Let's break the silence about the COP28 elephant in the room; fossil fuels

Did you spot the elephant headed Big Oil executives roaming around the Dáil yesterday? They’re all over the newspapers today.

With a mention on RTE Radio 1 this morning too.

We don’t usually enjoy seeing Big Oil executives. But we were delighted to see these ones getting so much media coverage. They were part of a photo stunt that Friends of the Earth organised with the Stop Climate Chaos coalition. 

We used this novelty action to highlight that fossil fuels are the elephant in the room at the COP28 Climate Talks. And to put pressure on the Government to support a fossil fuel phase out both at COP28 and back at home. 

You can add more pressure by retweeting our tweet here or use our Action Kit to go a step further again.

As COP28 begins, we must push politicians hard to support a global phase out of fossil fuels at the Climate Talks. Making sure they see our photo stunt will help with that! 

If you’ve 10 seconds could you retweet our photo stunt tweet tagging key political targets here?

If you’ve a few more minutes to spare you can have a bigger impact by doing your own tweet, email or other social media post using this Action Kit. You’ll find sample text and images to use inside. Along with guidelines on how to do your own mini-photo stunt if you want to go one step further again! 

View the Action Kit

We’ve a few more activities lined up as COP28 unfolds. On Wednesday 6th December at 1pm Stop Climate Chaos will host a webinar as the negotiations reach their midpoint.

The webinar will include a brief overview of the COP Climate Talks and their function. It will feature speakers who are on the ground at COP28 - including our own Head of Policy Change, Jerry MacEvilly. We’ll assess progress on key issues at COP28, such as the need for a global agreement to phase out gas, oil and coal in a fast and fair way.

Register for the webinar

The webinar will also look at the issue of Loss and Damage finance - which is a key climate justice issue.

The failure of rich countries to reduce their polluting emissions means that poorer countries are now suffering from devastating economic, social and cultural impacts of climate change to which they can’t adapt. These impacts are referred to as “loss and damage” and money is urgently needed to deal with them. It’s crucial that rich countries and big polluters pay for the loss and damage they have caused. To discuss this we’ll be joined by Siobhan Curran of Trocaire and Ineza Grace, Global Coordinator of the Loss and Damage Youth Coalition. 

Other webinar speakers will include Charles Eris Ekalale from Concern Worldwide and Dr Mary Keogh of CBM Global Disability Inclusion.

Register for the webinar

We’ll also be singing for climate action during COP28! We’re gearing up for a carols for climate action street performance on Saturday 9th of December. We’ll take to the streets from 4-6pm on the 9th to use our voices to call for change as COP28 continues in Dubai!

Ahead of our street performance we’ll be doing our last climate carolling rehearsal this Saturday, 2nd December, from 2:30 - 4:30pm in the Carmelite Community Centre in Dublin. We’d love you to join us! Register here for this last chance to get involved. We’ll then send you an email with the relevant song lyrics, along with some audio recordings of the songs so you can start practising at home. 

Sing for Climate Action during COP28

Whether it’s calling out the fossil fuel elephant in the room, joining next week’s webinar or using your voice to sing for climate action, your action matters during COP28. 

Let’s fill our lungs and raise our voices - or our trunks - for climate justice!