CLIMATE activists today poured a pool of fake oil over the steps of the Labour Party’s London headquarters and let off smoke grenades to demand the party pledges further action.
Two activists from Extinction Rebellion (XR) climbed onto the portico and set off the canisters, while another chained himself to a handrail.
Other supporters held up banners saying: “Cut the ties to fossil fuels.”
The protesters called on Labour to do more than stop issuing new oil licences if it wins the next general election but promise to cancel any oil licences granted by the Conservatives.
Campaigners also called for a manifesto commitment to make the transition to renewables an urgent priority of a new Labour government.
Greenpeace activists display a billboard during a protest outside Shell headquarters on July 27, 2023 in London. (Photo: Handout/Chris J. Ratcliffe for Greenpeace via Getty Images)
Oxfam’s report Payment Overdue, Fair ways to make polluters across the UK pay for climate justice proposes that those most responsible for emissions and those best able to pay should pay to address climate change. Oxfam recognises that fossil fuel companies and rich individuals “are disproportionately responsible for the climate crisis” but “have been let off with not paying to deal with its consequences.”
The climate crisis is now a reality: its effects range from the UK breaching 40°C for the first time in 2022 to a devastating and ongoing drought in East Africa, which would not have occurred without global heating. In the UK and globally, it is people living in poverty who bear the consequences of inaction. Public finance is a critical lifeline for communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis, yet we are increasingly looking to dwindling aid budgets to meet escalating needs. Meanwhile, billionaires amass yet more wealth and fossil fuel producers post record profits.
These polluters have caused – and continue to cause – irreversible damage to our planet, and it’s only fair that they pay for the harm caused by their actions. Fairer taxes on the largest polluters would not only generate additional finance but could also create financial incentives for them to reduce their emissions.
The UK is a huge historical emitter. It must take responsibility for this, but the onus of paying should not be split equally among the public. Those who have emitted the most and profited while doing so – particularly fossil fuel producers and wealthy people – should be doing the heavy lifting. This paper sets out four options to do this.
Tens of thousands march in New York City to protest fossil fuels
Dharna Noor
Tens of thousands of people in New York City have kicked off a week of demonstrations seeking to end the use of coal, oil and natural gas blamed for climate change.
“This is an incredible moment,” said Jean Su of Center for Biological Diversity, who helped organize the mobilization.
Tens of thousands of people are marching in the streets of New York because they want climate action, and they understand Biden’s expansion of fossil fuels is squandering our last chance to avoid climate catastrophe.
Su said the action was the largest climate protest in the US since the start of the pandemic, with organizers estimating around 75,000 protestors taking to the streets in New York City.
She added:
This also shows the tremendous grit and fight of the people, especially youth and communities living at the frontlines of fossil fuel violence, to fight back and demand change for the future they have every right to lead.
In addition to celebrities and lawmakers, kids from across the country as well as elderly people showed up at the protests, waving climate signs and chanting alongside event organizers.
New York’s Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who previously championed the Green New Deal alongside Senator Bernie Sanders, is also expected to address the crowd later this afternoon.
Sunday’s demonstration comes ahead of the the United Nations Climate Ambition Summit, which the UN secretary general, António Guterres, says will focus on on bold new climate pledges.
This week by the numbers:
600,000 people. 700 actions. 65 countries. All 7 continents.
THIS. IS. INCREDIBLE.
But numbers don't do it justice. This is a big, beautiful climate movement & we're calling on world leaders to #EndFossilFuels NOW. No more talk, we need action! pic.twitter.com/NAWdoZQDj4
Donations raise eyebrows with Rishi Sunak expected to reject Climate Change Committee advice on banning expansions
A dirty jet passenger aircraft
Airport operators have lavished Britain’s last three prime ministers with VIP services worth more than £200,000 since the 2019 election, analysis by openDemocracy has found.
Liz Truss, Boris Johnson and Theresa May are among the Conservative MPs who have accepted more than £275,000 in donations-in-kind from airport operators, while Conservative Party HQ has also taken more than £13,500 in donations from airport operators.
It comes as the government signals its backing for airport expansions, in contrast with advice from its own climate advisers that adding runways to Heathrow and Gatwick would be incompatible with the UK’s net zero goals. The Department of Transport told openDemocracy it was “supportive of airport expansion where it can be delivered in a sustainable way”.
Peter Barclay, the chair of Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign, said gifts to the Conservative Party were “all part of the industry’s efforts to oil the government machine in their favour”.
“It makes you very suspicious of politicians,” he said.
Sarah Clayton, coordinator of climate campaign group AirportWatch said: “Rishi Sunak has no interest in the environment, his only interest is keeping the Conservative Party going.
“The airports will use every little trick in the book in order to make sure that the law isn’t changed so they can get their expansion plans through.”
Truss, Johnson and May have accepted tens of thousands of pounds in donations in kind from Heathrow Airport Ltd and Gatwick Airport Ltd in the last four years. Both airports are hoping to open additional runways.
Theresa May alone accepted donations in kind worth more than £183,000 for the use of the VIP Windsor suite at Heathrow Airport a staggering 44 times, according to declarations made on the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.
Heathrow advertises the private suite as a “unique and luxurious service” that includes a chauffeur and dinner prepared by a Michelin starred chef “served by your own personal butler”.
Boris Johnson also used the suite at least 34 times, accepting stays worth £58,000 from the airport, four of them while still in office. In addition, he made use of a VIP suite at Gatwick Airport for him and his family on three occasions after leaving office, a donation in kind worth more than £4,000.
His short-lived successor Liz Truss also made use of VIP suites at Heathrow and Gatwick, accepting 14 stays worth more than £24,000 after resigning as prime minister.
Theresa May accepted donations in kind worth more than £183,000 for the use of the VIP Windsor suite at Heathrow Airport a staggering 44 times
Tory Party HQ also accepted a £12,500 cash donation from London City Airport Ltd just days after it won the 2019 election, according to the Electoral Commission’s records, while Heathrow Airport Ltd made a “non-cash” donation worth the equivalent of £1,680.00 to the party in October 2022. It did not respond to questions about what the donation actually was.
A further six Conservative MPs have accepted gifts worth almost £7,000 in total from London City Airport Ltd since 2019. Orpington MP Gareth Bacon declared in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests that he received tickets to sporting fixtures worth £1,849 from the airport last year, which is the closest to his constituency.
Tory MPs Nigel Evans, Robert Neill, Paul Scully, Kevin Hollinrake and Gagan Mohindra also declared that they had accepted tickets to sporting events from the airport.
London City had an application to increase the size of its terminal refused by Newham Council in July, but has appealed the decision.
Operators of British airports including Heathrow and Gatwick, as well as the Airport Operators Association (AOA), also sponsor the Future of Aviation All-Party Parliamentary Group of MPs by donating £10,000 a year to pay for its secretariat.
Karen Dee, the chief executive of AOA, recently wrote that she had been “working with MPs on the Future of Aviation All Party Parliamentary Group to lobby the prime minister and chancellor to allow airports to establish arrivals duty-free stores and to restore VAT-free shopping for international tourists”.
‘It’s part of their plan to run down the NHS by underfunding it and then to claim that the only answer is more privatisation.’
In January this year, Rishi Sunak set out his five key priorities for 2023 and among them was a pledge to reduce NHS waiting lists.
Well yet another one of Sunak’s pledges lies in ruins, after figures released today showed that NHS waiting lists have hit a record high. An estimated 7.68 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of July, up from 7.57 million in June.
It is the highest number since records began in August 2007 and marks the eighth consecutive month of increases.
