Story at a glance:
- Environmentalists are protesting in Glasgow.
- Net-zero emission goals are not enough, protesters say.
- Two protesters were arrested Wednesday.
American environmentalists and activists have made it to Glasgow to protest and make their voices heard at COP26.
Build Back Fossil Free is an Indigenous and Black environmentalist network that leads grassroots campaigns to push the Biden administration to uphold the climate promises it made.
On Monday, the second day of COP26, the group joined other climate activist organizations to demand that President Biden take executive action to ban fossil fuel projects and declare a climate emergency, The Guardian reported.
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While the Biden administration, alongside other nations, has made a net-zero emission goal by 2050, the protesters and organizers told the outlet that the agenda does not go far enough to tackle the climate crisis.
“The hope is here that President Biden, and all the world leaders here, really acknowledge who is at the source point for that oil and gas. Net Zero does not mean it stops polluting them, and in fact, you are just perpetuating and prolonging the fossil fuel era and the climate emergency,” Jean Su, the co-chair of the Climate Action Network, told The Guardian.
Biden left the conference on Tuesday night after a two-day visit.
A study earlier this year found that marginalized communities are particularly vulnerable to climate change and are already bearing the brunt of its damage. The report from the Environmental Justice Foundation says these communities are facing a “matrix” of systemic issues including racism, income inequality, and a history of genocide of Native peoples.
The BBC reports at least two Extinction Rebellion protesters have been arrested today. The protests were against companies accused of “greenwashing” and a new oil field in Cambo off Shetland.
Joining Stop Cambo on Wednesday morning, fellow environmentalist campaign group Platform and Friends of The Earth demonstrated on Glasgow’s Buchanan Street. The protest occurred on the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth inaugurating North Sea oil in 1975, according to the BBC.
“Any new oil and gas production is continuing to support a declining industry. There’s a lot of talk about it being important for jobs, but they should be creating pathways for workers outside oil and gas,” Rosemary Harris, the North Sea Just Transition Campaigner of Platform, told the outlet.
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