We must end the Era of Fossil Fuels. Scientists have warned us of the dire consequences of fossil fuel dependency for many years, and affected communities have testified to their disastrous impacts. Yet they have been brushed aside. Our wealthiest nations’ leaders have failed to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and the most privileged 1% continue to live in excess while the most vulnerable remain on the frontlines of a crisis they did not create. Already marginalized and disadvantaged communities face the worst impacts while their resilience is stretched.
The fossil fuel industry runs on greed and exploitation, sacrificing the lives of others in order to line their pockets. Our reliance on coal, oil, and gas wreaks havoc on our planet and society, with its highest tolls imposed upon the Most Affected People and Areas (MAPA). The fossil fuel industry demands billions of dollars in subsidies, investments, and payouts while cashing in exponentially more.
We must end the Era of Fossil Fuels, not only for the sake of our planet and our survival but to break free from the chains of neocolonialism. Fossil fuel extraction perpetuates a cycle of colonial dominance.
Multinational and national corporations like Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, Total Energies, Chevron, Pemex, Petronas, BHP, Rio Tinto, Shenhua and even greenwashing companies like RWE, Siemens, Iberdrola and many more, powered by governments, wealthy individuals, banks and financial institutions, descend upon rural, peripheral and vulnerable communities, exploiting people and the environment for the profits of corrupt political elites.
Silencing the voices of those who are speaking up, those who are witnessing the catastrophic destruction of ecosystems, societies, and the lifelines of our planet just for the ‘economic gain’ of a small minority at the expense of many. The resulting environmental degradation exacerbates vulnerability to climate change, intensifying and perpetuating a system of exploitation and colonialism, and criminalization of those who fight to defend nature.
But despite this, the people are rising. We’re fighting against the fossil fuel industry. We’re resisting the development of new pipelines and the expansion of extractivist practices that cost so many lives. We’re confronting false solutions powered by green capitalism. We’re challenging the continuation of business as usual. We’re fighting to end the Era of Fossil Fuels. For the next Global Climate Strike on September 15th 2023 we’re demanding:
An end to Fossil Finance, divesting from new and current fossil fuel projects.
A rapid, just, and equitable phase-out of all fossil fuels, ensuring that the burdens and benefits are re-distributed fairly among different stakeholders, with particular attention to historically marginalized and vulnerable communities.
Massive investments in community owned renewable energy projects.
Reparations for the harms caused to communities affected by the climate crisis and its structural causes, as well as enforcement of the Loss and Damage Fund, with special emphasis of historical polluters paying into the Fun
THIS IS A MOMENT LIKE NEVER BEFORE
The Global Climate Strike is part of the truly global effort to End The Era of Fossil Fuels. This is a call to action from Indigenous and First Nations, youth activists, civil society organisations, social movements, feminist and migrant rights groups, trade unions, faith institutions, academic centres, health institutions, people of all genders and backgrounds, everywhere. Join us on September 15 & 17, 2023.
The capitalistic system continuously puts profit over people. Corporation’s greed for more profit is driving the destruction of ecosystems and the climate. At the same time, frontline communities are paying the highest price while being the most affected by the climate crisis.
The Global North’s fossil finance is the cause of the climate crisis, neocolonial exploitation, wars, and human rights violations. In its capitalistic system’s thinking of everlasting growth, the money of the historically largest emitters of greenhouse gasses is funding the destruction of the planet by making fossil fuel extraction possible, which majorly impacts the most affected communities by the climate crisis. Many of which have been fighting against fossil fuel projects way longer than Fridays for Future exists. As a global climate justice movement, it is our responsibility to join their fight and amplify their voices and demands.
From the fight against fracking in the indigenous territories of the Esto’k Gna tribe in North America, to local resistance in Huasteca Potosina in Mexico or Vaca Muerta in Argentina; the resistance against the EACOP pipeline in Uganda and Tanzania; the fight against gas fields in front of the coast of Senegal or LNG terminals in Mozambique; the resistance of the Peruvian people against deforestation and oil drilling in the Amazon; to local fisher’s fight against TEEPSA in South Africa – all these fights are connected and their cause is finance. Fossil fuel corporations like Shell, TotalEnergies, Repsol, Perenco or Chevron can only realize these projects because of money that is provided to them by banks, insurers, and investors.
The International Energy Agency has been very clear: we must End Fossil Finance now to comply with the Paris Agreement and limit global warming to +1.5°C. The IPCC has also reminded us that our window of opportunity to achieve this objective is closing very rapidly. Investing in fossil fuel projects not only is fully incompatible with the Paris Agreement and international law, but it is a criminal act with horrible consequences. Every dollar used for fossil finance is a dollar stained with blood, and contributing to the ecocide, to the death of thousands of fellow human beings, and to the destruction of our common home and of the species that live with us on a planet that does not belong to us.
We demand an end to the financing of all fossil fuel projects! Further, these practices increase the ecological debt that the global north owes to the most affected people and areas by the climate crisis. A debt that is way larger than any financial debt the Global North puts on them. We are therefore demanding from historically largest emitters/Global North to unconditionally cancel the Global South’s financial debt as well as reparations for Loss and Damage to those most affected by the climate crisis. Ending fossil finance is not a question of technical capacity but it is a matter of political will. There are enough funds to fulfill the SDGs if public investment banks and the private sector redirect the investments made in fossil fuel to sustainable projects and renewable energy.
