UK’s pro-tar sands stance exposed, and showdown with Shell

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Dear friends,

Last week, two of the world’s leading scientists travelled to Europe to counter some of the outrageous lobbying coming from the tar sands industry and the Canadian government against EU climate legislation. The trip, by US climate expert Jim Hansen and Canadian environmental economist Mark Jaccard,  included giving evidence to the European Parliament, meetings with national governments, and plenty of media coverage making the point that the tar sands need to stay in the ground. The trip appeared to spur the Canadians into sending their second Minister to Europe in two weeks, giving us the opportunity for a quick protest in Brussels.

Perhaps most importantly, the visit prompted the revelation in the guardian that the uk government is now supporting an approach to the fuel quality directive that treats tar sands as no more polluting than conventional fuel. totally outrageous! we will be ramping up our fqd campaign in response, so watch this space…

Get the full story of last week’s lobbying showdown here.

This week, we’re turning our attentions to Shell. It’s their Annual General Meeting tomorrow, and we will be there in The Hague. We will be there with Eriel Deranger and Mae R Hank, two amazing Indigenous women representing communities in Alberta and Alaska which are under attack from Shell’s extreme energy projects. Find out more here, including a powerful new film about the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation’s battle with Shell. You can watch the livestream of the AGM tomorrow morning (9am UK time) if you register in advance, or follow our live tweets from inside the event.

Finally, squaring up to Big Oil costs money. If you would like to support the work we are doing, please consider a donation. However small, we can guarantee that we’ll use it to kick the tar sands industry’s ass!

Love not lobbying,

Jess, Sue, Emily and Ruthi