Luxembourg: Activists from across Europe march to the EU's biggest bank to highlight their role in funding climate crisis. 

Dear Ed,

As climate strikes roar around the globe, the fossil fuel industry’s social license to pollute our planet is looking increasingly likely to expire. Even more than that, campaigners are starting to hit the fossil fuel industry’s sources of income.

Financial flows from banks and insurers to oil and gas companies are an important lever. If we can stop the funding, pipelines and drilling sites cannot go ahead, and fossil fuels will have to stay where they belong: in the ground.

G20 ministers are holding multiple meetings in Japan ahead of the main summit at the end of June. But they’re not showing enough leadership to stop the climate crisis. Repeatedly, we’ve seen leaders around the world stand down from their responsibility. Thankfully, local campaigns everywhere have their eye on the money.

So in this Fossil Free News, we look at the groups around the world doing brilliant organizing these past two weeks, to put an end to fossil fuel finance and advance a just transition to 100% renewable energy for all.

Onwards,
Nicole

P.S. We’re trying something new – climate movement news via Facebook Messenger! I’ll send short, easy-to-read alerts, photos, and videos once or twice a week on the Messenger app. It’s launching this week: be one of the first to try it – sign up now.

In Case You Missed It

Disrupt fossil finance: On Friday, activists from across Europe showed up outside the European Investment Bank (EIB) in Luxembourg to highlight the bank's role in financing disruptive fossil fuel projects with public money. They sang and delivered messages from people fighting on the frontlines of EIB-funded fossil fuel projects. It's just one of many recent actions to shut down fossil fuel finance. Read more 


Tokyo, Japan: A local campaign urges G20 leaders to put the climate crisis at the top of their agenda. Photo: 350 Japan

G20 warm-up: Finance ministers from each of the world’s 20 largest economies met in Fukuoka, Japan over the weekend, ahead of the G20 summit in Osaka on June 24-29. Yet there was no genuine mention of tackling fossil finance. So people's calls for Prime Minister Abe to lead by example and end coal finance are intensifying. Read more

 
Two protestors demand "Colombia say no to fracking" and "We want living rivers" in Bogotá. Photo: Cristina Juliana

'No al fracking': Across Colombia on Friday, over 100 cities and municipalities organized marches against fracking during the National Water Carnival. Extraction is threatening water and climate across Latin America. See more photos on Facebook

Photo: Outside Exxon’s shareholder meeting in Dallas, Texas. Photo: 350 Dallas

Make them Pay: Activists brought a 100-foot hand-painted banner to Exxon’s shareholder meeting in Dallas, to remind executives that they’re accountable for destroying communities across Texas and beyond. They’re demanding the oil giant pay for the damage. More

 
People in East Java demand justice for victims of a 2006 drilling failure. Photo: Gastivists 

This is not a drill: May 29 marked 13 years since the Sidoarjo gas disaster, where a drilling failure in Indonesia displaced tens of thousands of people. Many are still awaiting compensation. But the company responsible, Lapindo Brantas, just got new permits to drill again in the same area. Local campaigners are working with people targeting the project investors in Europe, to make sure they can’t go ahead: Read more

Want more news like this? I really recommend the Gastivists monthly newsletter, which focuses in on the movement to resist gas in Europe and around the world. 


On 30 May, people in South Africa call on shareholders to pass a climate resolution. Photo: Dean Daleski

Full disclosure: In South Africa, Standard Bank shareholders defied management and voted to pass a resolution obligating the bank to disclose information on its coal investments and put forward a new policy to limit climate change. It’s the first time we’ve seen a climate shareholder resolution pass for any listed company. More

Divestment: The University of Quebec at Montreal committed to end all investments in fossil fuels. Wadham College in the UK dropped coal and tar sands investments, but are still clinging to oil and gas.

And it’s not just universities. Charlottesville city council dropped funding to arms and fossil fuels, and inner Sydney’s west council reports it’s now fully divested, after successfully moving $100 million in a 3-year process.

One to Watch 

This new, 1-minute video explains the link between Japan’s financial institutions and the adverse impacts of dirty energy projects they’re funding. Watch

Interested in working with 350.org? If you’re qualified and passionate about the climate movement, we’d love to hear from you. Check out our job postings.

The Inside Story

"We were raised believing the sea would always sustain us, only to now be confronted by the fact that it could one day swallow us."


Captain Aunofo Havea. Photo: Lawrence Curtis

Friday was World Ocean's Day, with the theme "gender and the ocean." It's an opportunity to honor the complex and inspiring roles women play in ocean spaces. This blog takes a look, and lifts up the work of some amazing women climate activists from the Pacific. Read

That's it for now. We'll be back in two weeks with more climate movement news from around the world. 

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