What we need to do is pull the handbrake. As newly (re-)elected Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) hold their first plenary session from 16 July, Greenpeace is urging them to consider a ban on new fossil fuel infrastructure.
The shift to the right in Europe is a threat to the urgent action we need to stop the climate crisis from spiralling out of control. The results of the European elections should not overshadow the crucial fact that Europeans rank climate and the environment as the second most important issue for the EU to tackle after security and defense. As the number of far-right MEPs in the EU Parliament has risen, democratic parties across Europe must now come closer together and respond to people’s expectations by doing what is necessary to stop the climate crisis from escalating further.
The science is clear – we need to stop digging and drilling for fossil fuels if we are to avoid the worst of climate chaos. Expanding and building new fossil gas infrastructure would be a complete disaster, yet that is exactly what fossil fuel companies are trying to do all across Europe. Europe’s politicians must say no.
It’s time for a ban on new fossil fuel infrastructure projects
As extreme weather events increase across the world, leading climate scientists are afraid that global heating will break the 1.5°C threshold governments agree to limit it to, and foresee “a semi-dystopian future”. June 2024 was the hottest June on record, which makes it the 13th consecutive month for which the global average temperature reached a record. All around the world, communities, their livelihoods and the nature we rely on are being devastated by floods and droughts, fires and storms. And Europe is not spared. Recent events include floods in Poland, hailstorms in Spain, extensive flooding and landslides in Switzerland and northern Italy…
People’s safety is at risk, and yet fossil fuel companies are spending billions on new fossil fuel infrastructure, much of it supported by taxpayers’ money too. They are planning new liquefied gas terminals, pipelines, gas power plants and even new drilling projects, when governments should be massively expanding renewables and improving energy efficiency.
In Europe alone, fossil fuel companies are currently pushing for infrastructure projects that would increase the EU’s capacity to import liquefied gas by 136%! According to Global Energy Monitor, the potential emissions associated with the planned liquefied gas terminals could be almost 950 million tonnes of CO2 per year: as much as the total climate pollution of Germany and the Netherlands combined in 2022. Overall in 2022, a tiny 7.3% of the investments of 12 of Europe’s biggest fossil fuel companies went towards green energy. The remaining 92.7% funded fossil business as usual, and expansion of dirty projects.
As Europe’s major fossil fuel companies continue to put their profits before people’s safety, they are also facing public anger
People all across Europe are calling out their lies and holding them accountable for the climate disaster we’re facing. Recently, they have made their voices heard inside and outside the annual general meetings of major fossil fuel companies in Spain, Norway, England, France, Austria… It is clear that wherever the fossil fuel industry goes – whether a new drill site or a conference centre – there will be resistance.
Because investing in new gas infrastructure is like stepping on the accelerator of a car heading for a cliff. What we need to do is pull the handbrake. The fossil fuel industry cannot be trusted with our future, it must be stopped in its endless greed for more and more fossil fuels, and be held to account for the destruction it has already caused.
We need to break free from the fossil fuel industry. It is a matter of safety, and a matter of justice for present and future generations. It’s time for politicians to act. Let’s start with the most basic decision possible: let’s ban new fossil fuel infrastructure projects. Right now.
Mads Christensen is the Executive Director of Greenpeace International.
Here in Aotearoa, the Luxon-led coalition Government has threatened to overturn New Zealand’s celebrated ban on new oil and gas exploration permits. This goes against the science, against the will of the people and against all common sense.
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