From voting to civil disobedience, we call on everyone to grassroots organize and act against fossil capitalism through the means of action suitable for them. For climate justice we need to break the influence of fossil fuel corporations, banks, and insurers.
It’s time to End Fossil Finance because #TomorrowIsTooLate!
ON SEPTEMBER 23RD, WE WILL STRIKED FOR CLIMATE REPARATIONS AND JUSTICE!
For that Global Climate Strike as we demanded policymakers and world leaders to prioritize #PeopleNotProfit! We demanded that our Governments listens to MAPA voices and immediately works to provide Loss & Damage Finance to the communities most affected by the climate crisis.
#FridaysForFuture
CLIMATE REPARATIONS
Not as charity, but as a transformative justice process in which political power will return to the people.
This should not be in the form of loans, but a follow through on the demands from Indigenous, black, anti-patriarchal and diverse marginalized communities to get their lands back, giving resources to the most affected communities by the climate crisis for adaptation, loss and damages – a redistribution (and in most cases, collectivization) of wealth, technology, information, care work, and political power both from the north to the south, and from top to bottom.
THE PROBLEM
Climate struggle is class struggle, for years, the ruling class, primarily through corporations and governments from the Global North dominated by affluent, white, heterosexual cis-males, have exercised their power, gained through colonialism, capitalism, patriarchy, white supremacy and exploitation, to destroy the earth and its occupants with no remorse.
They deliberately sacrifice the Global South’s ecosystems and peoples for the sake of their so-called “development” and everlasting “economic growth”. Meanwhile, the working class is used as tools to build the very system that is destroying them.
What we must do
Colonizers and capitalists are at the core of every system of oppression that has caused the climate crisis, and decolonization, using the tool of climate reparations, is the best kind of climate action.
The richest capitalist 1%,must be held responsible for their actions and willful ignorance. Their profit is our death. Their profit is our suffering.
Together with different sectors of society across the world, led by the most marginalized, let’s bring back the power to the people whose power has been stolen. Together, let’s build a system and home where we prioritize #PeopleNotProfit.
Take Action
Find a future strike in your area or organize one and use the profile picture frame on social media to spread the word!
The catastrophic climate scenario that we are living in is the result of centuries of exploitation and oppression through colonialism, extractivism and capitalism, an essentially flawed socio-economic model which urgently needs to be replaced.
A system where rich nations are responsible for 92% of global emissions, and the richest 1% of the world population are responsible for double the pollution produced by the poorest 50%.
Guided by historical struggles and lived experiences, led by the most affected people and areas (MAPA), we are demanding climate reparations.
CLIMATE REPARATIONS
Not as charity, but as a transformative justice process in which political power will return to the people.
This should not be in the form of loans, but a follow through on the demands from Indigenous, black, anti-patriarchal and diverse marginalized communities to get their lands back, giving resources to the most affected communities by the climate crisis for adaptation, loss and damages – a redistribution (and in most cases, collectivization) of wealth, technology, information, care work, and political power both from the north to the south, and from top to bottom.
THE PROBLEM
Climate struggle is class struggle, for years, the ruling class, primarily through corporations and governments from the Global North dominated by affluent, white, heterosexual cis-males, have exercised their power, gained through colonialism, capitalism, patriarchy, white supremacy and exploitation, to destroy the earth and its occupants with no remorse.
They deliberately sacrifice the Global South’s ecosystems and peoples for the sake of their so-called “development” and everlasting “economic growth”. Meanwhile, the working class is used as tools to build the very system that is destroying them.
WHAT WE MUST DO
Colonizers and capitalists are at the core of every system of oppression that has caused the climate crisis, and decolonization, using the tool of climate reparations, is the best kind of climate action.
The richest capitalist 1%,must be held responsible for their actions and willful ignorance. Their profit is our death. Their profit is our suffering.
Together with different sectors of society across the world, led by the most marginalized, let’s bring back the power to the people whose power has been stolen. Together, let’s build a system and home where we prioritize #PeopleNotProfit.
Take Action
Find a strike in your area or organize one and use the profile picture frame on social media to spread the word!
The Global North needs to cut emissions drastically by divesting from fossil fuels and ending its extraction, burning, and use. We need concrete plans and detailed annual carbon budgets with roadmaps and milestones to ensure we get to net-zero with justice and equity in the time needed to address climate change.
The colonizers of the north have a climate debt to pay for their disproportionate amount of historic emissions and that starts with the increase of climate finance to implement anti-racist climate reparations, the cancellation of debts especially for damage caused by extreme weather events, and providing adaptation funds that serve the communities.
Work towards a genuinely global recovery from COVID-19 by ensuring equitable vaccine distribution worldwide and suspending intellectual property restrictions on COVID-19 technologies. This is an essential step towards a global, green, and just recovery.
Recognize the tangibility of the climate crisis as a risk to human safety and secure the rights of climate refugees in international law.
