Stories of solidarity under coronavirus
Coronavirus hasn’t affected everyone equally. We're sharing stories from across our European and global network of what lockdown and life under coronavirus look like around the world. Hearing from those who are among the worst affected, and how they are taking action.
Nearly 10 years after a clean-up was urged for areas polluted by Shell and other oil companies in the Niger Delta, work has begun on only 11% of planned sites while vast areas remain heavily contaminated, according to a new investigation by Friends of the Earth Europe, Amnesty International, ERA and Milieudefensie.
According to a European Commission study on human rights due diligence published today, voluntary measures have not succeeded in protecting workers, communities, and the environment from systematic human rights violations linked to the global supply chains of European businesses and financial institutions.
A year and a half ago, Friends of the Earth began a lawsuit against Shell in the Netherlands, led by Milieudefensie / Friends of the Earth Netherlands. We served Shell legal papers summoning them to court for climate crimes.
This week we received Shell's response. What we can already see from their arguments is that Shell believes it is already doing enough to combat the climate emergency.
Today Friends of the Earth Netherlands received Shell's long awaited re-sponse to the legal summons demanding it acts on climate change. While lawyers still need to study the 272 page legal document in detail, the response shows that Shell does not intend to meet the plaintiffs' demands.
Friends of the Earth Netherlands' Director Donald Pols says, "Shell once again takes no responsibility for the disproportionate role it plays in aggravating the climate crisis. Shell is undermining the world's chanc-es to stay below 1.5°C."
Civil society organisations demand fossil free politics
The world’s five big oil and gas majors and their lobbyists have spent at least 251 million euros lobbying the EU since 2010, new research reveals – as almost 200 civil society organisations demand fossil free politics.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has today failed to agree a new energy lending policy that proposed to end its financing of fossil fuel projects from 2020.
Voting on the policy was expected to take place in Luxembourg today at the meeting of the Bank’s board, made up of representatives from every EU member state, but the decision has for the second time been postponed, likely to November.
This week (14-18 October 2019) marks another round of negotiations on a historic UN treaty on transnational corporations and human rights will take place in Geneva. On the agenda is the first draft of the treaty that was published in July by Ecuador, the country chairing the process.
by Colin Roche, fossil free campaigner - originally published in Foresight
New research published today reveals the devastating consequences of the controversial Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system. A common ingredient in international trade and investment agreements, ISDS creates a parallel justice system that rolls out the red carpet for corporations to sue states when they act in the public interest.