2,180+ Scientists Worldwide Demand 'Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty'
"Every fraction of a degree of warming is doing us harm," said one of the open letter's signatories. "This means that every day we delay cessation of fossil fuel burning, we come closer to catastrophe."
An ExxonMobil oil refinery, the second largest in the U.S., is pictured on February 28, 2020 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo: Barry Lewis/InPictures via Getty Images)
KENNY STANCIL
In an open letter delivered on Monday, 2,185 scientists from 81 countries write: "We, the undersigned, call on governments around the world to adopt and implement a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, as a matter of urgency, to protect the lives and livelihoods of present and future generations through a global, equitable phase out of fossil fuels in line with the scientific consensus to not exceed 1.5ºC of warming."
Characterizing the climate crisis as "the greatest threat to human civilization and nature," the letter notes that "the burning of fossil fuels—coal, oil, and gas—is the greatest contributor to climate change, responsible for almost 80% of carbon dioxide emissions since the industrial revolution."
In addition, a new study showed that "air pollution caused by fossil fuels was responsible for almost 1 in 5 deaths worldwide in 2018," says the letter, which emphasizes that while the negative impacts "derived from the extracting, refining, transporting, and burning of fossil fuels... are often borne by vulnerable and marginalized communities," coal, oil, and gas corporations "concentrat[e] power and wealth into the hands of a select few, bypassing the communities in which extraction occurs."
Coming in the wake of last month's landmark Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report—which U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called a "death knell" for the fossil fuel industry—as well as the International Energy Agency's May report stressing that there is "no need for investment in new fossil fuel supply" if the world is to achieve a net-zero energy system by 2050, the new letter demands "a solution commensurate with the scale of the problem."
"This is a global emergency," NASA climate scientist and signatory Peter Kalmus said in a statement. "It requires global coordination to quickly eliminate the immediate cause: deadly fossil fuels."
Alluding to nuclear treaties created to reduce the threats posed by atomic weapons, the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative argues that swiftly phasing out fossil fuel production and expediting the transition to cleaner and healthier alternatives requires "unprecedented international cooperation in three main areas—non-proliferation, global disarmament, and a peaceful, just transition."
To that end, the researchers' letter calls for the development of a new treaty that establishes "a binding global plan" to:
End new expansion of fossil fuel production in line with the best available science as outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations Environment Programme;
Phase out existing production of fossil fuels in a manner that is fair and equitable, taking into account the respective dependency of countries on fossil fuels, and their capacity to transition; and
Invest in a transformational plan to ensure 100% access to renewable energy globally, support fossil fuel-dependent economies to diversify away from fossil fuels, and enable people and communities across the globe to flourish through a global just transition.
Play
To meet the Paris Agreement's more ambitious objective of limiting planetary heating to 1.5ºC above preindustrial levels, researchers point out, "global greenhouse gas emissions need to be at least 45% lower globally by 2030," as outlined in the IPCC's special 2018 report on the potential impacts of exceeding certain temperature thresholds.
Although "this requires an average decline in fossil fuel production of at least 6% per year between 2020-2030... the fossil fuel industry is planning to increase production by 2% per year," the letter states, citing the U.N.'s most recent Production Gap report.
According to the letter, "The current dominant approach to tackling climate change focuses on policies that restrict greenhouse gas emissions and the demand for fossil fuels, for example by fostering the growth of substitutes for fossil fuels such as renewable energy and electric vehicles. But there has been limited focus on policies aimed at constraining the production and supply of fossil fuels at the source."
"Efforts to reduce demand for fossil fuels will be undermined if supply continues to grow," the letter argues, because failing to immediately curb the extraction of coal, oil, and gas ensures that "countries will continue to overshoot their already insufficient emissions targets."
Signatory Lesley Hughes, professor of Biology at Macquarie University and member of Australia's Climate Council, said that "every fraction of a degree of warming is doing us harm. This means that every day we delay cessation of fossil fuel burning, we come closer to catastrophe."
The letter, which will remain open for signatories until COP26 kicks off on October 31 in Scotland, says "it is vital that the global transition towards a zero carbon world is equitable, based on countries' fair share of expected climate action, their historical contribution to climate change, and their capacity to act."
