
the first quarter of 2023 alone. The same amount of money could fully
electrify an estimated 55 million rural households without energy and
grid access.
* The excessive profits made by the West's five largest oil and gas
companies totaled $134 billion in 2022. These exorbitant profits, made
at the expense of ordinary households, underscore the urgent need for
global energy justice and a transition to renewable energy.

"The rapid heating of our planet isn't a natural phenomenon. It's a
crime committed by a wealthy few for their own profit," says the Power
Up website. "While we suffer, fossil fuel CEOs grow richer and richer.
For decades they've been blocking climate action to protect their
obscene wealth. But they're not untouchable."

"The solution is clear: Taking money from where it currently is—the
obscene profits of the fossil fuel industry—and shifting it toward
renewable energy systems rooted in justice," the website reads. "But
taking the money of the fossil fuel industry is not enough: We want to
put them out of the way. We need our governments to explore every
possible means of action to stop Big Oil from dictating our energy
future."

The upcoming days of action are scheduled for November 3 and 4 because
that's when fossil fuel companies are expected to announce their
third-quarter profits. Later that month, policymakers from around the
world are set to gather in the United Arab Emirates for the U.N.'s
COP28 climate conference.

350.org and its partners are "driven by the conviction that we have
the tools, technology, and resources to enable a fast and just
transition to renewable energy systems—they just need to be moved in
the right direction."

"The profits the fossil fuels industry makes by digging, burning, and
polluting could be used to power hundreds of millions of households
worldwide with solar and wind energy," the groups insist. "It could
insulate homes, keep the lights on in hospitals and schools, ensure
stable access to clean electricity everywhere, lift people from
poverty, and protect all of us from the worst impacts of the climate
crisis."

Organizers have two simple demands:

* PAY UP—MAKE FOSSIL FUELS COMPANIES PAY THE BILL: We must reclaim
fossil fuel companies' illegitimate profits. To start with, our
governments should impose taxes on their unjust profits [and]
eliminate subsidies, investments, and loans to coal, oil, and gas
companies. And instead, they should fund and support renewable energy
initiatives rooted in justice.
* POWER UP—UNLEASH THE MONEY TO FUND RENEWABLE ENERGIES:
Governments must redirect financial resources toward renewable
energies through all the financial mechanisms possible, on local,
national, and global levels. These resources should align with the
scale and urgency of the climate crisis and ensure a globally
equitable distribution of funds.

"Across the globe, people are already leading the way toward a clean,
just, [and] renewable world, using solutions to the climate crisis as
tools of resistance against the toxic fossil fuels industry—showing
that another world is possible," the groups point out.

"Wind and solar are producing record amounts of clean electricity year
after year, and getting cheaper every day," they continue. "We have
all the tools, resources, and technology needed to make the energy
transition happen. The only thing missing is the political will to put
the good of people and the planet above the profits of the oil
industry."

_Kenny Stancil is a staff writer for Common Dreams._

* Global warming
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* Environmental Protests
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* 350.org
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