THE FOSSIL FUEL FREE CITIES TOOLKIT

Once your city has endorsed the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, there are several actions you can campaign for and implement to remove the social license of the fossil fuel industry, accelerate social tipping points for climate stability and make your cities fossil fuel free.

Choose the actions that make the most sense in your local contexts and where there is most energy and momentum. We have indicated which regions actions are appropriate for – for Global North and Global South cities, or all cities.

AMPLIFY YOUR MESSAGE TO GROW THE NUMBER OF FOSSIL FUEL FREE CITIES

Make a press release, write an op-ed or a letter to the editor, promote on social media, get local media to cover the campaign, make a video of the campaigners and city councillors who put forward the winning motion, share the treaty video, organize a press conference, ask your city councillor to promote the city endorsement in their community newsletter, do all you can to amplify the successful treaty campaign in your city and inspire other cities to join the movement. 

Is your city a member of C40, ICLEI, CNCA, CC35, Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, Energy Cities, Climate Mayors, FCM, Energy Cities, Zero Waste Cities, African Centre for Cities, Urban Future, or any other cities focused network? If so, ask your city to send a letter to their member organisation to support the treaty and share with their networks.

All cities

URGE THE REGIONAL AND NATIONAL GOVERNMENT TO SUPPORT A FOSSIL FUEL TREATY

Call on your city councillors who put forward the successful city motion to contact the provincial, state, or regional leader, and the prime minister, president or national leader and urge their government to support the global call for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.

All cities

BECOME A SAFE CITY

SAFE Cities is a growing movement of neighbours, local groups, and elected officials phasing out fossil fuels and fast-tracking renewable energy solutions to ensure a just transition.  Local governments use their authority, often through land use and zoning, to pass policies that stop infrastructure expansion and phase out fossil fuels. Local governments can pass a resolution to become a SAFE City as they endorse the Treaty or after, and can also pass actionable SAFE Cities policies including renewable electrification policies that can be applied to different sectors such as transport, buildings, heating and cooling, and others by expanding electrified transport and public transit, investing in new climate infrastructure, electrifying buildings, etc.

SAFE Cities policies can also include temporary or permanent bans on fossil fuel infrastructure. Local municipalities have successfully stopped the proliferation of everything from refineries to oil wells to gas stations.

Cities across the United States have become SAFE cities and the movement is growing internationally.

Explore resources and many policy examples here:

All cities

STOP ADS SPURRING CLIMATE BREAKDOWN

“The most important thing really to fossil fuels' ability to stay alive and stay profitable is a social license.” - DRILLED Podcast, referring to BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Fossil fuel companies and heavy industry polluters use advertising to expand their social license to operate, amplify demand for a fossil fuel economy, and stall a just energy transition. Campaign to stop fossil fuel advertising in your city, including marketing, greenwashing, branding and sponsoring by fossil fuel companies. This means an end to advertising for the fossil fuel industry (oil, coal, gas), air travel, petrol and diesel vehicles (e.g. cheap flights, SUVs). 

There are plenty of precedents to stop harmful marketing such as bans on advertising for tobacco, junk food and weapons, and the same can be done to stop advertising fueling climate breakdown. Explore this compilation of campaigns and victories across the globe to end fossil fuel advertising.

Explore resources here:

For more information reach out to Reclame Fossielvrij: info@verbiedfossielereclame.nl or Fossil Ad Ban: info@fossiladban.org

All cities

BREAK TIES BETWEEN THE ARTS AND FOSSIL FUEL COMPANIES

The fossil fuel industry uses artwashing - efforts to clean up their public image by funding arts and cultural institutes such as galleries, opera houses, museums and festivals - to expand their social legitimacy. The fossil free culture movement is how to stop this. Urge all public cultural institutions in your city to break all ties with the fossil fuel industry by ending partnerships and sponsorships. Using rebellious art and action, campaigners are succeeding in tarnishing the social license of fossil fuel companies by compelling the arts and culture sector to end all partnerships and sponsorships from the fossil fuel industry.

Explore resources here:

All cities

MAKE POLITICS FOSSIL FREE

The fossil fuel industry undermines democracies by infiltrating politics (e.g. lobbying meetings, sitting on advisory boards, sponsoring political campaigns etc.) to influence decision-making, dilute climate policy and embrace our destructive business as usual. The fossil free politics movement campaigns to protect politics from fossil fuel influence, just as restrictions have been imposed to protect policymaking from the tobacco industry. More than 200 organisations back the global call for fossil free politics. The campaign calls for four concrete demands: 1) End fossil fuel industry access to political decision-making, 2) Address conflicts of interests of decision makers, 3) End preferential treatment of the fossil fuel industry, 4) Reject partnerships with the fossil fuel industry. Urge your city to implement these four demands to make their politics fossil fuel free.