"This means richer countries must reduce production of fossil fuels at a faster rate than poorer countries that require greater support," researchers write. "To enable a just transition for workers and communities in developing countries and a decent life for all," they call for "the redirection of finance and subsidies from fossil fuels to renewable energy" as well as "technology transfer."
The group of two thousand-plus academics join a growing number of people around the globe who are advocating for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. As Common Dreams reported in April, 101 Nobel laureates implored world leaders to "keep fossil fuels in the ground." Fourteen cities and sub-national governments, over 700 organizations, and more than 132,000 individuals have also endorsed the proposal.
"The world's leading scientists could not be clearer," said Rebecca Byrnes, deputy director of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative. "Coal, oil, and gas are the primary cause of the climate crisis and are responsible for nearly one in every five deaths worldwide."
"Any 'net zero' policy that allows for the continued expansion of these weapons of mass destruction is insufficient," she added. "Just as governments came together to phase out ozone-depleting chemicals, or end the proliferation of nuclear weapons, they must now urgently negotiate a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty."
Climate Inaction Has Left Majority of Young People Believing Humanity Is 'Doomed'"Every fraction of a degree of warming is doing us harm," said one of the open letter's signatories. "This means that every day we delay cessation of fossil fuel burning, we come closer to catastrophe."
An ExxonMobil oil refinery, the second largest in the U.S., is pictured on February 28, 2020 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo: Barry Lewis/InPictures via Getty Images)
KENNY STANCIL
September 14, 2021
As the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly begins Tuesday amid an unrelenting wave of extreme weather, thousands of academics from around the globe are urging governments to negotiate an international treaty to bring about a rapid and just transition away from coal, oil, and gas—"the main cause of the climate emergency."
As the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly begins Tuesday amid an unrelenting wave of extreme weather, thousands of academics from around the globe are urging governments to negotiate an international treaty to bring about a rapid and just transition away from coal, oil, and gas—"the main cause of the climate emergency."
"This is a global emergency. It requires global coordination to quickly eliminate the immediate cause: deadly fossil fuels."—Peter Kalmus, NASA
In an open letter delivered on Monday, 2,185 scientists from 81 countries write: "We, the undersigned, call on governments around the world to adopt and implement a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, as a matter of urgency, to protect the lives and livelihoods of present and future generations through a global, equitable phase out of fossil fuels in line with the scientific consensus to not exceed 1.5ºC of warming."
Characterizing the climate crisis as "the greatest threat to human civilization and nature," the letter notes that "the burning of fossil fuels—coal, oil, and gas—is the greatest contributor to climate change, responsible for almost 80% of carbon dioxide emissions since the industrial revolution."
In addition, a new study showed that "air pollution caused by fossil fuels was responsible for almost 1 in 5 deaths worldwide in 2018," says the letter, which emphasizes that while the negative impacts "derived from the extracting, refining, transporting, and burning of fossil fuels... are often borne by vulnerable and marginalized communities," coal, oil, and gas corporations "concentrat[e] power and wealth into the hands of a select few, bypassing the communities in which extraction occurs."
Coming in the wake of last month's landmark Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report—which U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called a "death knell" for the fossil fuel industry—as well as the International Energy Agency's May report stressing that there is "no need for investment in new fossil fuel supply" if the world is to achieve a net-zero energy system by 2050, the new letter demands "a solution commensurate with the scale of the problem."
"This is a global emergency," NASA climate scientist and signatory Peter Kalmus said in a statement. "It requires global coordination to quickly eliminate the immediate cause: deadly fossil fuels."
Alluding to nuclear treaties created to reduce the threats posed by atomic weapons, the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative argues that swiftly phasing out fossil fuel production and expediting the transition to cleaner and healthier alternatives requires "unprecedented international cooperation in three main areas—non-proliferation, global disarmament, and a peaceful, just transition."
To that end, the researchers' letter calls for the development of a new treaty that establishes "a binding global plan" to:
End new expansion of fossil fuel production in line with the best available science as outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations Environment Programme;
Phase out existing production of fossil fuels in a manner that is fair and equitable, taking into account the respective dependency of countries on fossil fuels, and their capacity to transition; and
Invest in a transformational plan to ensure 100% access to renewable energy globally, support fossil fuel-dependent economies to diversify away from fossil fuels, and enable people and communities across the globe to flourish through a global just transition.
