It was inspiring to see so many people on the streets this weekend demanding that polluters pay. Among other actions:
- Global Justice Nottingham staged a die-in outside branches of Barclays, HSBC and Santander – three major funders of fossil fuels – to highlight the polluting activities that are helping to drive these banks’ profits.
- High Peak Green New Deal took their message to Glossop High Street, before heading onwards to the BP petrol station. BP is single-handedly responsible for 2% of historic global CO2 emissions and raked in a whopping $28 billion in profits in 2022.
- Global Justice Reading took their beautiful hand-painted banners to their local Barclays branch. Barclays pumped nearly £160 billion into the fossil fuel industry from 2016-2022.
Protests like these show fossil fuel companies that we will not stand idly by while they profit from our destruction. They show our decision-makers what really matters to their constituents, and that people are willing to fight for it. And they spread a hopeful message that a fast and fair global transition away from fossil fuels is perfectly possible, if we’re willing to imagine a world where corporate power is not allowed to run rampant, and profiting from oil, coal and gas is not inevitable.
To everyone who took action for the Make Polluters Pay Action Day – whether in person or online—THANK YOU. Thank you for standing up for justice at a time when our politicians want us to think only of ourselves. Thank you for holding power to account. Thank you for fighting for a positive and hopeful vision of a just future.
What’s next for the campaign against polluting corporate giants?
The UK government has finally been forced to move on the climate-wrecking Energy Charter Treaty, saying it will review the UK’s membership. This is our biggest step forward yet in the campaign, but continued pressure from the public and local activists is vital in ensuring the government ultimately make the right decision. Go to our website to sign the petition to exit the ECT and order materials to help you spread the word.
In October, Fossil Free London is saying “oily money OUT”. Out of our politics. Out of COP28. Out of our lives and futures. They’re coordinating three days of movement building, followed by three days of direct action to block the Energy Intelligence Forum (recently renamed from the more fitting Oil and Money Conference.) To find out more or get involved sign up at www.oilymoneyout.uk.
Finally, we’re looking ahead to COP28, when the big question will be, now that we’ve established a loss and damage fund, who will pay into it? With COP falling quite late this year, the global day of action on climate justice will be on Saturday 9 December. We’ll share updates about what’s being planned as they emerge.
For help and advice on all three of these things, get in touch with [email protected].
For now, if you haven’t already signed the petition it’s not too late! We need to keep the pressure up until COP28, and make sure that filling the loss and damage fund is top of the agenda.
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