Recognize the invaluable impact of biodiversity on indigenous communities’ lives and culture, and commit to make ecocide an international punishable crime.
Stop the violence and criminalization against indigenous peoples, small farmers, small fisherfolk, and other environmental and land defenders. Support the work they do. Respect and listen to our defenders.
Our message to everyone
MAPA (Most Affected Peoples and Areas) are unheard, not voiceless. They’ve been fighting for their present, not just their future. No one should be a prisoner of injustice. Don’t fight FOR MAPA, fight ALONGSIDE MAPA. MAPA are not just sad experiences, we must highlight their rich stories of resistance.
MAPA countries are not “poor,” they are rich with resources but have been historically and systematically oppressed and kept from developing. The Global North leaders have a climate debt to pay to humanity. Urgent climate action and assisting with adaptation is not an “honorable duty” or “solidarity” it’s reparations for the injustices high income nations and sectors have caused through their exploitation.
MAPA voices must be amplified and centered in our fight for climate justice, otherwise even if we succeeded in limiting global warming to safe levels for life on Earth, marginalized communities would still be sacrificed and left behind, thus only part of the problem would be solved.
Now more than ever, we have to join the masses and follow the lead of environmental defenders, workers, and those most ignored. Join in their struggle for decolonization, justice and autonomy. We must remember that our liberations are tied together.
Take Action
Find a strike in your area or organize one, spread the sharepics on social media and use the profile picture frame on social media to spread the word!
ON SEPTEMBER 24, WE WILL STRIKE TO DEMAND FOR INTERSECTIONAL CLIMATE JUSTICE! JOIN US!
#UprootTheSystem
The climate crisis does not exist in a vacuum. Other socio-economic crises such as racism, sexism, ableism, class inequality, and more amplify the climate crisis and vice versa. It is not just a single issue, our different struggles and liberations are connected and tied to each other. We are united in our fight for climate justice, but we must also acknowledge that we do not experience the same problems; nor do we experience them to the same extent.
MAPA (Most Affected Peoples and Areas) are experiencing the worst impacts of the climate crisis and are unable to adapt to it. This is because of the elite of the Global North who have caused the destruction of the lands of MAPA through colonialism, imperialism, systemic injustices, and their wanton greed which ultimately caused the warming of the planet. With both the COVID, climate, and every crisis in history, overexploited countries and marginalized sectors of society are systematically left behind to fend for themselves.
The time to join the masses and follow the lead of the environmental defenders and workers has been long overdue. Reparations to MAPA must be paid for the historic injustices of the richest elite, drastic emission cuts in the Global North, vaccine equity, cancellation of debt, and climate finance are only the beginning of these. Together we will fight for a just future where no one is left behind. The historical victories of collective action have proven the need for the youth to stand united with the multisectoral, intergenerational struggle for a better future for all; a future where people and planet are prioritized.
The Global North needs to cut emissions drastically by divesting from fossil fuels and ending its extraction, burning, and use. We need concrete plans and detailed annual carbon budgets with roadmaps and milestones to ensure we get to net-zero with justice and equity in the time needed to address climate change.
The colonizers of the north have a climate debt to pay for their disproportionate amount of historic emissions and that starts with the increase of climate finance to implement anti-racist climate reparations, the cancellation of debts especially for damage caused by extreme weather events, and providing adaptation funds that serve the communities.
Work towards a genuinely global recovery from COVID-19 by ensuring equitable vaccine distribution worldwide and suspending intellectual property restrictions on COVID-19 technologies. This is an essential step towards a global, green, and just recovery.
Recognize the tangibility of the climate crisis as a risk to human safety and secure the rights of climate refugees in international law.
Recognize the invaluable impact of biodiversity on indigenous communities’ lives and culture, and commit to make ecocide an international punishable crime.
Stop the violence and criminalization against indigenous peoples, small farmers, small fisherfolk, and other environmental and land defenders. Support the work they do. Respect and listen to our defenders.
Our message to everyone
MAPA (Most Affected Peoples and Areas) are unheard, not voiceless. They’ve been fighting for their present, not just their future. No one should be a prisoner of injustice. Don’t fight FOR MAPA, fight ALONGSIDE MAPA. MAPA are not just sad experiences, we must highlight their rich stories of resistance.
MAPA countries are not “poor,” they are rich with resources but have been historically and systematically oppressed and kept from developing. The Global North leaders have a climate debt to pay to humanity. Urgent climate action and assisting with adaptation is not an “honorable duty” or “solidarity” it’s reparations for the injustices high income nations and sectors have caused through their exploitation.
MAPA voices must be amplified and centered in our fight for climate justice, otherwise even if we succeeded in limiting global warming to safe levels for life on Earth, marginalized communities would still be sacrificed and left behind, thus only part of the problem would be solved.
Now more than ever, we have to join the masses and follow the lead of environmental defenders, workers, and those most ignored. Join in their struggle for decolonization, justice and autonomy. We must remember that our liberations are tied together.
Take Action
Find a strike in your area or organize one, spread the sharepics on social media and use the profile picture frame on social media to spread the word!
