Through ads and sponsorships, fossil fuels are polluting everything we love: our favourite football team, the music festival we enjoy the most, our art and museums and just about any cultural space you can imagine.
We don't have the time for fossil fuel companies to mislead consumers about their products and persist with business as usual in the face of clear scientific warnings. We need to act to hack their ability to present themselves as trustable actors with the ultimate goal of blocking climate action.
Movements and organisations in Europe have the privilege to take a direct stand against the fossil fuel industry in a way that not many around the world can because a lot of these oil giants are headquartered here. With that privilege comes the responsibility to amplify the voices of people on the frontline, the most vulnerable communities facing the worst impacts of the climate crisis. It is vital that activists based in Europe like me use our access to these colonial companies to speak out strongly against the fossil fuel industry and challenge the political structures that allow polluting industries to destroy our planet at the cost of the most vulnerable.
That is why European activists and grassroots groups are taking action. Check these amazing videos where climate activists Mattina, Noëlie, Teresa and Talissa explain why we urgently need to #BanFossilAds.
We Need to Talk About Cultural Sponsorship – Mattina
"Fossil fuel companies love to stick their logos on arts, culture and sport, to distract people from their pollution and political lobbying. But people are fighting back, and the tide is turning on fossil fuel sponsorship." – Mattina, member of activist theatre group BP or Not BP?.
Let's Ban Fossil Fuel Adverts – Noëlie Audi-Dor (she/her)
"The fossil fuel industry has terrible impacts on people's lives. They don't deserve to cover our cities with cute misleading adverts. This is our chance to fight back against their endless greenwashing" – Noëlie Audi-Dor (she/her), Gastivists collective co-coordinator.
Benevolence is Colonialism in Disguise – Teresa Borasino (she/her)
"Fossil fuel sponsorship is part of the same system that upholds the oppression of the historically bullied, and the power of the oppressors with their bulldozers" – Teresa Borasino (she/her) – Artist / co-founder Fossil Free Culture NL.
We Can Break The Machine – Talissa Soto (she/her)
'The time is long overdue to end the fossil fuel industry's deadly deceit and exploitation. We must radically re-imagine and re-build worlds where we hold the power to take deeper care of ourselves, our communities and the planet.' – Talissa Soto (she/her), climate justice organizer and trainer.
Silvia Diaz is a Communications and Engagement Lead with the Fossil Free Revolution campaign.
