Climate SOS (e-)Handbook released

We’re pleased to release the Climate SOS Handbook.

Our handbook provides an accessible introduction to many of the issues around fossil fuel subsidies and subsidy shifts to the zero-carbon economy.

What are the UK’s fossil fuel subsidies? How large are they? How could they be shifted to the zero-carbon economy and what positive impact would this have? How can we ensure that subsidy shifts don’t harm workers or communities? We hope that this handbook will provide readers with some answers to these questions.

With a range of case studies including fracking, Biomass and North Sea Oil and Gas, we hope it’s an easy-to-read exploration of an often-neglected subject. The handbook suggests how readers can take action to demand that the UK Government moves our money from fossil fuels to the zero-carbon economy.

The publication highlights some of the critical work that many organisations are doing on these issues. A supporting document on the ‘Resources’ page of the website provides key reading and references for each section and, in this way, we acknowledge – and salute – our sources.

We’ll be distributing fliers on November 6th at the Global Day of Action for Climate Justice mobilisation in Glasgow.

We’ll be selling the handbook for £1 – mainly to ensure that it goes to people who really want to read it. We’ve also put an electronic copy of the Handbook and its “companion” flier on the ‘Resources’ page of the website.

We’ll be sending a free complimentary copy to all our supporting groups.

Spreading the word at the People’s Assembly against Austerity Demo

We enjoyed spreading the word about the ‘Shift Our Subsidies’ campaign at the People’s Assembly demonstration in Manchester as the Conservative Party Conference opened.

This was our first bit of face-to-face outreach in eighteen months. It was a good to be part of the Climate Bloc and to have conversations with others about their campaigns and ours.

Climate SOS publishes statement on shifting subsidies after Covid-19

After our launch in April 2020, Climate SOS has published today a statement that reflects on the Covid-19 crisis and how it demands an urgent shift of fossil fuel subsidies to the zero-carbon economy. 

The statement recognises that “Covid-19 has changed the world irrevocably and is challenging humanity on many levels”. It has been written in the context of the health, climate, ecological, social and economic crises that humanity now faces and the world’s nascent policy discussions on Covid-19 recovery and stimulus packages.

The statement continues:

“One of Covid-19’s greatest challenges to us all is that it has brought us abruptly to a fork in the road in the climate emergency: we have to decide now whether the trillions that will be spent on stimulus packages to help the global economy to recover from its current trauma should be invested in fossil fuels or the zero-carbon economy.

It’s not enough to insist that the Covid-19 health and economic crisis cannot be solved by propping up fossil fuel companies with yet more taxpayers’ money, although that, of course, is true. Covid-19 requires us to commit more whole-heartedly than ever to our zero-carbon future. Among many other actions, that involves governments across the world, including the UK, now planning to urgently phase out already existing fossil fuel subsidies (and subsidies for industrial-scale bioenergy) and transfer this finance to subsidies for the zero-carbon economy.”

Our statement today offers eight short referenced commentaries to support a just climate-resilient recovery from the Covid-19 crisis. 

Read our statement here:
Climate SOS Statement on Shifting Subsidies after Covid-19Download

Published cartoons reflecting on these issues:

Chappatte in Der Spiegel

Kal in The Economist