Divest COP: A New Polluters Out Campaign - Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

POLLUTERS OUT is announcing our Divest COP campaign, aimed at exposing the hypocritical narrative of global climate negotiations funded by super polluters and fossil fuel corporations. COP, or Conference of the Parties, are global climate negotiations that have consistently been funded by international fossil fuel corporations like Shell, Iberdrola, and Endesa.

The systems of oppression that uphold the climate crisis intertwine around central injustices of massive wealth disparity present around the globe as a result of our capitalist, acquisition-focused societies. Since fossil fuels are directly responsible for the climate catastrophe, solutions cannot be reached when figures of corrupted wealth and power are sitting at the discussion tables. Instead, climate solutions must be reached by listening to frontline communities, and discussions where the voices of global south nations are amplified. The global north actively dismisses and exacerbates the inequities in the global south, and refuses climate solutions centering frontline communities. Catering to futuristic and unreliable negative emissions technology and ignoring the need for climate education allows world leaders to feel justified in polluting. By continuing to partake in green washing through inconsequential conferences and panels, the global north highlights its ever growing role in climate destruction.

DIVEST COP will be a series of sectioned campaigns targeting the corporate sponsors of COP26. Corporations—including BP—will be exposed for their continual abuse of human rights and environmental injustice, and world leaders will be held responsible. Our campaign highlights the intrinsic injustices within a system meant to push for change, lasting until COP starts in November.