Activists in Cape Town demand a Just Recovery from world governments and central banks.

Ed,

I’m so excited to share these beautiful action images with you from around the world.

Late last week, from Bangladesh to Brazil, Germany to the Philippines, people protested, projected, and spoke truth to power, urging the world’s most powerful economic leaders to fund a Just Recovery in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our calls for justice also dominated the conversation online around the G20 meeting of finance ministers and Central Bank governors. They’ve definitely heard us – and they know we won’t stand for the usual fossil fuel bailouts, tax cuts for the rich, and debt-burdens for poor countries that only make the climate crisis worse.

No big announcements came out of the meeting – it wasn’t a formal decision-making space – but this was only the beginning. In the coming weeks and months, we’ll keep up the pressure on the people who hold the pursestrings to our public money. See how you can get involved where you live.

I couldn’t think of a better set of actions to share to send off this email, which is my last edition of Fossil Free News. After two years, it’s sad to go – but the team at 350.org will keep bringing you regular updates from across the globe.

Enjoy the G20 highlights and other stories below – and I hope we might one day cross paths in the streets, standing up for a better world.

With love and solidarity,
Nicole

G20 Highlights

In England, Belgium, and Germany, activists targeted some of Europe’s most influential economic institutions, including the EU in Brussels and Europe’s Central Bank. Above, 15-year-old climate striker Sophia Coningham is featured in a video message projected on the walls of the Treasury in London.

On the coast of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh – an area recently hit hard by Cyclone Amphan – people donned masks and demanded that fossil fuels be excluded from any financial stimulus for coronavirus. This week, over one-third of Bangladesh is underwater as the country faces its worst floods in over a decade.

Climate activists in Manila, Philippines, wielded pixelsticks and fairy lights to illuminate the way towards a more resilient, climate-safe future. At the same time online, people from G20 nations around the world took to Twitter in coordinated fashion to tag and call out finance ministers from their countries to push them beyond a business-as-usual recovery.

You can find the full global round-up with more action highlights here. Make sure to also plug in to the Just Recovery campaigns in your region so you can find more ways to take meaningful action with others in your part of the world.

In Case You Missed It

Strike for Black Lives: Across the U.S., thousands of essential workers walked off the job on Monday as part of the Strike for Black Lives, organised by the Services Employee International Union. Strikers were joined by more climate activists and youth to demand corporations and the government act on the triple-crisis of white supremacy, COVID-19, and climate change. Read more




Photo by @fraksirakyat_ID on Twitter

All in one: In Indonesia, groups continue to sound the alarm over a new proposed omnibus bill that puts marginalised groups and the environment at risk. By scrapping investment regulations and ignoring public input, it’ll erode environmental safeguards and make it easier for companies to extract resources with minimal permit requirements. Read more 

#PeopleNotPipelines: Roughly 100 activists in Southern Italy – students, mothers, farmers, and local business owners – are facing trial and steep fines for resisting construction of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline funded by the EU. Their problem is familiar to those defending their own communities and our planet from climate-wrecking fossil fuel infrastructure all around the world. So show your solidarity, and donate if you can, to support #NoTAP defenders with their legal fees.

One to Watch 

“Wait, so how’d they do that?”

See this 3-minute round-up video, with behind-the-scenes footage of some of the COVID-safe actions and projections from G20 demonstrations around the world. And make sure to share it with your family and friends so our demands for a Just Recovery reach far and wide.