February 25, 2022

ACTIVISTS RESPOND TO CLIMATE REPORT WITH ACTIONS TARGETING FOSSIL FUEL FINANCE

Please note that we are currently in ongoing discussions with activists in Europe to determine whether or not actions in the region will go ahead given the unfolding invasion of Ukraine. At present actions are going ahead as planned.

Photo and video content will be available from actions here from 28th February

Europe – On Monday 28th of February the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will release a seminal report presenting the most comprehensive scientific overview to date of the climate impacts communities around the world are suffering due to the ongoing exploitation of fossil fuels.

Tine Langkamp, Senior Organiser in Germany at 350.org said, “this IPCC report is yet another stark reminder of the increasing scale and intensity of climate impacts hitting home today. In response, activists around the world are coming together to say: ‘we refuse to give up hope – we are fighting to end fossil finance around the world to tackle the climate crisis’. Our governments, investors and banks continue to pour billions into destructive fossil fuel projects like the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline, and we are building a movement to cut this flow of finance that is fuelling climate chaos.”

The IPCC’s findings, signed off by 195 governments, will show that the most marginalised and vulnerable people are already being hit hardest by a range of devastating climate impacts from wildfires to flooding. In response, climate activists around the world are launching a series of offline and online actions to keep fossil fuels in the ground and build a sustainable future for all.

Actions will begin on Sunday 27th of February and run until the 25th of March with a global climate strike organised by Fridays for Future. These actions will include*:

  • Germany: climate activists will stage actions targeting Deutsche Bank, putting a spotlight on the bank’s financing of fossil fuel projects like the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, and ‘presenting’ the bank with drafts of the IPCC report.
  • France: there will be a march for Climate Justice with participation from Ugandan campaigners targeting Total and their support for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.
  • Africa: across many African countries activists will hold actions to highlight the need for urgent action on adaptation and mitigation against climate change. Key targets for the actions calling for a just transition away from fossil fuels will include governments, financial institutions and the fossil fuel industry.
  • Brazil: students and environmental activists will challenge the fossil fuel lobby by marching to demand climate action in the capital city of the state that is in the heart of the country’s coal extraction region.
  • Pacific: Pacific Climate Warriors are building “Solar TekPaks”, providing emergency energy to communities across the region.
  • Online: 
    • Launch of the International People’s platform for Climate Justice (IPCJ) – a space to gather and highlight stories of resistance and people powered solutions in the face of climate impacts (launching 2nd of March).
    • Series of webinars to build and strengthen the movement targeting Deutsche Bank and its continued financing of destructive fossil fuel projects around the world, like the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.
    • Online actions to build power for the cross-regional climate coalition tackling Total and its support for fossil fuel projects like fracking in Vaca Muerta and the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.
    • Online actions to amplify and build power for the Green New Deal Rising in the UK.

Across Europe 350.org is helping to build a movement to tackle dirty financiers like Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas and Standard Chartered that continue to fund projects like the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline and fracking in Vaca Muerta, Argentina.

Nick Bryer, Head of Campaigns in Europe at 350.org said, “the latest IPCC report is a stark reminder of the harmfulness and injustice of our economic system, and an indictment of the governments and financial regulators that have failed to get a grip on it. The fossil fuel industry and their financial backers are profiting from climate breakdown, environmental destruction and human rights abuses around the world. While they get ever richer, the rest of us – especially marginalised communities and those on the frontlines of fossil fuel extraction and climate impacts – are left to fix the mess they’ve created and pay the price.”

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Notes to editors

* For information on these or more actions, or to sign up for the launch webinar of the International People’s platform for Climate Justice including speakers like Vanessa Nakate (Fridays for Future Uganda), Mitzi Jonelle Tan (Fridays for Future MAPA, YACAP), Luisa Neubauer (Fridays for Future Germany) and Asad Rehman (War on Want) please contact [email protected].

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