The current crisis is a clear warning sign that, if governments leave the “when” and “how” of the end of oil and gas up to tumultuous markets, the outcome will not be good for either people or the planet.
just transition
“Oil is dead”: Post COVID-19, there’s no way back for Canada’s tar sands
The Canadian Green Party’s parliamentary leader, Elizabeth May, said last week: “My heart bleeds for people who believe the sector is going to come back. It’s not. Oil is dead and for people in the sector, it’s very important there be just transition funds.”
In the Face of COVID-19, Governments Have a Choice: Resilient Societies or Fossil Fuel Bailouts?
The COVID-19 crisis poses a threat to people’s health, their jobs and their lives, and like all crises, exacerbates already existing inequalities. Trillions in public finance will be needed to get through the current pandemic. This briefing outlines why continuing to rely on fossil fuels, in particular oil and gas, is not compatible with long-term recovery. It does not make sense to use the COVID-19 stimulus packages to try to revive a sunsetting industry which will not deliver on economic recovery, only to shut it down a few years later to meet climate goals.
Statement: IEA forgets about climate crisis, prioritises return to ‘normal’ in oil report
The only path to climate stability is for governments to manage a stable decline in oil while investing in a just transition for workers and currently fossil-fuel dependent communities.
Release: Environmental groups demand Congress protect the right to organize unions
In a letter sent today to the U.S. House of Representatives, more than 60 environmental groups called on the chamber to pass the Protect the Right to Organize Act to strengthen labor protections.
Briefing: Carbon Impacts of Reinstating the U.S. Crude Export Ban
The next president and Congress should reinstate the crude export ban in tandem with policies to ensure a just and equitable transition away from fossil fuels. A reimplementation of the ban would therefore require an ambitious and well-funded energy policy to prioritize justice and equity for workers and frontline and Indigenous communities in the necessary transition away from fossil fuels.
Denmark could be close to phasing out oil and gas extraction. Here’s why it would matter.
Last week we released a report outlining why Denmark can’t be a climate leader if it expands North Sea oil and gas production as planned.
Massive Oil Spill Endangers Central Valley Residents and Highlights State Agency’s Negligence in Protecting Community Health and Climate
“Doubling down on new drilling is incompatible with climate leadership, and for the first time we’re seeing a California governor recognize and begin to act on this reality,” said Kelly Trout.
Pressure Grows on EDF to Pioneer “Just Transition” From Oil to Wind in UK
The energy company EDF is coming under intense pressure in Scotland to help pioneer a “just transition” from oil to renewables by investing in wind turbine manufacture in the UK, rather than outsourcing the work to Asia.
UK: Child poverty the “new normal,” as oil industry gets billions in subsidies
We live in a climate emergency, British children live in poverty in record numbers. Young people rightly care about climate change in ever increasingly numbers. It does not have to be this way. The solution is there, we just need the political will to make it happen. We need a just transition now.