This summer, heat killed an estimated 50,000 people in European cities, and researchers link about two-thirds of those deaths to fossil fuel-driven climate change. Now, one of the strongest El Niño events in history is arriving on top of that warming, and the World Meteorological Organization says the world should prepare for another record-breaking year in 2027. This week, representatives from close to 190 countries are gathered in Turkey for COP31, the United Nations climate summit. The final agreement at last year's summit did not mention fossil fuels at all. This one cannot.
Sign the petition urging the leaders running COP31 to keep fossil fuel lobbyists out of the summit and to put a plan with dates for phasing out fossil fuels into the official agreement before it ends on November 20.
The UN Secretary-General has told world leaders what is at stake. "The dinosaurs did not have a lobby, but fossil fuels do," he said.
Yet there is little sign this summit will deliver. Last year, more than 80 countries pushed for a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels, but several countries, including major oil and gas producers, objected and it was dropped.
The two countries running this year's summit both rely heavily on fossil fuels. Turkey is hosting, and its president celebrated the discovery of two new oilfields this week. Australia, led by climate minister Chris Bowen, is presiding over the negotiations, and it is one of the world's biggest exporters of coal and gas.
Fossil fuel lobbyists are in the room, too. At last year's summit, more than 1,600 were given access, outnumbering almost every country's delegation, according to a coalition of watchdog groups.
Ending fossil fuels is also starting to make financial sense. The Iran war has shown many countries how costly and risky it is to depend on oil and gas. The UN's climate chief says almost every major economy now sees climate action as a way to create jobs and keep energy affordable and secure.
Sign the petition and demand COP31's leaders keep fossil fuel lobbyists out and put a real plan to phase out fossil fuels into the official agreement before November 20.
