Barcelona City Council joins global call for an equitable transition to low-carbon and renewable energy.

PRESS RELEASE, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, January 21, 2021

BARCELONA - Yesterday, the Barcelona City Council voted to endorse the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. Barcelona is the first city in Europe and second in the world to endorse, following Vancouver, Canada. The treaty initiative aims to foster international cooperation to phase out fossil fuels in keeping with the Paris Agreement limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming and accelerate a fair transition to renewable energy and low-carbon solutions. Other cities are also considering similar treaty endorsement resolutions. 

The endorsement of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty follows on other actions taken by Barcelona including declaring a state of climate emergency and putting in place one of Europe’s largest low-emissions zones.  Since hosting the last COP 25 in Madrid, Spain has closed half its coal mines and is considering the ending of new licenses for fossil fuel exploration and fracking as part of its plan to shift to 100% renewable electricity and decarbonize the economy. 

The Treaty publicly launched in late September and gained its inaugural city endorsement from Vancouver a mere month later which passed unanimously. Since then, the Treaty has gained hundreds of organizations and individuals supporting the Initiative including Bill McKibben, Power Shift Africa, Third World Network, Asia Peoples Movement on Debt and Development, Global Witness, 350.org, World Future Council, Stand.earth, Friends of the Earth, and youth groups in many countries.

Tzeporah Berman, Chair of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative and International Program Director at Stand.earth said “The City of Barcelona’s endorsement of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty sends a strong message to governments that we simply cannot solve the climate emergency and ensure citizens safety without stopping the expansion of oil, gas and coal. You don’t put out a fire by throwing more gas on it. No city, company or country can manage this alone and international cooperation is needed to negotiate an equitable and truly global just transition. We need wealthy nations to lead and work with countries in the Global South to ensure a global wind-down of fossil fuel production and emissions.”

"It's good to see the costs of renewables falling and the adoption of clean energy growing. But this energy transition is not happening fast enough to stop dangerous climate change.  We need to actively push against fossil fuels to accelerate this planet-saving shift,” said Mohamed Adow, Founding Director of Power Shift Africa.  "Like a gardener, we don't just need to water the flowers of renewable energy, we actively need to pull out the fossil fuel weeds as well.  That is why we need a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty."

The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation is critically needed as a complement to the Paris Accords to hold governments and the fossil fuel industry accountable for emissions from the production of fossil fuels. As it stands, national governments plan to expand fossil fuels at levels that would result in 120 per cent more emissions than what is in keeping with the limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming. Despite these plans, there is currently no mechanism in place to limit this fossil fuel expansion. 

The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty provides a vehicle to spur the international cooperation needed, drawing on lessons from global efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and ban asbestos, ozone-depleting chemicals, landmines and other threats to humanity. It will advance action under three pillars:

Non-Proliferation - Don’t Add to the Problem

An immediate end to the expansion into new reserves of coal, oil and natural gas would limit the globe’s production of carbon emissions (which if left alone would create more than twice over the limit set by the United Nations and other organizations).

Global Disarmament - Get Rid of the Existing Threat

Since existing oil and gas fields and coal mines contain enough carbon on their own, phasing out those current stockpiles is a much-needed step to keep the world under the Paris Agreement’s temperature limits.

Peaceful Transition - Accelerate an Equitable Transition

Every worker, community, and country must be taken into the deepest consideration on the way to fast-tracking all solutions. Only a proactive plan to enable economic diversification, implement renewable energy and other reliable, cost-effective low-carbon solutions will be able to meet the needs of a sustainable future.

For more information on the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, please visit the website and introduction video.

Media contacts: 

Cara Pike, Executive Director, Climate Access 
cara@climateaccess.org
1+250 709 1861

Brenna Two Bears, Communications Associate, Climate Access
brenna@climateaccess.org
1+812 345 3139