With the fossil industry gearing up to spend US$1.4 trillion to increase production over the next five years, climate hawks were at the Climate Action Summit in New York this week with the news that 530 organizations in 76 countries had signed the Lofoten Declaration, calling for an oil and gas phaseout to deliver climate security and a strong economy.

“Signatories are demanding government and industry commit to phase out fossil fuel production and accelerate the transition to clean energy and other low-carbon solutions,” Vancouver-based Stand.earth writes in a release. “The declaration calls on high-income economies that benefitted from fossil fuel extraction and are historically responsible for significant emissions to lead.”

The release adds that cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 50% over the next decade “will require removing finance and subsidies and banning licences, contracts, and permits for new oil and gas development, developing plans to phase out existing production at a pace aligned with the Paris Agreement, and supporting communities and workers in oil and gas regions in consultation with trade unions and local leaders.”

“If a house is on fire, you don’t add fuel,” said Climate Action Network-Canada Executive Director Catherin Abreu. “True leadership in response to the climate emergency means having the courage to commit to ending the expansion of oil and gas production and make a plan to transition communities and workers to better opportunities.”

“Everyone knows the world must dramatically reduce production and emissions of fossil fuels if we are going to have a safe climate,” said Stand.earth International Program Director Tzeporah Berman. “Everyone continues to argue that their oil and gas expansion fits within a global plan,” but “the math doesn’t work,.”

Expanded fossil production “threatens us all,” she added. So “we need to stop pretending the solution is a technological fix, and stop expansion by regulating production globally.” 

“With the transition to clean energy well under way, a growing number of investors see oil and gas projects as a bad investment,” said Oil Change International Senior Campaigner Alex Doukas. “We’re in the midst of a climate emergency, and the massive surge in climate activism makes it increasingly untenable for financiers to continue wasting money on an oil and gas industry that ultimately needs to disappear if we’re serious about climate action.”