Energy justice

I work with social movements and organisations empowering communities impacted by oil extraction in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. For over 50 years, billions of dollars of oil revenues have been extracted from the Niger Delta, yet local people live in abject poverty. Oil spills are a daily occurrence, ravaging farmland and killing fish that village communities depend on for their survival. Toxic gas-flaring occurs with impunity. 

Shell is the most active oil major in the region, contributing to this legacy of human rights violations, environmental devastation and social conflict.  2 years ago, a detailed UNEP report concluded that...

       An image of the infographic at www.twoenergyfutures.org

Most people in the world prefer renewable energy to fossil fuels or nuclear power. This is what the opinion polls tell us, again and again, and it's why communities are standing up to fossil fuel  extraction projects and pushing for cleaner alternatives all over the world.

That’s all very well, say the fossil fuel proponents, and of course we all want clean energy eventually, but for now we need coal, oil and gas because renewables just can’t fill the energy gap, right? Burning carbon is just a necessary evil, so we've just got no choice to extract those tar sands, or frack that national park, or drill...

Coal mining in Indonesia is having a huge impact on local and indigenous populations. Alex Scrivener and Andrew Taylor from WDM recently visited Central Kalimantan on the island of Borneo and this is what they saw at the Borneo Lumbung Mine near Maruwei:

Things have been a struggle for local people since the mining companies moved in. A woman called Erly Aisha told Alex and Andrew how things have changed. "Fifteen years ago before the mining companies, we could use the river water to cook, shower and wash. Now it is polluted and we can only use it for having a shower and for the toilet." 

BHP Billiton, a UK financed mining company, is planning extensive mining projects in the Murung Raya district of Central Kalimantan. HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank are both linked to financing BHP Billiton. WDM is campaigning for these banks and other parts of the financial sector to be ...

Seven years ago, the Indonesian town of Sidoarjo in East Java was the scene of a human tragedy.

The world’s largest mud volcano was created when a gas well belonging to an irresponsible company blew-out. The resulting torrent of mud has subsumed 22 villages. The mud flow is now known as ‘Lapindo’ after Lapindo Brantas, the company who ran the site.

The people of Sidoarjo are still angry as many residents have not received their full compensation.

Across Indonesia fossil fuel companies are extracting the country’s huge coal reserves and replaying the abuses of human rights that have plagued Sidoarjo. Many of the companies involved with these projects receive funds from the UK finance sector.

WDM campaigners Alex Scrivener and Andrew Taylor met local people and anti-mining activists at a protest at the site of the mud flow.

The 'Carbon Bubbles champagne bar' tour continued this morning as we brought the taste of destruction back to the city once again. This time it was outside HSBC’s AGM at the Barbican Centre. We served up the finest quality oil from the Canadian Tar Sands, financed by HSBC, to passing shareholders so that they could sample the destruction that their shares cause. Many shareholders didn’t bat an eye lid at the reality that their shares were contributing to bankrolling climate change. Additionally causing the displacement of local communities in the global south to make way for fossil fuel extraction. One older gentleman literally guzzled down the oil we were offering shareholders in champagne glasses (in reality molasses disguised as oil). Clearly displaying that those involved in the fossil fuel web of power do actually love the taste of oil, I never knew. We also had samples of coal from the Cerrejón mine in Colombia as a visual display of what shareholder money is invested in.

Between 2010 and 2012 the top five UK banks raised £170 billion in bonds and shares for fossil fuel companies. HSBC outdid them all raising £74.64 billion for fossil fuel firms during this two year period. At present fossil fuel reserves on the London Stock Exchange are over 200 times the UK’...

The World Development Movement recently hosted Tatiana Roa Avendaño, an activist resisting the Cerrejón coal mine in Colombia. Watch the video below to see what she said about Cerrejón when she visited Anglo American's headquarters.

Cerrejón is a giant open-pit coal mine in La Guajira, northern Colombia. The mine is jointly owned by three of the world's largest mining companies; London-listed Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Xstrata. Tatiana told us about how the Colombian government has presented Cerrejón as an example of responsible mining. However this is far from the truth. The Cerrejón mine is located in Wayúu indigenous territory and when mining began 30 years ago local people were not consulted. Instead their lands were seized and communities were forcibly displaced, violating their constitutional land rights. The Colombian government has failed to adequately compensate any of the affected communities.

Pollution and dust from the coal mine has caused the contamination of...

Fossil fuel companies raise money through a mix of equity and debt. Large companies usually raise equity by selling shares, and the London Stock Exchange is one of the world’s leading share trading venues. The money mostly comes from ordinary people, but we have little say in the decision of fund managers to invest our pensions, insurance revenues and savings in extractive industries.

The financial sector views fossil fuels as a reliable bet, and is betting on the UK government doing little to curb our oil, gas and coal addiction. With tax breaks of over £1 billion to North Sea oil, and new carbon reporting rules that don’t even ask financiers to count the impact of their investments, it has not been disappointed.

This booklet looks at how the City of London organises the fossil fuel investments for destructive fossil fuel projects that are leading to runaway climate change, and asks what we can do to stop it. Its aim is to inform campaigners and equip them to take action.

The UK finance sector is bankrolling climate change. Banks, pension funds and other finance companies are funding dirty energy projects that are destroying people’s lives and pushing the planet to the brink of catastrophe. Yet millions of people have no access to electricity.

Across the world, people are resisting dirty fossil fuel projects affecting their communities, and looking for better ways to ensure people have access to energy.