Greenpeace Italia activists this morning interrupted a golf match on a course in Cervia organized as part of the OMC Med Energy Conference & Exhibition in Ravenna, where ministers and executives of oil companies from Mediterranean countries meet. The activists wanted to denounce, disguised as dinosaurs, “the serious responsibilities of the fossil fuel industry for the victims and damage caused by the climate crisis and conflicts over the exploitation of gas and oil deposits”.
Greenpeace, blitz with dinosaurs
A group of activists from Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, Spain and Hungary, dressed as dinosaurs with the logos of some of the main fossil fuel companies, invaded the golf course where some delegates of the WTO. A second group of activists then displayed a banner with the writing: “Stop playing with our lives” and opened some banners with the writings “Fossil sources deserve extinction”, “Gas and oil = War and conflicts” and “Enough fossil crimes” in Italian, English and French.
“Like the dinosaurs, fossil fuel companies must prepare for extinction. While millions of people suffer the impacts of climate chaos, oil and gas executives are only thinking about accumulating profits. Enough is enough: for the sake of people and the planet, the era of fossil fuels must end – says Chiara Campione, head of the Climate Unit of Greenpeace Italy – Governments, legislators and courts must recognize the crimes committed by the fossil fuel industry, forcing it to stop drilling and start paying for the damage caused.”
“Across the world, there is a thread connecting fossil fuels and increased militarization and conflict. Fossil companies fuel wars and conflicts to access oil and gas, and we must hold them accountable for the deaths and damage they cause. It is no longer socially acceptable for the fossil industry to continue to operate as if nothing had happened, a peaceful transition towards renewable sources must be achieved”, declares Anna von Gall, head of the Climate for Peace project at Greenpeace Germany.
“Oil and gas extraction and new fossil infrastructure projects promote militarization and fuel geopolitical conflicts around the world, as highlighted by the recent report by Greenpeace Italy on the gas pipeline project in the eastern Mediterranean – they write in a note – The States of region have invested heavily in armaments to defend their maritime interests and their fossil infrastructures.On more than one occasion, disputes over maritime borders and the exploitation of fossil fuels in the eastern Mediterranean basin have already led to the deployment of naval vessels. Over the last year we have seen how the European Union’s dependence on Russian gas and oil ended up financing the military invasion of Ukraine.Despite the rhetoric about energy saving, efficiency and renewable energy, Europe he thought first of all about finding new partners to secure more gas and oil. If Europe continues to rely on unreliable regimes and ignore the link between fossil fuels and conflicts to meet our energy needs, it means that it has not yet learned its lesson.”
Greenpeace calls on fossil fuel companies to “stop their climate-destroying activities, stop investing in new fossil fuel projects and infrastructure, and take responsibility for the climate crisis and the risk of further conflicts over the access and military defense of gas and oil”.
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