G20 Must #StopFundingFossils Ahead of Paris Climate Talks

350.org is joining with allies around the world to call on G20 countries to fulfill their commitment to end fossil fuel subsidies and stop other sources of dirty finance.

“The first step to addressing the climate crisis is to stop funding the problem,” said 350.org Executive Director, May Boeve. “Ending fossil fuel subsidies and other dirty finance is the clearest way that G20 countries can help build momentum for the climate talks in Paris. As hundreds of institutions continue to join the fossil fuel divestment movement it’s time for governments to follow suit and stop funding climate destruction.”

This Saturday, November 14, 350.org is joining with Oil Change International and other allies for a #StopFundingFossils day of action, with events planned on nearly every continent:

– In Turkey, a coalition of groups is organizing a rally in the iconic Taksim square issuing a press statement against plans to expand coal development in the country and call for climate justice.

– In Japan, activists will rally outside the Japan Bank for International Cooperation with a giant “carbon bubble” to highlight the risk of continuing to invest in an industry who will find many of its assets stranded as countries start to keep fossil fuels in the ground.

– In Washington, DC and other cities across the United States, climate activists are demonstrating at ExxonMobil stations to call for an end to subsidies and a federal investigation into how Exxon knew about climate change for decades, but spread misinformation and lobbied against any action to address the problem.

– In the Philippines, a forum will be held in Quezon City where 300 students will gather to form a human chain to demonstrate the “Sayonara Coal” campaign which focuses to put a stop to coal projects funded by Japanese governmental and private institutions.

– Indonesia had an early start to the weekend of action with tens of people protesting outside the Japanese embassy in Jakarta on Thursday, which included a group of coal-affected communities. Their call was for an end to Japanese finance of coal projects, which have created severe social and environmental problems in communities across Indonesia.

G20 leaders pledged to phase out fossil fuel subsidies in 2009, but a recent report from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and Oil Change International found that G20 countries still provide $452 billion a year in subsidies to the industry–nearly four times the entire amount of global subsidies for renewable energy (and four times the currently unfulfilled pledge to generate $100 billion a year in climate finance by 2020).

350.org is working around the world to mobilize public sentiment against the fossil fuel industry and urge governments to cut their ties. Over the past two years, it has helped expand the fossil fuel divestment movement in North America, Europe and Australia, and is now spreading it to South Africa, Japan and elsewhere. As of September 2015, over 400 institutions representing $2.6 trillion have made some form of divestment commitment. 350.org is currently running a “Divest for Paris” initiative to collect additional pledges ahead of COP21.