After protesting outside the Treasury on 17 August against the proposed Rosebank and Jackdaw oil drilling measures, climate action group Fossil Free London have taken further action against new oil and gas by holding screenings of the People’s Emergency Briefing in East London and displaying banners in opposition to Rosebank.
The People’s Emergency Briefing is a film intended to illuminate the gravity and urgency of the current climate situation to local communities, with MPs invited to screenings to understand how this issue affects their constituents. This aims to be part of a wider dialogue around the climate and nature emergency in the UK, and to work towards a larger televised briefing so the Prime Minister and independent experts can brief the country fully.
The screenings have taken place in Tower Hamlets, Shoreditch, Hackney and the City of London, with the first taking place at Raines School in Bethnal Green last Sunday, 13th September, hosted by Bethnal Green Climate Action.
Fossil Free London campaigner Victoria Smith said that it is “so important for these screenings to be happening far and wide” and that she urged everyone who can to see the film, as it would shock an uninformed viewer and it draws attention to the wider implications of climate change on communities.
Attendees were also invited to hold Fossil Free London’s ‘Stop Rosebank’ banner, which is touring communities in London alongside the film. FFL are based in Tower Hamlets and have opposed the Rosebank project repeatedly through various actions in London since early 2023.
Having endured a summer of record temperatures and, according to the UK Health Security Agency, 2877 heat-related deaths (30 July), the effects of climate change in the UK appear no longer a future issue, but a bleakly present reality.
Smith stated that the organisation has had a surge of interest since the summer, citing the “clear impact” that this summer of “heatwaves, drought and wildfires” had increased interest in and mobilization from Fossil Free London, and said clear impact of climate change could be seen in everyday life in the UK, particularly for “people living in flats and high rise buildings it was impossible to escape the heat”.
In a press release, Robin Wells, the director of Fossil Free London, stated:
“This summer, the climate emergency has been impossible to ignore. In Tower Hamlets, extreme heat is hitting communities most vulnerable to it.
People in Bethnal Green have watched the briefing, had the conversation and shown their support for one very clear demand – Stop Rosebank.”
After the public consultation on Rosebank ended August 17, the decision on North Sea oil drilling was delayed over “optics” given the summer’s extreme heat. However, Smith stated that Fossil Free London was ready to protest whenever the measures were approved.
“100%, we’re ready for any updates…DOE [Department of Energy], Andy Burnham, Labour, if they make choices that aren’t in the public interest.”
