Oil Change International | Data Driven, People Powered.

The climate movement is turning to courts to hold corporations and governments accountable for their role in causing the climate crisis. The number of cases filed each year has nearly tripled since the Paris Agreement in 2015. With courts becoming vital battlegrounds, civil society organizations (CSOs) play a key role, pushing legal cases forward and ensuring public engagement in the critical climate debate. 

In the UK, despite hundreds of millions being spent and no commercial projects in operation, a further £25 billion has been promised in new subsidies for Carbon, Capture and Storage (CCS) and Hydrogen. This is greater than the supposed £22 billion black hole that the previous Conservative Government left the new Labour government. If Labour is looking for a quick fix to find money to fund the winter fuel allowance, they should scrap these wasteful handouts to the fossil fuel industry.

Oil Change International has a new website and new domain name. Over the past year we’ve been hard at work redesigning everything about our website – it was our first complete website overhaul in over a decade. And with nearly 20 years of history to go through, this was a big undertaking!

Despite over 50 years of failure and billions in wasted investments, governments continue to push carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology at upcoming international forums, including in the EU and Asia.

“Barely one year after the unprecedented COP28 decision to transition away from fossil fuels, the G20 seems to be suffering from collective amnesia. Producing a communiqué on the energy transition in 2024 that fails to even mention fossil fuels is absurd and deeply concerning. It raises questions about whether countries are serious about their international climate commitments."

While it is positive to see calls for parties to match the urgency of the climate crisis and act together to deliver NDCs that keep 1.5°C in reach, the Troika feigns to ignore a simple reality: it will not be possible without an immediate end to fossil fuel expansion.

Last year at COP28, governments committed to transition away from fossil fuels. The next key step to make good on this landmark energy agreement is rich countries agreeing to a new climate finance goal of at least $1 trillion annually to make this possible. This will allow countries to deliver national climate plans (NDCs) due in 2025 that phase out fossil fuels. Rich countries can mobilize well over $5 trillion a year for climate action at home and abroad by ending fossil fuel handouts, making big polluters pay, and changing unfair global financial rules.

Prime Minister Keir Stamer paints a bleak picture of the economic situation in the UK, announcing worsening economic and social pressures. The thing is, there is money. It is just being spent on the wrong things. The UK has already spent or committed nearly £500 million on CCS projects since 2010. £168 million of this was spent between 2012 and 2016 on two projects (Peterhead and White Rose) that failed to get off the ground. Policies announced since 2020 have made available £25.26 billion for CCS and hydrogen projects. Only a fraction of this has been committed to date. This is enough to fund the total 2023 winter fuel allowance payout 12 times over.

The first in-depth analysis on the escalating wave of climate litigation aimed at fossil fuel companies reveals 86 climate lawsuits have been filed against the world’s largest oil, gas, and coal producing corporations – including BP, Chevron, Eni, ExxonMobil, Shell, and TotalEnergies. The number of cases filed against fossil fuel companies each year has nearly tripled since the Paris Agreement was reached in 2015, highlighting a growing global movement to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for their role in the climate crisis.