Protesters identifying themselves as the ‘Bu!#sh*t Police’ have today targeted the ‘Oil and Gas Climate Initiative’ press event to ‘call Bu!#sh*t’ on the oil majors climate plans.
The event, held at The Shard on the day the Paris COP21 Agreement comes into effect, featured top Oil Execs from 7 major fossil fuel companies to announce the ‘next phase in their collective action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions’. As most people probably mistook ‘phase one’ for business as usual (the business being digging up as much greenhouse gas producing fossil fuels as possible), the ‘Bu!#sh*t Police’ deemed the event worthy of investigation.
The ‘Oil and Gas Climate Initiative’ is a ‘CEO-led organization designed to drive practical action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions’, and is made up of ten major oil and gas companies that represent a fifth of oil and gas production in the world.
Recent research from Oil Change International shows emissions from the oil, gas and coal just in fields and mines that are already in operation would take the world past 2C of warming. The existing oil and gas alone would take us past 1.5C (even if coal were stopped today), making development of any new oil fields, gas fields and coal mines incompatible with the Paris agreement. Despite this, in 2016 OGCI members spent over $85 billion of capital expenditure on fossil fuels.
The ‘Bu!#sh*t Police’ were in operation outside the venue, attempting to cordon off the entrance holding signs with messages including ‘Cynical PR won’t stop climate change’, ‘Stop digging or SHUT UP’ and ‘You can’t polish a turd’.
Charlie Satow of Divest London and a member of the ‘Bu!#sh*t Police’ said:
“The situation is clear: until the oil majors stop digging up fossil fuels, there can be no solution to climate change. The OGCI companies are projected to spend $85 billion into developing new reserves in 2016. Today’s launch is therefore nothing more than a flawed PR exercise, yet more greenwashing tactics designed to blind us to the simple reality. These companies are the problem, not the solution.”
Danni Paffard of 350.org said:
‘This announcement is outrageous filibustering from an industry with no future. Forget their smoke and mirrors offerings – the fossil fuel industry’s basic business plan doesn’t stack up with global climate goals. Real climate action means leaving oil, coal and gas reserves in the ground, and until they do that nobody will be falling for this cynical PR spin. This is yet another sign of a desperate industry unable to transition to a 21st century economy. Savvy investors everywhere are waking up to warning signs and divesting from fossil fuels.’
The demo was organised by Divest London and Fossil Free UK. For more information or quotes, contact danni@350.org.