a huge mistake<\/a> in greenlighting the Willow project in the Arctic. I think they realize that was a big mistake \u2014 practically in climate terms, but politically too. Stopping the expansion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals is a way to correct the course. Just one of these proposed complexes \u2014 the CP2 LNG terminal, for example \u2014 is associated with 20 times the greenhouse gas emissions of the Willow oil-drilling project in Alaska. These decisions are super consequential. This should be an easy one for the Biden administration. When you export LNG, you drive up the price for Americans. Halting these projects would actually be their own little inflation-reduction acts. <\/p>\nPaige Vega<\/h4>\n
The stakes around these battles are more obvious than ever and now climate activists have this added leverage to hold countries accountable to their promises. Have we entered a new era of climate activism? <\/p>\n
Bill McKibben<\/h4>\n
I don\u2019t know if we have or not, and we\u2019ll see how much of the movement we can muster around this. But at least we\u2019re inching closer to reality. 2023 was the hottest year in 125,000 years. We\u2019re not behaving as if our world is on fire \u2014 it is \u2014 but finally we\u2019re acknowledging that we can smell a little smoke somewhere. <\/p>\n
I mean, look, the compromised nature of this whole process is underlined by the fact that COP28 is the first time in 28 years that we managed to mention the obvious cause of the problem that we\u2019re dealing with. That\u2019s pathetic, obviously. <\/p>\n
But one must look for tools that we can use, and COP28 gave us one there because of great organizing from people around the world.<\/p>\n
Paige Vega<\/h4>\n
What advice might you offer to fellow climate activists? Where does the movement go from here? <\/p>\n
Bill McKibben<\/h4>\n
The fight to stop the buildout of LNG export terminals in the Gulf is a good example of how the climate fight will take shape next. There are local activists and extraordinary leaders in Louisiana and Texas at the front lines of these battles. Now, the Biden administration has said it wants to transition away from fossil fuels \u2014 and, thanks to COP28, they\u2019ve signed a solemn declaration to this effect. Therefore, they have no choice but to stop granting export licenses for LNG terminals. In order to grant those licenses, they need to decide that they are in the public interest. They\u2019ve gone on the record to say that transitioning away from fossil fuels is in the public interest. So, it\u2019s time for that policy to change. That will be the biggest test. <\/p>\n
To really win these fights, it takes a coalition between local and national activists. It\u2019s hard to win a national fight from a local base and so we need to draw in national efforts to elevate these concerns and make them more concrete. Together, these coalitions become a truly powerful force. <\/p>\n
What happened in Dubai by itself is not important. But if it becomes the lever by which we halt further development of fossil fuels, that\u2019s something. Today, we\u2019ve got one more arrow in the quiver. And our job is to make use of it. If we thought someone was going to go to Dubai and solve the problem for us, it\u2019s not going to happen because the oil industry is incredibly strong and in a lot of ways controls these processes. But this one sentence is a concession. Let\u2019s make that concession hurt. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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