Explore resources here:

All cities

STOP ALL NEW FOSSIL FUEL INFRASTRUCTURE AND PHASE-OUT EXISTING PROJECTS

By the end of this decade we are set to produce 120% more fossil fuels than is compatible with a 1.5C scenario. These fossil fuel projects often drill and extract in economically poor and politically marginalized communities. If you do not want an extractive project in your backyard, it should not exist anywhere. For justice for frontline communities and to halt the climate emergency we need to keep all fossil fuels in the ground, and phase-out the reserves that currently exist in an equitable way. Even the International Energy Agency has said “there is no need for investment in new fossil fuel supply in our net zero pathway.” 

Campaign to make this happen in your city, by stopping all new fossil fuel projects and phasing-out and cleaning up existing projects, to make way for renewable cities. This can range from blocking major infrastructure (e.g. refineries, pipelines, export terminals, airport expansion etc.) and smaller infrastructure (e.g. gas stations). The coastal community of Peruíbe blocked the construction of a giant thermoelectric plant. In Ontario, 26 councils have come together to call on the province to phase-out all gas plants. Los Angeles is making moves to stop all oil and gas drilling in the city and to halt the construction of all new gas stations.

Explore resources here:

All cities

END FOSSIL FUEL FINANCING

The fossil fuel industry is propped up by $11 million in subsidies every minute. Campaign to stop this financing of climate breakdown and urge your city to divest all assets, bonds, equities, banks, universities and pension funds from fossil fuel companies. Campaign for this money to be redirected to planetary solutions such as renewable and cooperative energy systems. In 2018, New York City announced it would divest $5 billion from fossil fuels, and Danish municipalities continued to divest from oil, coal and gas companies. Now cities across the world have committed to divest from fossil fuels and invest in a sustainable future so make sure your city is among this collective.

Explore resources here:

All cities

BAN SALES OF POLLUTING VEHICLES

Over the past decade, “the transport sector was the fastest growing fossil fuel combustion sector worldwide,” due to rising road travel, aviation and shipping activity. Cities and countries around the world are stopping the sale of diesel and petrol cars in the coming decade. Campaign to make this a reality in your city even sooner. Egypt is planning for only electric vehicles on its streets by 2040. The EU will ban fossil fuel cars from 2035. Japan will ban gasoline car sales by 2035. Explore even more examples in the resources below and ensure protection mechanisms are in place to prevent these used vehicles from being exported to the Global South. 

In cities where such a shift is not yet possible, call for low emissions zones that reduce vehicle emissions and congestion, while improving air quality and ensuring mobility justice is prioritised. Campaign for the transport sector to decarbonise, creating affordable zero carbon transport infrastructure for urban communities. 

Explore resources here:

Global North cities

BAN OR TAX FOSSIL FUEL TRANSIT

The transit of fossil fuels by land and sea puts whole communities and ecosystems in danger. Campaigners are working hard to ban the transit of oil, coal and gas through their streets, ports and railways. Organize with grassroots coalitions and city councillors to stop the transit of fossil fuels through your city or region. Indigenous communities and frontline campaigners pushed the government to institute a moratorium on oil tankers in British Columbia’s north coast and organizers are campaigning for this moratorium to be even more stringent. Communities across Baltimore campaigned to stop trains transporting crude oil from entering their city. Residents of Portland, Maine pushed their city council to support a Clear Skies Ordinance “which will block the loading of heavy tar-sands bitumen onto tankers at the city’s port.”

All cities

EXPAND AND ELECTRIFY PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

The automobile boom has fundamentally reshaped the world’s cities. But even in cities where pedestrians, cyclists and collective transport users dominate the streets, planning has followed a car-centric model. This is to the detriment of human wellbeing and planetary limits. Campaign to reverse this planning model and advocate for an expansion and electrification of public transportation systems in your city. Addis Ababa created the continent’s first light rail transit system in a city where 85% of the residents do not own a private vehicle. China is now home to 98% of the world’s electric buses. Take for example the city of Shenzhen in China that now counts a total of 16,000 electrific buses. These moves not only work to decarbonise transportation but also to democratise access to public space by supporting mobility access.

