• Airport protests are taking place in at least six countries today: the UK, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, Canada, and the USA.
• The protests come at the end of a week of civil disobedience during which Oil Kills disrupted airports in 10 countries across Europe and North America.
• The protests are drawing attention to the climate injustice of aviation, an industry whose historic contribution to global heating is greater than that of the continent of Africa.

Saturday 27th July – Today, peaceful protests are taking place in at least six cities across six countries in support of Oil Kills – an international uprising to end oil, gas and coal by 2030. Across the UK, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, the USA, and Canada, protesters are gathering to demand their governments commit to establishing a legally binding treaty to stop extracting and burning oil, gas and coal by 2030 as well as supporting and financing poorer countries to make a fast, fair, and just transition.

In London, supporters of Fossil Free London, Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion, Stay Grounded, and other groups, are protesting outside the Department for Transport (DfT) calling on the department to reject London City Airport’s expansion plans. The government is set to approve or reject extension plans this summer.

“London City Airport shows that aviation is a huge issue of injustice: People living in the flight paths of the airport have incomes that are far lower than those of the passengers flying overhead. What’s more, 7.5% of deaths in Newham can be attributed to air pollution”, explains Inês Teles from Stay Grounded in London.

Joanna Warrington, spokesperson for Fossil Free London, said: “As businessmen fly off over one of London’s poorest boroughs, we’re left choking on their excess fumes that fuel climate collapse». The protest was forced to move from London City Airport after the company took out a civil injunction that could put any environmental protesters in prison for up to two years for just entering the site.

In Switzerland, DROP Fossil Subsidies and Act Now are holding a protest in front of a terminal at Geneva Airport. Letzte Generation are holding a march in downtown Montreal, Canada, and in Austria, Letzte Generation is holding a protest at Vienna Airport. A protest held by Last Generation America is taking place at Sacramento International Airport. In the Netherlands, Extinction Rebellion is taking action at Maastricht airport. More actions are to follow today.

Today’s protests come after three days of civil disobedience by 13 groups across Europe and North America in which airports were disrupted in 10 countries, causing air traffic to come to a standstill at Frankfurt Airport (FRA), Cologne-Bonn Airport (CGN) and Gardermoen Airport (OSL).

Hannah Lawrence, spokesperson for Stay Grounded, said: “Aviation is the most polluting and unjust mode of transport – with a small portion of ultra-rich people burning up the planet for the rest of us. Despite this, governments have continually refused to tackle this problem and to shift to a fair, just transport system. This week, the people have made their demands clear: we need to rapidly reduce the amount of flights taking off each day and commit to phasing out fossil fuels.”

Activists have chosen to focus on aviation because it is a core pillar of the fossil fuel society which is responsible for climate breakdown. Aviation is also a pinnacle of the inequality at the core of the climate crisis with 80% of the world’s population having never flown and only 1% of people creating 50% of global aviation emissions.

ENDS

High-quality images & video here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1JPirDH2_rF9M47r7_UWldjOJuvvw95wE?usp=sharing

Stay Grounded
Press contact: +351 91 265 69 04
Press email: press@stay-grounded.org
Website: https://stay-grounded.org
Twitter: https://x.com/StayGroundedNet
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/staygroundednet

Groups supporting the international uprising to end fossil fuels:

Just Stop Oil, UK juststopoilpress@protonmail.com +44 7762 987334
Letzte Generation Austria presse@letztegeneration.at +43 680 4027795
Letzte Generation Germany presse@letztegeneration.org +493023591611
XR Netherlands media@extinctionrebellion.nl +31642020897
DROP Fossil Subsidies, Switzerland press@drop-fossil-subsidies.ch +41 77 486 59 46
Act Now, Switzerland presse@weactnow.ch +41 79 727 99 29
Last Generation Canada media@lastgenerationcanada.ca +19053303399
Scientist Rebellion, Sweden sr_sweden@protonmail.me
Folk Mot Fossilmakta, Norway media@folkmotfossilmakta.no +47 48416001
XR Boston XRBoston.media@gmail.com +1 (941) 809-8189
XR Finland media@elokapina.fi
Futuro Vegetal, Spain jaimedelval.reverso@gmail.com +34687558436 (in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian)
Extinction Rebellion, Sweden extinctionrebellionsv@riseup.net
A22 Network, press@a22network.org

Notes to editors:

• Stay Grounded is a network of more than 200 initiatives to counter aviation for a just mobility system. It also stands up against greenwashing climate strategies like carbon offsetting and the largely illusory promise of so-called Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF).
• Oil Kills is an international uprising to end fossil fuels – an unprecedented coalition of civil resistance groups from over 10 countries across Europe and North America. They are taking non-violent collective action at airports – a key pillar of the fossil fuel economy – to demand an end to oil, gas and coal by 2030. Their demand in full: Our governments must work together to establish a legally binding treaty to stop extracting and burning oil, gas and coal by 2030 as well as supporting and financing poorer countries to make a fast, fair, and just transition. This can be accomplished by endorsing the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative and seeking a negotiating mandate to establish the treaty.
  The protests recruiting, training, and capacity building is supported by the Climate Emergency Fund, which strategically supports ultra-ambitious organizations demanding solutions to the climate crisis at emergency speed. Press contact: press@cefund.org
• Safety notice: Supporters receive training in nonviolence and will undertake all possible steps to ensure that their actions do not compromise the safety of those using airports, as well as those in the air. This includes avoiding going on any active or inactive runways.
• The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative is a diplomatic initiative working with a global network of thousands of civil society organisations and first mover governments who are spurring international cooperation to end new development of fossil fuels, phase out existing production within the agreed climate limit of 1.5°C and develop plans to support workers, communities and countries dependent on fossil fuels to create secure and healthy livelihoods.