With only three months to go until the UN climate talks in Glasgow - COP26 - Extinction Rebellion (XR) is back on the streets of London to demand urgent change.
Whether you’re a fan of XR’s tactics or not, there’s no denying that the climate and ecological emergency is happening right now, everywhere we look.
No one can escape the devastating scenes of wildfires raging from Siberia to Turkey and Greece, and the flooding in Germany, Bangladesh and China, as well as here in the UK.
With the latest IPCC report warning us this is ‘ code red for humanity ’, we want to empower people to make a stand rather than wait for world leaders to continue delaying the urgent action people want.
We have a clear, immediate demand of the UK government: that they immediately stop all new fossil fuel investments. This is hardly radical; the International Energy Agency is calling for the same.
In fact, it’s the most obvious, first major step the government could take to show the public they’re serious about taking global leadership on climate.
It might seem like sitting in the road or locking onto a giant pink table in the middle of Covent Garden doesn’t have much to do with tackling the climate crisis, but we don’t do this for the fun of it.
We know that civil disobedience accelerates history. It happened when the suffragettes broke the law to demand the vote for women in the UK, and it happened back in April 2019 when - following XR protests - parliament declared a climate emergency and our government became the first in the world to commit to a date for reaching net zero emissions.
But those have been hollow words not followed up by action.
The cost of doing nothing is unpayable. Our action on the climate crisis cannot be left to what ordinary people can pay for out of their own pocket.
We need the government to hear from the public through Citizens’ Assemblies, and make a plan that doesn’t place the burden on working families.
Instead it has scrapped existing schemes, like the Green Homes Grant, to help people insulate their homes and play their part in reducing emissions. It’s not like there isn’t the money around to fund the changes we need.
The UK loses £90bn annually in uncollected taxes due to tax dodging and globally countries lose the equivalent of 34 million nurses' annual salaries every year in corporate and private tax evasion.
As the week carries on, we’ll be taking our Rebellion to stage an intervention on the City of London, to demand it takes responsibility for its role in climate breakdown around the world.
If the City were a country, it would be the ninth biggest emitter of fossil fuels in the world, with no plan from the top 10 major firms to decarbonise by 2050, despite promises to do so.
The addiction to fossil fuels needs to end and we know the first road block the government will meet as it tries to wean the UK off them will be right here in the City.
But enough is enough. Protecting the lives and livelihoods of working people has to come before lining the pockets of City execs.
