Ban all new fossil fuel projects for a safe future!
To the European Union and its member states:
The climate crisis is here, and people are already suffering the consequences. Drilling and mining more gas, oil, and coal, and building more infrastructure, is an existential threat to our society and the nature that sustains it.
Fossil fuels put everyone’s safety at risk. In the European Union, the expansion of fossil gas infrastructure is a particular danger. Drilling for more gas and building new infrastructure will lock Europe into a toxic dependency and waste money on useless projects when we need to invest in real solutions. Europe’s over-reliance on fossil gas leads to rising energy bills, sickness, deaths, destruction of nature, and climate chaos. Fossil gas is a dirty, deadly fossil fuel like oil and coal. This is why the European Union and its member states must act now and #StopFossilGas and all other fossil fuel projects before it’s too late.
We demand that you take these immediate steps to safeguard our collective future:
- Ban all new fossil fuel projects across the European Union, as they are incompatible with limiting global heating to 1.5°C.
- Stop all public investments in fossil fuel projects.
- Completely phase out fossil fuels in a fair way, including a plan for a phase-out of gas by 2035 at the latest.
It’s your duty to treat the climate and ecological emergency like the existential crisis it is. Our lives depend on it.
With power and unity,
Voices for a fossil-free future
Doctors, scientists, activists, and communities impacted by fossil fuels are calling for an urgent ban on new projects—for everyone’s safety and future.
Adélaïde Charlier
Climate activist
“We are losing life on Earth because of our activities. Because of our investments into a destructive fossil fuel industry. This is NOT a pessimistic statement. It is a scientific statement. As a young person, I care about life, mine but also yours and that of all species.”
Francesco Contino
Professor at the Polytechnic School of UCLouvain, specialised in energy transition and renewable energy
“The future is uncertain, but one decision is beyond doubt: we must stop burning fossil fuels as quickly as possible.”
Gerhard Krinner
Climate Scientist, Director of Research at CNRS
“We cannot allow new fossil infrastructure and claim to respect the Paris Agreement.”
John Beard
Community activist with the Port Arthur Community Action Network, fighting fossil fuel pollution in Port Arthur, Texas
“Many European countries have banned fracking over safety and health concerns, yet import fracked gas from the US at the expense of the lives and health of communities like mine. Our lives, our safety and our health matter just as much as Europeans. Such blatant hypocrisy is wrong. This injustice must end.”
Julia Steinberger
Professor of Societal Challenges of Climate Change at the University of Lausanne
“A ban on fossil fuel projects is a vital step for human civilisation to survive the 21st century. All the scientific evidence points in this direction, whether it’s climate, health, wellbeing or economics. It’s high time for policy to align and act decisively.”
Olivier De Schutter
Professor at UCLouvain and Sciences Po, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
“So far, renewable energy hasn’t led to a reduction in fossil fuel consumption. The lesson is clear: no innovation without exnovation. The climate emergency now calls for a moratorium on any new investment projects in fossil fuels.”
Philippe Huybrechts
Professor of climatology and IPCC lead author, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)
“The science is clear: to keep global warming well below 2°C, we need net-zero emissions by mid-century. The remaining carbon budget is already exceeded by existing fossil infrastructure within their planned lifetimes. No new projects can be added.”
Dr. Xavier Fettweis
Professor of climatology at ULiège
“If we do nothing, the desert will reach Madrid, Brussels will have the climate of Toulouse and Antwerp will be under water in 2100.”