This is a dark moment. Russia has invaded Ukraine, causing millions of people to flee for their safety, while others stay and fight against the Russian occupation of their communities. At the same time, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has released its most recent report, which it calls an “atlas of suffering” at the hands of the climate crisis.
Germany – Europe’s largest gas consumer and trader – is looking for ways to cut loose from its dependency on Russian fossil fuels. On several fronts, fossil fuel cheerleaders in Canada are using the need to interrupt Russia’s power as justification for pushing new Canadian fossil fuel infrastructure and exports. Corporations and political parties are seizing the war on Ukraine as their opportunity to bring in policy measures and financial support for the declining fossil fuel industry.
This is the shock doctrine at work: corporations and their lobbyists are using this crisis to ram through policies and decisions they already had on their wish lists.
More fossil fuels will not get us out of this war, and increasing liquified natural gas (LNG) export or any new fossil fuel infrastructure will only worsen our ongoing climate crisis. Now is the time to invest rapidly in a just transition away from fossil fuels, both to address the climate crisis and to loosen the grip of oil and gas producing nations on global security.
“Two crises, one root: conflict, climate emergency, and LNG” is hosted by Environmental Action Germany/Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V., the New Brunswick Anti Shale Gas Alliance and the Council of Canadians.
