GLOBAL POLICY
The Paris climate goals demand a rapid, just transition from fossil fuels to clean energy. We’re pushing governments to lead the way by adopting policies to end oil and gas production.
OVERVIEW OF WORK
In order to achieve climate goals, governments and other decision makers must support a just and equitable move away from fossil fuels. We are pushing for precedent-setting leadership from governments to put policies in place to manage the decline of oil and gas and ensure a just transition for fossil-fuel dependent workers and communities.
Building from a growing group of first mover governments, we are pressuring for increasing numbers of national and regional governments to end new licenses and permits for oil and gas production, and to develop plans to wind down their existing production over time.
LATEST PROGRAM POSTS
A new academic study, accepted for publication in Harvard Environmental Law, asks the pertinent question about Big Oil and climate change: “Given the extreme lethality of the conduct and the awareness of the catastrophic risk on the part of fossil fuel companies, should they be charged with homicide?”
Yesterday, the message from the world’s leading climate scientists was their most brutal and stark yet. It was unequivocal.
Climate justice advocates expressed outrage at California state oil regulator CalGEM over the recent approval of hundreds of oil and gas rework permits to continue dangerous oil operations within 3,200 feet of communities.
The old saying is that the truth will come out. The state may lie and try and bury evidence. It may use brute force to cover up its tracks, but eventually, the truth will come out.
LATEST PROGRAM RESEARCH
From 2010-2021, the United States' trade and development finance institutions provided nearly five times as much support to fossil fuels as to renewables — over $51.6 billion for fossils compared to just $10.9 billion for renewables.
At the UN COP26 climate conference, signatories of the Glasgow Statement agreed to international public finance for fossil fuels. This briefing, which will be updated regularly as new policies come out and new signatories join the commitment, tracks implementation efforts and assesses whether countries are on track to keep their promise.
Since May 2021, Shell has expressed interest to develop ten new oil and gas extraction assets, which could lock in additional CO2 pollution (325 million metric tonnes) two times greater than the Netherlands’ total CO2 emissions in 2021.