Explore resources here:

All cities

STOP GAS CONNECTIONS TO NEW BUILDINGS

To accelerate the move to decarbonize buildings, campaign for a ban on gas connections to new buildings. This will allow for a massive shift from fossil fuels to renewable powered electrificification for purposes such as heating, cooling and cooking. New York City has committed to phase-out fossil fuels for household purposes and for buildings by the end of the decade. Campaign for your city to end gas connections for all new buildings and commit to zero-carbon electricity for all future buildings.

Explore resources here:

Global North cities

REDUCE DEPENDENCY ON GASOLINE AND DIESEL BACKUP GENERATORS

Electricity access can improve developmental, health, education and livelihood outcomes, yet “about 1.5 billion people around the world live day-to-day with “broken” electricity grids and experience blackouts for hundreds and sometimes thousands of hours a year.” Most of these populations that lack electricity access or face unreliable and intermittent electricity access are located in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Gasoline and diesel backup generators are commonly used to backstop unreliable and/or nonexistent electricity grids but come at the detriment of human health and ecological outcomes. In fact, “in regions where generators are a predominant source of energy access, spending on fuel can be equivalent to or higher than the total national spending on the grid.” 

Development of renewable energy systems for electricity access such as solar PV systems for “primary and back-up power generation” can replace dependency on fuel-powered generators, improve the reliability of electric grids and provide renewable energy access. Financial and policy instruments such as taxation on generators and/or subsidies for renewable power generation can help to facilitate this transition. Where this doesn’t jeopardise livelihood or development outcomes, campaign to end fuel-powered generators and increase access to renewable-powered electricity in your city.

Explore resources here:

Global South cities

RETROFIT OLD BUILDINGS

Buildings account for more than half of average energy use in cities, making the case for building decarbonisation essential. This is not only vital for all buildings of the future, our current building stock needs to be retrofitted. This means upgrading lighting, heating and cooling systems in buildings (e.g. homes, hospitals, hotels etc.) from ones powered by coal, oil and gas to electricity systems powered by renewable energy on smart grids. Campaign for your city to source power for its buildings solely from renewable sources. Additional actions to improve energy efficiency in buildings can include insulation measures and lighting improvements, as well as greywater systems to reduce waste.

Explore resources here:

All cities

SOURCE ELECTRICITY FROM RENEWABLES

Cities power their electricity grid in all sorts of ways, using coal, gas, nuclear, oil, hydro, wind, solar and other sources.

More than 300 cities have passed laws to transition off fossil fuels and reach 100% renewable electricity by no later than mid-century. We need even more cities doing this much sooner. Campaign for your city to commit to 100% renewable electricity sources for their grids by this decade and join countless cities making this pledge. Ensure justice is at the centre of these changes, protecting rent-control measures, affordability and social housing and stopping gentrification.

Explore resources here:

All cities

BAN SINGLE-USE PLASTICS

Fossil fuel companies are relying on plastics as a lifeline to offset losses and stay alive. As resistance to fossil fuels mounts globally, petrochemical companies are pushing plastics. 

“In the last decade, petrochemicals have moved from a sideshow for the oil and gas industry to a major profit machine, and the trend is expected to accelerate.” Once these plastics are momentarily used and disposed of, rich nations most often dump their plastic waste onto poorer countries. Campaign for your city to stop this disastrous cycle by banning all single-use plastics. Africa is the world’s leader in plastic bans. The Break Free From Plastic movement is a global campaign for a world free of plastic pollution. And work is underway for a treaty on plastic pollution.

Explore resources here:

All cities

CREATE A SOLIDARITY FUND FOR A JUST ENERGY TRANSITION

Radically reshaping the energy matrix of cities to renewable-powered systems and moving swiftly in times of climate crisis requires mass mobilization, relentless commitment and substantial financial investment.

Frontline communities and cities across the Global South are facing an unprecedented urgency to adapt to a climate emergency that they did not create. Climate reparations are essential if we are to ensure that climate justice is at the heart of a just energy transition. A solidarity fund for frontline communities and cities in the Global South can support financing for a just energy transition and help incubate low carbon industries.

Advocate for your city to set up a solidarity fund to support fossil fuel dependent communities and economies with their renewable energy transition.

Global North cities
Have other ideas for this toolkit? Need help?

Feel free to get in touch with our Campaigns Team at campaign@fossilfueltreaty.org