Play
To meet the Paris Agreement's more ambitious objective of limiting planetary heating to 1.5ºC above preindustrial levels, researchers point out, "global greenhouse gas emissions need to be at least 45% lower globally by 2030," as outlined in the IPCC's special 2018 report on the potential impacts of exceeding certain temperature thresholds.
"Any 'net zero' policy that allows for the continued expansion of these
weapons of mass destruction is insufficient."—Rebecca Byrnes, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative
Although "this requires an average decline in fossil fuel production of at least 6% per year between 2020-2030... the fossil fuel industry is planning to increase production by 2% per year," the letter states, citing the U.N.'s most recent Production Gap report.
According to the letter, "The current dominant approach to tackling climate change focuses on policies that restrict greenhouse gas emissions and the demand for fossil fuels, for example by fostering the growth of substitutes for fossil fuels such as renewable energy and electric vehicles. But there has been limited focus on policies aimed at constraining the production and supply of fossil fuels at the source."
"Efforts to reduce demand for fossil fuels will be undermined if supply continues to grow," the letter argues, because failing to immediately curb the extraction of coal, oil, and gas ensures that "countries will continue to overshoot their already insufficient emissions targets."
Signatory Lesley Hughes, professor of Biology at Macquarie University and member of Australia's Climate Council, said that "every fraction of a degree of warming is doing us harm. This means that every day we delay cessation of fossil fuel burning, we come closer to catastrophe."
The letter, which will remain open for signatories until COP26 kicks off on October 31 in Scotland, says "it is vital that the global transition towards a zero carbon world is equitable, based on countries' fair share of expected climate action, their historical contribution to climate change, and their capacity to act."
"This means richer countries must reduce production of fossil fuels at a faster rate than poorer countries that require greater support," researchers write. "To enable a just transition for workers and communities in developing countries and a decent life for all," they call for "the redirection of finance and subsidies from fossil fuels to renewable energy" as well as "technology transfer."
The group of two thousand-plus academics join a growing number of people around the globe who are advocating for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. As Common Dreams reported in April, 101 Nobel laureates implored world leaders to "keep fossil fuels in the ground." Fourteen cities and sub-national governments, over 700 organizations, and more than 132,000 individuals have also endorsed the proposal.
"The world's leading scientists could not be clearer," said Rebecca Byrnes, deputy director of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative. "Coal, oil, and gas are the primary cause of the climate crisis and are responsible for nearly one in every five deaths worldwide."
"Any 'net zero' policy that allows for the continued expansion of these weapons of mass destruction is insufficient," she added. "Just as governments came together to phase out ozone-depleting chemicals, or end the proliferation of nuclear weapons, they must now urgently negotiate a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty."
International survey reveals 'shocking' rise of eco-anxiety and hopelessness.
"If this isn't a wake up call for world leaders, what is?"
Schoolchildren march down Queen Street during a climate change protest
on May 24, 2019 in Auckland, New Zealand.
(Photo: Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
JULIA CONLEY
Amidst a sharp increase in deadly wildfires and flooding, increasingly violent storms, and extreme heat, new research published Tuesday found that refusal by governments to act on the climate emergency is causing a widespread sense of hopelessness and eco-anxiety in teenagers and young adults worldwide.
The global advocacy group Avaaz joined researchers at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom and five other universities to survey 10,000 young people between the ages of 16 and 25—the first large-scale eco-anxiety survey of its kind—and discovered that majorities of the respondents were fearful for the lives and livelihoods of their families and the future of the planet.
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
JULIA CONLEY
September 14, 2021
Amidst a sharp increase in deadly wildfires and flooding, increasingly violent storms, and extreme heat, new research published Tuesday found that refusal by governments to act on the climate emergency is causing a widespread sense of hopelessness and eco-anxiety in teenagers and young adults worldwide.
The global advocacy group Avaaz joined researchers at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom and five other universities to survey 10,000 young people between the ages of 16 and 25—the first large-scale eco-anxiety survey of its kind—and discovered that majorities of the respondents were fearful for the lives and livelihoods of their families and the future of the planet.
"If this isn't a wake up call for world leaders, what is?" —Avaaz
As Luisa Neubauer, a 25-year-old leader of the global Fridays for Future movement in Germany, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, while the climate extremes caused by the planetary emergency are frightening, inaction by world leaders "is too much to handle, too much to accept."
"Government is pushing us in front of a bus," Neubauer told the outlet.
