Press release: 600 thousand people around the world call for a fast and fair exit from fossil fuels: more than 700 actions in 65 countries
Mass, coordinated mobilisation demands a rapid, just, and equitable end to fossil fuels.
Leer el comunicado en español / Lire le communiqué en français
17 September 2023 - From September 15-17, people on every continent marched, rallied and took action for an end to the era of fossil fuels devastating our climate and worsening inequality.
From Pacific nations, heavily affected by sea level rise and storms, through Mumbai to Manila, London to Nairobi, over 700 actions took place in more than 65 countries, as well as Antarctica and the North Pole, culminating in a march in New York City on September 17th, in support of the UN Secretary General António Guterres’s call for nations to make ambitious commitments to phase out fossil fuels at the upcoming Climate Ambition Summit [1].
More than 3800 organizations endorsed the demands of the marches, which drew over 600 thousand participants around the world [2].
The Global Fight to End Fossil Fuels calls for nations to renew and enhance their commitments for a rapid, just, and equitable phaseout from fossil fuels in favor of sustainable renewables. The campaign opposes the fossil fuel industry, which has made obscene profits at the expense of the world’s people, biodiversity and a safe and liveable climate. It calls on governments and companies to immediately end fossil fuel expansion and subsidies.
The global movement for a safe and liveable climate is more diverse and united than ever before, underscoring the urgency of this historic moment and the havoc wrought by record-breaking heat, massive wildfires, deadly floods, and increased extreme weather events. The scientific consensus holds that we cannot postpone a rapid and equitable transition to sustainable renewable energy sources and must end our dependence on fossil fuels. Any new fossil fuel extraction is incompatible with global commitments to limit warming to under 1.5°C.
The global mobilisation reiterated the demand for climate justice: nations with a historical legacy of pollution must lead the implementation of a fast and fair phase out of fossil fuels and fund it globally. An equitable transition must respect nature and the sovereign rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
—
Notes:
[1]Please find the global map
[2] Includes organizations endorsing the Global Fight to End Fossil Fuels and the NYC March to End Fossil Fuels, as well as the Friday’s for Future Germany events. Please note there are many more organizations involved, who may have not officially signed on at the time of publication.
Photo and video assets drive
Live feed of posts (including photo and video) from the #EndFossilFuels and #FastFairForever hashtags
Tasneem Essop, Executive Director, Climate Action NetworK:
“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."
Lidy Nacpil, Coordinator, Asian Peoples' Movement On Debt And Development:
"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."
Catherine Abreu ,Founder & Executive Director Destination Zero, Co-chair, Global Gas and Oil Network (GGON):
”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.’
ASIA
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.
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.
FArooq Tariq, Secretary General of Kissan Rabita Committee (PKRC):
“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.”
latin america
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:
“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.”
AFRICA
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:
“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.”
north america
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:
“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.”
EUROPE
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:
“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.”
And aLL Over the world
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
access our interactive map with all events across the world!
Media contacts
Ashwini Prabha
ashwini@ggon.org
+33 7 69 74 81 84
Dharini Parthasarathy
dparthasarathy@climatenetwork.org +91 88261 07830
Viviana Varin
viviana@fossilfueltreaty.org
+33 6 63 48 52 67
Valentina Stackl
valentina@priceofoil.org
+1 (734) 276 6260
NOTES
For a full list of endorsers click here (780+ organisations)
Webinar recording: Power Up to #EndFossilFuels #FastFairForever