*[Enwl-eng] They knew. They lied. They stole our future.
ENWLine
Earlier today, new shocking research was revealed: one of the world's biggest oil companies, Total, has known that burning fossil fuels could cause a climate crisis since 1971. [1]
They KNEW. They knew, and for decades they lied about it, funded climate denial and disinformation, misled their shareholders and the public. They knowingly chose their profit over people’s lives.
As this news breaks, we’re ready to start making Total pay for their lies. Total depends on the money they get from commercial banks from all over the world. With one hand, these banks hold our hard-earned savings; with another, they fund Total’s toxic business, which fuels the climate crisis and robs us of a safe and secure future. But they have a weakness: it’s us, their clients.
If enough of us speak up right now and demand that these banks cut off Total’s access to money, we could become a real threat to their reputation and profits. We could make any association with Total and other fossil fuel companies too toxic to be worth the risk. Please – take action right now, sign our petition and help build pressure on Total’s funders!
The report published today by French and American researchers reveals what we suspected to be true -- but it’s only now that we have indisputable proof. Total’s staff learned about the impact of their core business on the Earth’s climate as far back as 1971 – that’s 50 years ago. Since the 1980s, together with Exxon and others, Total knowingly spread climate doubt and denial, and spent millions each year to sow disinformation and lobby politicians.
In the past 50 years, Total’s market value and profits have skyrocketed. Their relentless extraction and burning of fossil fuels puts them on the list of just 20 companies responsible for a third of all CO2 emissions since the 1960s. [2]
That profit has come at an unspeakable price: the cost of real lives. People suffering and dying today from climate impacts – wildfires, floods, violent hurricanes - were condemned 50 years ago when Total’s directors decided that people’s lives were worth less than the massive profits from burning ever more oil and gas. They knew, and they chose money and comfort over people’s livelihoods and a healthy climate.
If that makes you as angry as it makes me, Vladimir, you can start by joining me in calling on some of the world’s biggest banks to cut Total off. These banks are vulnerable to customer pressure: we hold the power to threaten their reputation and their bottom line, but only if enough of us from across the world act together right now, when this breaking news is on the headlines.
Moments like this make me believe that the era of the unchecked power of the fossil fuel industry is coming to an end – and that’s thanks to this incredible, powerful, diverse movement we’re both part of. We’ve taken down fossil fuel companies, we’ve stopped pipelines from being built on Indigenous lands, we got banks to withdraw their loans and governments to pass laws to protect the climate. [3] We’re going to get there, one victory at a time, if we keep coming together in power and solidarity.
Thanks for being part of this!
Onwards,
Julia, on behalf of the 350.org team
PS: Why not target Total directly? Because we don’t want their empty
promises: we want them to feel real painful consequences of their lies. In
France, the climate justice movement today is demanding that the State starts an
official investigation into Total’s lies. Across
the world, we’re adding to the growing pressure by going after Total’s funders.
Join the action now!
Sources:
[1] Global
Environmental Change, October 2021. C. Bonneuil, P. Choquet, B. Franta. Early
warnings and emerging environmental accountability: Total’s responses to global
warming, 1968-2021.
[2] The
Guardian: Revealed: the 20 firms behind a third of all carbon
emissions
[3] 350.org:
350.org on TC Energy Termination of Keystone XL Pipeline; 350.org:
EU bank ready to ditch fossil fuels; Reclaim
Finance: Leading French Banks Pledge Not to Support Total’s EACOP
Project
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350.org is a global movement that fights for a just and equitable world by stopping the fossil fuel industry from continuing to destroy our climate.
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