The mental health professionals who conducted the study spoke with young people in 10 countries including Nigeria, the Philippines, India, the U.K., and the U.S., finding that respondents in both wealthy countries and the Global South are facing "feelings of anger, fear, and powerlessness" as the climate crisis directly causes at least one famine, deadly flash flooding, and wildfires in multiple regions.
Nearly half of respondents said their worries about the climate crisis negatively affect their daily life and their ability to function, and more than half told the experts they feel humanity is "doomed."
Four in 10 said they would hesitate to have children in the future due to the state of the planet, while three-quarters of respondents described their futures as "frightening."
Avaaz reported that one of the most "shocking" findings was how respondents described their feelings about government inaction, including more than half who said they feel policymakers "are betraying them."
"If this isn't a wake up call for world leaders, what is?" asked Avaaz.
Young people in the cyclone-ravages Philippines and Brazil, where deforestation—driven by President Jair Bolsonaro's government—has become increasingly destructive in recent years, showed the most anxiety of the countries surveyed. More than nine in 10 respondents said they were frightened about the future.
Caroline Hickman, lead author of the study, which was published in The Lancet on Tuesday, cautioned adults against telling young people it is up to them to save the future of the planet.
"Thinking the way to cure eco-anxiety is eco-action isn't right," Hickman told Thomson Reuters, adding that what will solve the climate crisis is decisive action by world governments.
The survey "shows eco-anxiety is not just for environmental destruction alone, but inextricably linked to government inaction on climate change. The young feel abandoned and betrayed by governments," Hickman told the BBC. "Governments need to listen to the science and not pathologize young people who feel anxious."
The survey results were released less than two months ahead of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26), where policymakers will meet in Glasgow to discuss commitments to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, provide climate mitigation support for frontline communities across the globe, and rapidly transition to an emissions-free energy system.
Young people are "doing everything we can" to push for climate action, Neubauer told Thomson Reuters, "but that won't be enough."
"We won't fix it" through the Fridays for Future movement, she added. "We need everyone there."
As Luisa Neubauer, a 25-year-old leader of the global Fridays for Future movement in Germany, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, while the climate extremes caused by the planetary emergency are frightening, inaction by world leaders "is too much to handle, too much to accept."
"Government is pushing us in front of a bus," Neubauer told the outlet.
The mental health professionals who conducted the study spoke with young people in 10 countries including Nigeria, the Philippines, India, the U.K., and the U.S., finding that respondents in both wealthy countries and the Global South are facing "feelings of anger, fear, and powerlessness" as the climate crisis directly causes at least one famine, deadly flash flooding, and wildfires in multiple regions.
Nearly half of respondents said their worries about the climate crisis negatively affect their daily life and their ability to function, and more than half told the experts they feel humanity is "doomed."
Four in 10 said they would hesitate to have children in the future due to the state of the planet, while three-quarters of respondents described their futures as "frightening."
Avaaz reported that one of the most "shocking" findings was how respondents described their feelings about government inaction, including more than half who said they feel policymakers "are betraying them."
"If this isn't a wake up call for world leaders, what is?" asked Avaaz.
Young people in the cyclone-ravages Philippines and Brazil, where deforestation—driven by President Jair Bolsonaro's government—has become increasingly destructive in recent years, showed the most anxiety of the countries surveyed. More than nine in 10 respondents said they were frightened about the future.
Caroline Hickman, lead author of the study, which was published in The Lancet on Tuesday, cautioned adults against telling young people it is up to them to save the future of the planet.
"Thinking the way to cure eco-anxiety is eco-action isn't right," Hickman told Thomson Reuters, adding that what will solve the climate crisis is decisive action by world governments.
The survey "shows eco-anxiety is not just for environmental destruction alone, but inextricably linked to government inaction on climate change. The young feel abandoned and betrayed by governments," Hickman told the BBC. "Governments need to listen to the science and not pathologize young people who feel anxious."
The survey results were released less than two months ahead of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26), where policymakers will meet in Glasgow to discuss commitments to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, provide climate mitigation support for frontline communities across the globe, and rapidly transition to an emissions-free energy system.
Young people are "doing everything we can" to push for climate action, Neubauer told Thomson Reuters, "but that won't be enough."
"We won't fix it" through the Fridays for Future movement, she added. "We need everyone there."
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
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